I have a client who runs a property letting business. The business is based at a pub, which my client also owns. The lettings business employs two chaps (PAYE) to carry out maintenance, who spend a lot of their time tootling about between the properties, and they also do some of the maintenance at the pub.
My client is paying quite a lot to the employees in mileage, some of which is for journeys from their homes to the pub. My initial thought was that this should be classed as commuting, and shouldn't be reimbursed, but my client is quite insistent that the pub is not their normal place of work, so it's not commuting. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks in advance!
Has the client suggested where the normal place actually is, then??
Which address is on the PAYE scheme? If its the pub, then I'd say that the pub is "the office" "the place of employment" whatever they want to call it, and that this is commuting.
If I, as an accountant, work at client sites 90% of the time, I wouldnt take that to mean the office wasnt my normal place of work.
I think he fondly imagines that there isn't a normal place - he hasn't come up with one, anyway. The PAYE scheme I think will be running from the pub's address, although I have no concrete proof of that (the paperwork I get is quite patchy). My thinking is in line with yours, so that's reassuring - thanks for your reply Michelle.
