Expenses between home and place of work

Expenses between home and place of work

It is a long-established principle of tax case law, that the expenses of travelling from home to work and vice versa, are expenses of travelling which are not necessarily incurred by an office holder or employee in the performance of the duties of her/his office or employment.

If an office holder or employee receives expense payments in respect of travelling to and from work, such expense payments are taxable and subject to PAYE deductions.

In almost all cases, for UCD employees, notwithstanding that many will work from home on a hybrid basis, their place of work, for expense purposes, will be the UCD campus or other UCD location such as the Lyons Estate or Blackrock campus or the UCD teaching hospitals.

Expenses between home and place of work

Many UCD Staff are now working from home on a hybrid basis. In some cases, staff have relocated to areas a considerable distance from UCD, both within Ireland and abroad and in others, staff have not yet arrived in Ireland and have carried out their duties from abroad.

This does not influence the principle outlined above and the Revenue rules in relation to expenses incurred to/from work still apply on the basis that their place of work remains UCD rather than their home.

Where a staff member works from home and travels to UCD for a fixed number of days per week or only on an occasional basis for meetings or other duties or makes a trip to UCD from their overseas base,  the expenses incurred in travelling to/from UCD and any expenses incurred in overnight accommodation and daily subsistence while here, would be taxable in the event that they were reimbursed by UCD.

The Finance Office will not reimburse any such expenses and claims for such expenses should not be forwarded to the Finance Office. Any such expense claims received will be returned to the claimants and authorisers.