25 February 2000 External T.I. 1999-0015945 - TRAVEL BETWEEN HOME OFFICE & BOARD OFFICE

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the CRA.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ARC.

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the Department.

Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle du ministère.

Principal Issues: Whether travel between a school board trustee's home office and the board office should be considered personal travel.

Position: Likely yes.

Reasons: If an employee, whose regular place of work is the home office, is required to regularly and habitually attend staff or other meetings at the main office, it may be that the main office remains one of two locations from which the employee regularly performs the duties of employment. As a result, travel between such locations may be viewed as personal in nature. In determining whether a particular location is a regular place of work, the regularity of the reporting and the nature of the duties carried on at this location is more important than the fact that an employee may only report to the work location once or twice each month.

XXXXXXXXXX 	J. Gibbons
		1999-001594
Attention: XXXXXXXXXX 

February 25, 2000

Dear XXXXXXXXXX:

We are replying to your letter of December 17, 1999, concerning the tax treatment of amounts received by the trustees of your school board (the "Board"). In particular, the Board questions whether travel between the trustees' home office and the board office should be considered personal travel.

In your letter, you indicated that the trustees have no available office at the board office, and that the trustees are not required to report daily to the board office. You also stated that the trustees attend only two board meetings per month and committee meetings as required. The school board calendar and the school board directory contain the home telephone number of each trustee, and these numbers are essentially the trustees' points of contact. Based on the foregoing reasons, the Board is of the view that the trustees' home office is their work location and travel from the home office to the board office is not personal travel.

The regular place of work is usually the location at or from which the employee performs the duties of employment. However, there may be more than one regular workplace and the place from which an employee performs the duties of employment may change from time to time. If an employee, whose regular place of work is the home office, is required to regularly and habitually attend staff or other meetings at the main office, it may be that the main office remains one of two locations from which the employee regularly performs the duties of employment. As a result, travel between such locations may be viewed as personal in nature. In determining whether a particular location is a regular place of work, the regularity of the reporting and the nature of the duties carried on at this location is more important than the fact that an employee may only report to the work location once or twice each month.

We trust that these comments will be of assistance.

Yours truly,

John Oulton
for Director
Business and Publications Division
Income Tax Rulings Directorate

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