Replies to Queries -- 1

A computer programmer trades through his own personal service company which is caught by IR35. Every Monday morning he travels 200 miles to a big engineering company on whose premises he works. He has to stay in a nearby hotel Monday to Thursday and returns home each Friday evening. He or rather his company has a six-month rolling contract with the engineering company. Is he entitled to claim the weekly travelling and the hotel bills as deductible business expenses when calculating his remuneration for IR35? He says he is because:

(a) his work is temporary i.e. it may not last two years; and
(b) he is employed by his own company not by the client at whose site he works.

An article in Taxation 17 February 2000 at page 429 agrees with this view; another on 3 February 2000 at page 383 does not....