Defining 'place of work' claiming travel costs SA

Angela321

Hello

I'd be grateful for some advice.

I work as a freelance groom caring for people's horses. I work for individual horse owners who are billed separately but one yard I travel to twice daily but to care for several different horses. The horses I care for can change daily but are still on same premises. I have no connection and do not work for the owners of the premises, and do not have a 'base' there; all my paperwork and bookings are done at home. I also work at other yards.

Can I claim travel expenses to and from yard or does it count as a place of work because I go there each day?

Thank you

chrismac1

In my view on the basis of your post your "base of operations" is your home. So all travel from there counts as business. The tax precedent for this were the Olympics cases - Kenyon, Mellor and others. I've posted these up in more detail in other threads so you can look back in my posting history if you want the details. They go back to 2011 and 2012 and involved folk working in Olympics 2012 venues.

Angela321

Thank you for your reply, I will have a look at your other posts for case details, many thanks

Pennywise

The difference though is that in those cases posted by Chrismac, the workers ultimately had different workplaces, i.e. several months (or years) at one, and then moved onto a different site. In your case, you're semi-permanently going to the same place month after month, year after year, so it's not quite as clear cut.

Have a look at the Samadian case:-

http://www.rossmartin.co.uk/sme-tax-news/1045-not-more-travel-mix-ups

The taxpayer lost on that case, because his travel pattern was "regular and predictable"

That contrasts with the Horton & Young case (concerning a bricklayer) who could claim travel because the building sites he worked on were not fixed or regular places of trade.

There's another case concerning a milkman, who wasn't allowed his travel from his home to the depot, basically because he couldn't be a milkman without his milkfloat which was kept at the depot.

I fear the regularity and predictability of your travel to the stables will jeopardise your claim, not to mention that you can't do your work if you're not at the stables - presumably your "home based" work is fairly limited to basic admin.

But, I suppose it also depends on what else you do, where else you travel, etc. Travel to other customer sites, maybe to move horses, and also travel to collect supplies, etc., would almost certainly be allowable, but maybe not the regular travel to the stables.

Angela321

Thanks, I see what you mean. Yes home based work is admin, placing adverts and doing website updates and changes. By the nature of my work I have regular clients; horses are creatures of habit and prefer the same routine each day. Although I'm not under contract with any of the owners and my workload changes daily.
Hmmm I don't know what to do.... !

Angela321

I guess the difference between my case and the doctor above is that he works directly for each hospital but I work for lots of different clients that are on the same premises. As in his ruling he was allowed the travel when visiting individual patients? Am I clutching at straws?!

chrismac1

That's a good point Pennywise, I was trying to keep it simple. Clearly in these situations there are always arguments HMRC can potentially have. In practice, where I have had clients in this sort of situation we have always claimed. They are all aware of the risks, and we have detailed file notes of why we consider their particular circumstances to be valid "descendents" of Mellor etc.

Angela321

Thanks for taking the time to reply Chrismac and Pennywise
Although the majority of my work is horses, my job title is 'pet sitter'; I occasionally board rabbits and guinea pigs at my house, walk dogs and 'dog sit' while people are on holiday. Does this change anything? Does it add more weight to my home being my base? Thanks