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Introduction

Travel expenses have specific tests which must be satisfied in order for an employee to gain a deduction. These rules are different from the general rule for deductibility of expenses in that they do not need to be incurred ‘wholly and exclusively’. This is because with any business travel, there are likely to be elements of mixed or private purpose, eg meals taken on a trip or overnight accommodation because the employee needs sleep. Meals and overnight accommodation come under the heading ‘subsistence’ and expenses on subsistence follow the rules on business travel. See the Subsistence expenses guidance note for more information.

As a result of the exemption for expenses that are either business expenses or the reimbursement of HMRC approved amounts, it is incumbent on an employer to keep the necessary processes, systems and controls to ensure that business and non-business expenses can be correctly identified and recorded.

The NIC legislation on deductible travel expenses is generally aligned with the tax treatment. Therefore, unless