SME Tax News

Case: Horton v Young [1971] 2 All ER 351 and [1971] 3 All ER 412 (CA)

A subcontracting bricklayer was allowed to claim travel between home and different building sites on the basis that it was wholly and exclusively incurred for the purposes of his trade.

• The court established that his home was the base of his self-employed operations: it was the administrative hub.
• He was engaged in an itinerant trade in that he had no fixed work place or places and moved around from different building site to site.
• The area in which he worked surrounded his house.
• He kept the tools of his trade at home.
• He carried out the financial management of the business from home.

See Travel: self employed for a list of trades and professions and commentary on the travel rules.