EIM32191 | Travel expenses: travel for necessary attendance: duties defined by reference to a particular area: meaning of "defined by reference to an area"

Section 339(8) ITEPA 2003

The condition that the employee’s duties are defined by reference to a particular area means more than that they spend all or most of their time working in a particular location. That may be a matter of personal choice, or the employer’s clients may happen to be concentrated in a particular area. That, on its own, is not enough to satisfy the test.

There must be evidence that the employee’s duties are actually defined by reference to aparticular area. That evidence might be found in the employee’s contract of employment, or terms and conditions of service, or letter of engagement. Or the employer may have a specific area of responsibility (for example, a police authority), so that the employee’s duties may be said to be defined by the employer’s area.

Unless you can show that the employee’s duties are in fact “defined by reference to” a particular area, the test is not satisfied even if, as a matter of fact, the employee does happen to spend most of his or her time working in or around a particular place.