Treatment of travel expenditure during the rail strike

Many of us (and our clients) are probably struggling to get to work at the moment while strike action continues on South Western Trains. Faced with the prospect of cramming on to overcrowded trains running at severe delays in the weeks leading up to Christmas employees may incur additional expenditure to ensure they are at their desks on time. The extent to which these costs qualify for tax relief and when a deduction is obtained depends on several factors and the rules are not always straightforward or necessarily fair.

Travel and subsistence due to industrial action

A statutory relief is available for specified payments made to employees if ‘a strike or other industrial action disrupts a public transport service normally used by an employee’. The exemption in ITEPA 2003 s 245 covers the following:

• overnight accommodation for the...