Business Journeys - Sole Traders

A number of self-employed businesses have been waiting for a tax case to be decided which turned on the question of "what is a business journey?" The test case concerned a doctor who was both employed by the NHS and self-employed as a private consultant.

The Upper Tax Tribunal decided that the doctor's self-employed work started when he arrived at his private clinic, so the travel between his home and the clinic was not a business journey. This was in spite of the fact the doctor had an office at his home where he prepared his treatment plans.

So what does this mean for you as self-employed person who travels to various sites to work? The taxman will argue that your work only starts when you reach your customer's site and any business activity performed at your home-office is irrelevant. This would restrict your allowable travel costs to journeys between customers and deny a deduction for travelling from your home to the first customer of the day.

The key is determining where your "place of business" is located, and whether the activity undertaken at the home-office is wholly and exclusively undertaken for the purpose of your business. As ever it will come down to the evidence you can produce.

Can you show that the activities you perform at your home must be performed at that location? For example: contacting suppliers, drawing up quotes, or scrutinising plans. Also can you provide evidence of the time you spend working exclusively on your business at your home, perhaps by records in your business diary?

We can help you record the details the taxman will want to see in order to prove you do start work at home, and not when you reach you first customer of the day.

Self-Employed Travel Expenses

If you are self-employed you may have a number of customers you go to regularly to work at their premises. This could apply to mobile hairdressers, cleaners, gardeners, and even medical professionals who work at private clinics. The miles you drive to reach each of your customers from your business base are used to calculate the amount of travel expenses you claim in your business accounts.

This is all good, but the Taxman has recently argued in a tax case that where the business is based at the person's home, that home-office can't be treated as the starting point for travel when the work is performed almost entirely at customers' properties. The Taxman has particularly challenged travel expenses claimed by doctors who work at private clinics and do not see patients at their home-office. The Taxman has tried to ignore the necessary preparation and report writing work the doctor has to perform at his home-office.

The Taxman has agreed that travel between customers is allowable, so the mobile hairdresser or cleaner who travels to several customers each day should be able to claim the majority of their travel expenses. However, travel from the home-office to say one private clinic and back home again is in question.

This doesn't mean you should stop claiming the cost of travelling to customers, but to head-off any challenge in the future, you should record every business related journey; where it started, number of miles and the reason for the journey - who were you seeing. Using an estimate of your total business mileage for the year is no longer an acceptable method of calculating your travel expenses. You should also record what part of your business you conduct at your home-office, such as preparing estimates or writing reports.

If you are concerned you may be affected, please contact us for advice.