EIM32140 - Travel expenses: travel for necessary attendance: more than one permanent workplace at the same time

Section 339(2) ITEPA 2003

Someone who has 2 or more employments, or is in an employment that requires regular attendance at more than one workplace, may have more than one permanent workplace at the same time.

Each case must be decided on its own facts and most employees will only have one permanent workplace at any one time. Factors that point to a workplace being a second permanent workplace include:

• the employee regularly performs a significant part of his or her duties there
• people would expect to be able to contact the employee at the second workplace
• the employee has an office, or desk, and support services at the second workplace that he or she regularly uses.

No single factor is decisive in establishing whether a second workplace is a permanent workplace. It depends on the employee’s work pattern. But if, for example, an employee regularly spends 40% of his or her time at a second workplace, it is unlikely, given the frequency of the visits, that each visit would be to perform a task of limited duration or for some other temporary purpose. In this example the presumption would be that the second workplace is a permanent workplace.