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 CCRA.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ADRC.
Principal Issues: Whether travel from an employee's residence to a regular place of employment is personal when there are several regular places of employment.
Position: Yes.
Reasons: Long-standing position.
XXXXXXXXXX Randy Hewlett, B. Comm.
2002-017705
January 31, 2003
Re: Personal Versus Business Travel - Multiple Work Locations
We are writing in response to your letter of November 27, 2002, wherein you requested our interpretation on the above-noted issue.
In your letter, you describe the following factual situation:
1. Company A is a corporation that operates retail establishments located throughout Canada.
2. Company A employs XXXXXXXXXX district managers who are responsible for visiting XXXXXXXXXX retail stores within their respective region on a regular basis.
3. Company A provides district managers with a vehicle to be used in the performance of their employment duties.
4. The district managers have a home store to which they must report, but only once per week.
5. The district managers have an office that is located in the home store.
6. The employment duties of the district managers are to review and visit the XXXXXXXXXX stores in their region on a regular basis.
7. The district managers travel on a regular basis directly between their residence and the retail locations within the region.
8. Many of the retail stores within a district manager's region are a further distance from his or her residence than the home store.
9. For some district managers, the home store is not in the same vicinity as other retail locations in the region.
You ask for our confirmation that the travel between each district manager's residence and the various retail store locations within the region is business related for the purpose of calculating taxable benefits under section 6 of the Income Tax Act (the Act). In your view, the district managers do not have a regular work location by virtue of the fact they only must report to their home store once per week and are otherwise constantly on the road. Therefore, it is your view that all such travel is employment related.
Written confirmation of the tax implications inherent in particular transactions is given by this Directorate only where the transactions are proposed and are the subject matter of an advance income tax ruling request submitted in the manner set out in Information Circular 70-6R5, Advance Income Tax Rulings, dated May 17, 2002. Where the particular transactions are completed, the inquiry should be addressed to the relevant Tax Services Office. However, we offer the following comments.
In general terms, it is our long-standing position that travel between an employee's home and a regular place of employment is personal. It will always be a question of fact whether a particular work location is a regular place of employment. However, any location at or from which the employee regularly reports for work or performs the duties of employment, is generally considered a regular place of employment. An employee may have more than one regular place of employment, which can change from time to time because of the nature of the employment situation.
With respect to the situation you describe, we are of the view that each of the regional stores (including the home store) would be considered a regular place of employment for the district managers and therefore, travel between home and each location would be considered personal (See our files 9912537, 2000-0008807 and 2001-0102467 for further discussions relating to district managers).
We trust our comments are of assistance.
Yours truly,
John Oulton, CA
Manager
Business and Individual Section
Business and Partnerships Division
Income Tax Rulings Directorate
Policy and Legislation Branch
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