Home workers & travel expenses

[FirstTimeMD]

I've been advertising some new roles at my company that allow 100% home working.

However I've been asked what the situation is re: travel expenses if a home worker is asked to come into the office to attend meetings?

If I paid for their travel to the office for a meeting, would the employee be liable for tax?

I've read through all the HMRC documentation, and it seems that travel to the office for meetings would be exempt from tax under the "attendance for a temporary purpose" clause.

However the same documentation suggests that a 100% home worker would still be regarded as commuting if they attend an office.

So I'm a bit confused. If a home worker is asked to travel to an office on a regular basis for a meeting(s), and if I paid those travel expenses for my employee, would they be liable to pay tax on those expenses?

Appreciate this is a complex issue but in this post-Covid, home working world I imagine this is going to become an increasing problem!

Thanks.

 

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Travel rules can be complicated but it largely boils down to whether or not the journey is community or a business journey/travel to a temporary workplace.

It is possible for an employee to have more than one permanent workplace and it isn't uncommon for home workers to have both their home and the company office be treated as a permanent workplace so travel between the two is considered ordinary commuting and not tax deductible.

IMO if their contract stipulates that their place of work is home and they occasionally come in to the office for a meeting then that would be a business journey however if it is a regular meeting it could be argued by HMRC that both are permanent workplaces.

 

[Newchodge]

You need to discuss with HMRC that the home is the base for these workers, so any travel for work that involves leaving the base can be paid at HMRC mileage rates without attracting tax. Otherwise a regular commute to the main office would be taxable.

 

[FirstTimeMD]

Thank you @TheCyclingProgrammer and @Newchodge for your answers.

This is clearly a bit of a minefield with lots of different interpretations available!

I was thinking that if I provide a contract of employment that says their main place of work is their home address, and if the purpose of attending our London office is for specific management meetings then that should qualify under the "attendance for a temporary purpose" clause.

My only worry is that if those management meetings are weekly (i.e. every Tue or Wed) then HMRC might decide it's become a regular commute rather than temporary purpose?

Although if the majority of time the employee is spending at home, and their only purpose of visiting the office is those specific meetings (rather than general "work") then it should be okay?

 

[DWS]

I think you have answered this yourself by saying that you are having weekly meetings at the same office, this then becomes a permanent base for travel purposes