Business vs Personal Travel

Clearly Personal

Travel that is not related to business:

The Commute Rule

Not Deductible

• Home → Office → Home
• This is personal commuting
• Even if you work from the car
• Even if you take calls en route

Exceptions

Home-to-office travel MAY be deductible if:

• You work from a home office (primary workplace)
• You travel to a client site (not your office)
• You have no fixed office location

Mixed-Use Trips

Sometimes trips combine business and personal:

Primarily Business

If the main purpose is business, with incidental personal:

• Claim the full distance
• Example: Client meeting, then quick personal stop

Primarily Personal

If the main purpose is personal, with incidental business:

• Generally not deductible
• Example: Family trip with brief work call

Split Calculation

For significant mixing:

• Calculate business portion
• Claim only that distance
• Document reasoning

Special Scenarios

Home Office Workers

If you work from home:

• Home is your primary workplace
• Trips to client sites = business
• Trips to co-working space = potentially deductible

Multiple Work Locations

If you regularly work from different places:

• Travel between work locations = business
• Home to any location = may be commuting (check with accountant)

Business Meals

Traveling to a restaurant for a client meal:

• The travel is business
• The meal is entertainment (50% deductible)

Training and Education

Travel to business-related training:

• Deductible if for current business
• Not deductible if for new career

Proving Business Purpose

SARS may ask you to prove trips were business-related:

Documentation

• Meeting notes or emails
• Client correspondence
• Invoices for work done
• Calendar entries

Logbook Details

• Specific destination addresses
• Client or contact names
• Business purpose description

Calculating Business Percentage

At year-end, calculate your business use percentage:

Business Kilometres = Total trips marked as business
Total Kilometres = Closing odometer - Opening odometer
Business Percentage = (Business Km / Total Km) × 100

Example