travel to a temporary workplace?

[RemoteContractor]

How about this guys, if the contract states:

1) Main place for work will be Belfast
2) There many be a requirement to attend other locations for a limited duration, or to perform tasks of a limited nature and duration.

How could HMRC argue that the location is not temporary when both facts and contract language indicate that it is?

[RemoteContractor]

How about if the contract states this:

1) main place of work is Belfast
2) There may be a requirement to attend other sites, duration of which will be limited, to perform tasks of a limited nature and duration.

Fairly clear cut if you ask me, both facts and contract state that the travel to other site is limited?

[RemoteContractor]

Sorry for double post, I do not see any edit or delete button

[bd6759]

A contract or any other document cannot create a fact: it can only describe a fact. If the contract requires attendance at Belast but you spend all your time in Londonderry, the fact is that Londonderry is not a temporary workplace.

If you work all your life in Belfast and your employers asks you to stand in for a manger in Londonderry for 12-18 months, then Londonderry is a temporary workplace.

The reality is usually somewhere in between. A task of limited duration means there is a foreseeable end. You will attend the location to do a specific job and it is known at the outset that it will take less than 24 months to do.

If you are given a permanent job that requires managing staff in both locations, neither is a temporary workplace.

[ochmoni]

You’ve done your homework, and I agree with your interpretation about the temporary workplace rules. If the trips to London are less than 40% of your working time over 24 months, HMRC would likely consider it a temporary workplace, and related travel expenses should be deductible. The fact that Belfast is your home shouldn't change that since the key factor is the nature of the workplace, not where you live.

[ochmoni]

Your understanding seems spot on—HMRC does classify travel to a temporary workplace as deductible under specific conditions, and it sounds like your London trips fall into that category if they're less than 40% over 24 months. The fact that Belfast is your home shouldn’t change this, as HMRC focuses on the nature of the workplace rather than where you live.