Expenses

phil.winston

Hi,

I work in Swords and my job just announced a 6 week project that will take place in Blanchardstown. I dont have a car so its going to be a bit of travel from where I live in Lusk to get there every day.

I was wondering, can I claim expenses for this travel as its not my normal place of work? My contract states my normal place of work down the the address of the building in Swords but that "I may be required, from time to time, to work at other company locations as the company may require".

I get that part and I am fully open to working where they need me but surely that doesnt mean at my expense. They are trying to not pay me for this already saying it is a reasonable distance but as I said I dont drive so there will be about 2 hours of travel time per day with a train into town and a bus out of town again each way and also the extra expense that I dont have now. What can I do?

Lux23

I am not sure that you are entitled to anything but maybe ask if its possible to cover at least part of the cost, maybe just say it's an extra expense that you can't really cope with at the moment. No harm in asking.

tatli_lokma

As Lux says, if there is nothing in your contract about expense for this, then its kinda at their discretion. They made it clear that you might have to work elsewhere at times, so you knew that and signed the contract. But still I would ask again. But before doing so I would do some research and have some different compromises in mind - this makes them aware also of the difficulties you are having, but it shows that you are genuinely willing to try to make it work, and are being proactive about it.

Asd for the research, I have just google mapped Lusk village to Airside, and Lusk Village to Blanch village (not knowing where exactly in Swords and Blanch you are working, I just picked general spots).

First of all, leaving out of it the extra bus journeys etc, lusk to Swords - averages at 14kms (3 routes, the average of the 3 is 14kms). Lusk to Blanch is 25.6kms by the most direct route. So over 10kms extra from your home. Minimum. Then you can point out, that also, swords is 17kms from Blanch via the most direct route. So they are asking you to travel an extra 20-35kms per day depending on which method you use (lusk to blanch, or the distance between blanch and swords)

I know your employer says it is a reasonable distance but point out to them that in fact it is an additional 10 kms each way to what you would usually travel. Taking into account that you do not travel by car, this actually results in you travelling into town from Lusk - 23.8 kms by public transport, and then an additional 9.8kms from o'connell st to Blanch. And that is assuming that both buses take the most direct approach. So that is 33.6 kms each way, each day, on two buses, through peak traffic.

also work out the extra time it will take in actual time, i.e check out the timetables and work it out end to end.

Then present all this to them. Suggest an alternative or compromise. Such as I will take the expense of the bus from Lusk to Town, but could you cover the extra bus expense from town to blanch? Or if you can drive and there are any company pool cars, ask can you make use of one of these? or can you use a personal vehicle, and only claim for the additional miles (i.e the extra miles you need to cover over what you would have to travel anyway, so 10kms) in expenses. Is there anyone else in the same situation as you who has to move to the other office for a while? if so, what about car pooling. Is there anyone in Blanch who lives out your way who can give you a lift - if you get to swords is there anyone who can pick you up and bring you to Blanch?

By offering alternatives and presenting actual facts you stan a better chance of being listened to and might get someting out of it.

gerryo

phil.winston wrote: »

....I was wondering, can I claim expenses for this travel as its not my normal place of work? ..

Have a look at this http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it54.html

tatli_lokma

gerryo wrote: »

Have a look at this http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it54.html

good find. but remember that is just information on how expenses are taxed - it only applies if the employer agrees to pay expenses, or if the employee bears the cost they can then request this amount as a tax free allowance - so they get a tax allowance in the value of the expense. But they will still have to fork out the expense in the first place, if the employer doesn't pay expenses. I think the issue for OP is having to incurr more expense than normal to get to work.

Still worth knowing for making a claim for a rebate at the end of the year.

gerryo

Yes, it's a shame those expenses aren't being paid by the employer, they really are incurred due to the (temporary) changed work situation. At the very least the employer should pay the cost of travel from the normal workplace to the temporary location as a weekly expense.

Leaving it up to the employee to claim at year end is a cop out.

Stheno

There is a bus from Swords to Blanch http://www.urbus.ie/index.php

phil.winston

So they don't have to pay me anything? That's a disaster.

The Urbus from swords takes 1 hour and costs €5 each way. Its going to cost about 350 in travel expenses for the time I will be on this project. I really don't have that kind of money.

Thanks for the help anyway guys. Appreciate it

tatli_lokma

phil.winston wrote: »

So they don't have to pay me anything? That's a disaster.

The Urbus from swords takes 1 hour and costs €5 each way. Its going to cost about 350 in travel expenses for the time I will be on this project. I really don't have that kind of money.

Thanks for the help anyway guys. Appreciate it

As mentioned before, the best way to handle this is to approach it in a professional and mature manner, have your facts and figures to hand, and offer compromises/alternatives. This is your best shot at getting some form of expenses or compensation.


And as gerryo showed with his link, if your employer doesn't return your expenses, then keep all your receipts and proof that you had to work out of your normal place of work (I assume you got some confirmation of this in writing, if not request it). At the end of the project submit all these expenses to revenue and you should get a rebate on them.

Another thing you could do is ask for an advance, explaining that once the project is over you will be claiming a tax rebate on the expenses and once this comes through you will repay the advance via your salary (so for eg if you get a tax rebate in Jan you will repay them the full amount out of your salary).

I am sure that if you approach it in a proactive and conciliatory manner you should be able to come to some agreement - it might not exactly be the one you wanted, but if you can work it that you are not out of pocket then it will be worthwhile.

dingding

The 10 journey ticket is 33 euro.

Lux23

phil.winston wrote: »

So they don't have to pay me anything? That's a disaster.

The Urbus from swords takes 1 hour and costs €5 each way. Its going to cost about 350 in travel expenses for the time I will be on this project. I really don't have that kind of money.

Thanks for the help anyway guys. Appreciate it

You should ask them though, it's a big lump out of your pocket.

murphym7

phil.winston wrote: »

So they don't have to pay me anything? That's a disaster.

The Urbus from swords takes 1 hour and costs €5 each way. Its going to cost about 350 in travel expenses for the time I will be on this project. I really don't have that kind of money.

Thanks for the help anyway guys. Appreciate it

Do you not pay for public transport to get to work now?

tatli_lokma

murphym7 wrote: »

Do you not pay for public transport to get to work now?

yes he would, but he would only pay for one bus journey each way from Lusk to Swords. There is no direct bus from Lusk to Blanch. So he will have to get a second bus - either the urbus in Swords or get from Lusk to city centre and then from there to Blanch. So he will have to pay for a second bus journey each day, on top of his normal commuting expenses.

Misticles

If there is nothing in your contract about being compensated when working outside of your base office then I don't think you will get anything. Ask a colleague maybe if they are familiar?

I get expenses when I am outside my base office but it is a well known fact throughout the business.

dudara

In my company, where the work is project-based, our general rule is no expenses if the travel distance is equivalent or less than the distance between home and our base office. When I do claim expenses, I have to deduct an amount equivalent to the distance between home and the base office.

I would definitely approach the project manager (or appropriate person) about this, stating that this extra travel will incur extra expense on your part, and that you would like to claim expenses for the additional travel.

padma

Is there anyone else driving to Lusk as part of this short term plan?, maybe you can get a lift from them and throw them the few quid for petrol expenses?