Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 section 248

Transport home: late night working and failure of car-sharing arrangements

Section 248 provides an income tax exemption for transport provided to employees for the journey from their workplace to home when they have to work exceptionally late at night or when their regular car-sharing arrangements unexpectedly break down.

• No income tax arises on transport home (or reimbursed travel expenses) provided to an employee who works later than usual until at least 9 p.m. on an irregular basis, where public transport is no longer available or it would be unreasonable to expect the employee to use it, and the transport is by taxi or similar private vehicle.
• The exemption also covers transport home when an employee who regularly car-shares with colleagues is unable to use the shared car due to unforeseen and exceptional circumstances.
• The exemption is capped at 60 occasions in any one tax year — once 60 occasions have already been used, any further provision of transport or reimbursement of expenses is taxable in the normal way.
• The exemption applies only to journeys from the workplace to the employee's home; it does not cover journeys from home to work.