A client visit from home
Aoife drives a 1,400cc car (Category B) and has 800 business km so far this year. Her office is 40 km from home. She drives from home to a client 55 km away and back. The client is 25 km from the office.
Normal Place of Work and Commuting: Revenue's Rules Explained
Whether a journey can be paid tax-free depends on one question: where is the employee's normal place of work? Revenue's definition, why commuting is never a business expense, the lesser-of rule for trips from home, and what it means for site-based, travelling, remote and hybrid staff.
- Of a commute that can be paid tax-free, however far it is
- 0 km
- Of a commute that can be paid tax-free, however far it is
- Commuting
- Tax-free of the 110 km Aoife drives from home to a client and back
- 50 km
- Tax-free of the 110 km Aoife drives from home to a client and back
- Lesser-of rule
- Genuine emergency call-outs a year that can be paid tax-free
- 60
- Genuine emergency call-outs a year that can be paid tax-free
- The exception
- How long the employer keeps each journey record after the tax year
- 6 yrs
- How long the employer keeps each journey record after the tax year
- Records
Checked on 10 October 2026 against Revenue's Tax and Duty Manual Part 05-01-06 (September 2026 edition), Part 05-02-13 on remote working (May 2026) and Revenue's employer guidance.
The short version
The normal place of work in thirty seconds
Your normal place of work is where you normally perform your duties, usually your employer's premises and not your home. Travel between home and that place is commuting and can never be reimbursed tax-free, however far it is. When a business journey starts or ends at home, the tax-free amount is capped at the lesser of home → temporary workplace or normal place of work → temporary workplace.
Hybrid staff: the office is the base
Some days at home, some in the office: the office is the normal place of work.
Home only by objective requirement
Home counts only where there is an objective requirement to work there.
Between places of work is business
Travel between two places of work during the day is a business journey.
Commute payments are taxable
Including tolls, they go through payroll with PAYE, PRSI and USC.
Day allowance: 5+ hours, 8 km
From both home and base: €19.25 / €46.17.
Records for six years
Employers keep journey records for six years after the tax year.
Try it
Map your own journey
Pick a journey and set the distances between home, office and client. The map colours the business km green and the commute km red, and works out the tax-free mileage at the civil service rates.
Which kilometres can you claim?
Pick a journey, set your distances, and see the business km and the commute km.
Tax-freeCommuteNormal place of work
km
km
km
Engine category
Car · 1,201–1,500cc · civil service bands continue from your year-to-date km.
50 km tax-free of 110 km driven€21.70
Business 50 kmCommute 60 km
- Home → Client site25 / 55 km
- Client site → Home25 / 55 km
Band 1 · 50 km × €0.4340€21.70
Paying the commute km too would add (taxable pay)€26.04
Why: The trip starts and ends at home, so each leg is capped at the lesser of home → client and office → client. Any extra distance because you live further away is commuting. Revenue TDM 05-01-06, 2.4.3 [1]
The map uses straight-line positions for illustration. Claims should use the actual road distance of each leg, recorded in your mileage log.
The definition
What is a normal place of work for Revenue?
The place where you normally perform the duties of the job. It is a question of fact for each employee, and it is usually not your home.
It is the place where the employee normally performs the duties of the job. Revenue says it is a question of fact for each person, and that the employer's base may not be the employee's normal place of work: a business with a head office and several branches can have staff with different normal places of work.[1]
Home is the exception that causes most trouble. Revenue does not regard an employee's home as the normal place of work unless there is an objective requirement that the duties must be performed at home. Doing some work at home, or choosing to, is not enough.[1][3]
When home counts
An objective requirement
The duties must be performed at home. A preference, an informal arrangement or some evening work doesn't make home the base.
Revenue's own example
Teachers prepare classes at home, but the school is still their normal place of work.[1]
Normal place of work by type of worker
WorkerNormal place of work
Office, shop, depot or branch staffThe premises they attend day to day (not necessarily head office)
Hybrid worker (part home, part office)The office[2]
Works from home by choice, with an office availableThe office
Duties objectively have to be done at homeHome[1]
Travelling appointment (sales rep, service engineer, driver)The employer's base, if there is no other normal place of work[1]
Site-based employee with no fixed base (e.g. construction)No fixed base; country money rules can apply instead
Company directorWhere they normally perform the director's duties; one base across related group companies
Contractor working through their own companyUsually the client's premises, not the company's registered office or home
Commuting
Is commuting a business expense in Ireland?
No. Travel between home and your normal place of work is private travel, and paying for it is taxable pay.
No. Revenue's employer guidance puts it plainly: travel to and from work "is the employee's own private travel".[4] Its manual explains why: under long-established tax case law, the cost of getting from home to work is not incurred "in the performance of the duties" of the job, so any payment for it is taxable and subject to PAYE.[1]
Tax-free commute km0
Whether the commute is 5 km or 100 km. If an employer pays it, it goes through payroll.
Distance doesn't matter
A 100 km commute is still a commute.
Tolls follow the journey
Commute tolls repaid by the employer go through payroll; tolls on business journeys can be repaid tax-free.[1]
Coming in outside normal hours is still commuting
Covering a shift, extra workload or a routine event.[1]
Travel between two separate jobs
Two employers, or unrelated directorships: that is commuting, not a business journey.[1]
The narrow exceptionsAn employer can pay tax-free travel (taxi or mileage up to civil service rates) to the normal place of work for up to 60 genuine emergency call-outs a year outside normal hours. A taxi home (not to work) can be provided tax-free on an irregular basis, up to 60 journeys a year, where the employee works past 10pm and finishes before 6am, but not where late work is the normal pattern.[1]
Business journeys
What counts as a business journey?
Travel from one place of work to another in the performance of your duties: a client, a site, another branch, a meeting.
A business journey is travel from one place of work to another in the performance of your duties, which usually means a temporary absence from your normal place of work.[1] Here is how common journeys fall.
JourneyTax-free?Why
Office → client → officeYes, in fullBetween places of work
Home → client → homePartlyCapped by the lesser-of rule
Site A → site B during the dayYesBetween places of work
Home → first location, last location → home, when you work at several fixed locations every dayNoRevenue treats these as travel to and from work; only the legs between locations are tax-free[1]
Home → your normal officeNoCommuting
Office → a course or conferenceYesThe civil service scheme pays its reduced mileage rates for these[1]
Home in Ireland → temporary assignment abroad, and back at the endYesTreated as a business journey[1]
Starting from home
How does the "lesser of" rule work when you start from home?
Each home-start leg is capped at the shorter of home → site and normal place of work → site. The rest is commute.
When a business journey starts or ends at home, the tax-free amount is the lesser of the journey home → temporary workplace or normal place of work → temporary workplace.[1][4] The rule stops the commute being paid by the back door, and it never makes you claim more than you drove: if home is closer to the site, you claim the home distance.
Revenue's own example: Tom lives in Balbriggan, works in Dublin city centre, and drives from home to a temporary job in Naas. He can be paid for the return journey between Dublin city centre and Naas, because that is shorter than Balbriggan to Naas.[1] The same cap applies to travelling appointments, using the employer's base as the normal place of work.
01Measure home → site
The distance you actually drive from home.
02Measure base → site
From your normal place of work to the same site.
03Pay the shorter, each way
The extra because you live further away is commute.
04Never more than you drove
If home is nearer, the home distance is the claim.
Worked example
- Distance driven
- 2 × 55 km = 110 km
- Lesser of home → client (55 km) and office → client (25 km)
- 25 km each way
- Tax-free km
- 50 km
- Band 1 rate (first 1,500 km), Category B
- €0.4340 per km
- Not tax-free (commute element)
- 60 km
Tax-free mileage€21.70
50 × €0.4340. Paying the full 110 km (€47.74) would make €26.04 taxable pay.If she goes to the office firstThe 40 km to the office is her commute, office → client (25 km) is a business journey, and the drive home from the client is again capped at 25 km. Rates are the civil service motor travel rates from 1 September 2022, unchanged in Revenue's September 2026 manual.[1] For band crossings, see how to calculate mileage for Revenue, or check a trip in the lesser-of commute calculator.
Temporary or permanent
Can a temporary workplace become your normal place of work?
Yes, because the normal place of work is decided on the facts, not on a label.
Revenue's travel and subsistence manual does not set a single day count after which a temporary site becomes permanent for an ordinary employee, so look at the pattern of work.[1]
Six months at one location
Tax-free subsistence at any one location is limited to six months, with rates stepping down after 14 and 28 nights and Revenue agreement needed beyond 56 nights. See overnight subsistence rates.[1]
Recruited for one site
An employee recruited to work at one site only ("jobbed on site") is excluded from tax-free country money for that site.[1]
Contractors on long client engagements
In Revenue's example, a director who spent two, six and four months at three client premises could not be paid tax-free for travel from home to them: each was a normal place of work.[1]
Site-based and travelling workers
Site-based employees have no fixed base and work at different sites, usually for more than a day at a time. Instead of mileage from a base, Revenue accepts tax-free travel and subsistence of up to €181.68 a week ("country money") where the site is 32 km or more from the employer's base, unless the employer provides transport or board, or the worker was recruited for that site.[1] Details are in our country money guide.
Travelling appointments (sales reps, service engineers, drivers) use the employer's base as the normal place of work, and home-start journeys are capped by the lesser-of rule. Someone who is a travelling appointment for 75% or more of their workdays in a tax year can be treated that way for the whole year, but not for any period of 10 or more consecutive workdays spent site-based.[1]
Country money, per week€181.68
For site-based employees, where the site is 32 km or more from the employer's base.
Travelling appointment75%
Of workdays in a tax year: treated as a travelling appointment for the whole year.
Remote and hybrid
What is the normal place of work for remote and hybrid workers?
If you work partly in the office and partly at home, it is the office.
If you work partly in the office and partly at home, your normal place of work is the office. Revenue adds that under no circumstances can travel between home and the place of work be reimbursed tax-free, and subsistence cannot be paid tax-free for time spent at home.[2] Revenue added this clarification to its main travel manual in 2023.[5]
What can be paid
- A client visit from home on a home-working day, up to the shorter of home → client or office → client (Revenue's "Mary" example).[2]
- Up to €3.20 a day tax-free for home-working costs, by agreement. If the same day also gets travel and subsistence for a client visit, that day's €3.20 becomes taxable pay.[2]
- Where home genuinely is the normal place of work (an objective requirement), trips from home to temporary workplaces are business journeys.[1]
What can't
- Home → office on an office day, however rarely you go in. In Revenue's example, a contractor who works from home and attends the client every Friday cannot be paid for those trips.[1]
- For a contractor working through their own company from home by choice: home → first client and last client → home. Only travel between clients is tax-free (Revenue's "Alison" example).[1]
- Treating home as the base because of an informal work-from-home arrangement or a preference.
"Objective requirement" is a high barRevenue's manual gives no worked example of a home that meets it. If you are treating an employee's home as their normal place of work, write down why the duties cannot be done elsewhere. For more scenarios, see the remote and hybrid worker travel guide.
Subsistence
How do the 8 km and 100 km subsistence tests use the normal place of work?
Both are measured from your home and your normal place of work, and the trip must pass from both.
Both subsistence distance tests are measured from your home and your normal place of work, and the trip must pass from both. Get the normal place of work wrong and the subsistence goes wrong with it.[1]
AllowanceDistance testRate
Day, 5 to 10 hoursNot within 8 km of home or the normal place of work€19.25
Day, 10 hours or moreNot within 8 km of home or the normal place of work€46.17
Overnight (normal rate)More than 100 km from the normal place of work and home (50 km in exceptional cases of operational need)€205.53
Rates from 29 January 2025, as listed in Revenue's manual.[1] More on the day rates in our 10-hour day rate guide, and every current figure on the travel and subsistence rates page.Records
What records prove a journey wasn't a commute?
The start and finish points of each journey are what show whether the lesser-of rule was applied.
For flat-rate mileage and subsistence, the employer must keep a record of each journey, including its start, destination and finishing point, and keep it for six years after the end of the tax year.[1] The start and finish points are what show whether the lesser-of rule was applied.
Revenue's record list
- Name and address of the employee or director
- Date of the journey
- Reason for the journey
- Kilometres travelled
- Starting point, destination and finishing point
- Basis of the payment (e.g. an overnight stay away from the normal place of work)
Who does what
- Employer: decides each employee's normal place of work on the facts and records it, applies the lesser-of rule to home-start trips, runs commute payments through payroll, and reports tax-free payments under Enhanced Reporting Requirements (in force since 1 January 2024).[1]
- Employee: logs where each trip started and finished, the purpose and the km, and says when a trip started from home.
- Not reimbursed? An employee can claim a tax deduction from Revenue for travel necessarily incurred in the job, but not at civil service rates, which apply only to employer payments.[1]
Getting it wrong
What happens if a commute is paid tax-free?
It becomes taxable pay, and one wrong assumption repeats across every journey the employee logs.
The payment is taxable pay, and the employer is liable for the PAYE, PRSI and USC that should have been deducted. Because the normal place of work sits under every claim, one wrong assumption about an employee repeats across every journey they log.
See what Revenue looks for in our guide to Revenue audit triggers, and how directors are treated in directors' travel expenses. Claiming the commute, or the office distance on a trip that started at home, are among the most common red flags in claim audits; see expense reimbursement fraud.
Labelled as expenses, treated as payWhere pay is labelled as tax-free expenses, Revenue says it will consider whether fraud or neglect was involved, or whether an offence may have been committed.[1]
Expense.ie
How Expense.ie handles the normal place of work
The commute is stored once, taken off trips that start at home, and every claim keeps its route and purpose.
Commute on the profile
Each person's commute distance is stored once, so claims are checked against the same figure every time.
Home-start trips flagged
When a trip starts from home, the form deducts the recorded commute, so the commute km never reach the claim.
Purpose and route on record
Every claim keeps the purpose, start and destination Revenue asks employers to hold, ready for a review.
Questions
Normal place of work: FAQ
What is a normal place of work for Revenue?
It is the place where you normally perform the duties of your employment, usually your employer’s premises. It is a question of fact for each employee, so two people with the same employer can have different normal places of work. Your home is not your normal place of work unless there is an objective requirement that the duties must be done there.
Is commuting a business expense in Ireland?
No. Travel between home and your normal place of work is private travel, however far it is. If an employer pays for it, the payment is taxable and must go through payroll with PAYE, PRSI and USC deducted. Tolls on the commute are treated the same way.
Can I claim mileage from home to a client site?
Yes, but only up to the lesser of the journey from home to the client site or the journey from your normal place of work to the client site. If you live 55 km from the client and the office is 25 km from it, you can be paid tax-free for 25 km each way. If home is closer to the site, you claim the shorter home distance.
Is my home my normal place of work if I work remotely?
Only if there is an objective requirement that the duties be performed at home. Choosing to work from home, or doing some work at home such as preparing reports, is not enough. If you work partly in the office and partly at home, Revenue treats the office as your normal place of work.
Can a hybrid worker claim travel to the office?
No. Revenue says that under no circumstances may travel between an employee’s home and their place of work be reimbursed tax-free, and that a hybrid employee’s normal place of work is the office. Trips from home to a client on a home-working day can be paid, using the shorter of home to client or office to client.
Can a temporary site become my normal place of work?
It can, because the normal place of work is decided on the facts. Revenue limits subsistence at any one location to six months, and someone recruited to work at one site only cannot be paid tax-free country money for that site. Revenue’s manual does not set a single day count for ordinary employees, so document the facts of long postings.
What if my employer pays my commute anyway?
The employer can pay it, but not tax-free. It is pay and must go through payroll. Labelling pay as tax-free expenses can lead Revenue to consider fraud or neglect. Narrow exceptions exist for up to 60 genuine emergency call-outs a year and for occasional late-night taxis home.
Sources
Where these rules come from
Revenue's manuals and employer guidance, plus Chartered Accountants Ireland on the 2023 hybrid update.
- Tax and Duty Manual Part 05-01-06: Tax treatment of the reimbursement of expenses of travel and subsistence to office holders and employeesRevenue (document last reviewed September 2026)Normal place of work (2.2), business journeys (2.3), home to work (2.4), the lesser-of rule (2.4.3), travelling appointments (4.3), site-based employees (4.7), records (1.3) and current rates (Appendix 1).
- Tax and Duty Manual Part 05-02-13: Remote Working ReliefRevenue (document last updated May 2026)Section 6: hybrid workers’ normal place of work is the office; Example 4 (client visits from home use the shorter distance); the €3.20 daily remote working payment.
- Normal place of workRevenue, employer guidanceHome is not usually the normal place of work unless there is an objective requirement to work there.
- Business journeysRevenue, employer guidanceTravel to and from work is private travel; distance from home is the lower of the home and normal-place-of-work distances.
- Tax treatment of reimbursed travel and subsistence expensesChartered Accountants Ireland, 24 April 2023Reports the 2023 update to Part 05-01-06 clarifying that hybrid staff cannot be paid tax-free for home-to-office travel.
Checked against these sources on 10 October 2026. Rates and rules can change with new circulars and Revenue guidance. This is general information, not tax advice; take advice on your own situation.
Keep reading
Related resources
Expense.ie
Keep commutes out of your claims
Expense.ie stores each person's commute, deducts it from trips that start at home, and keeps the purpose and route Revenue expects for every journey.
Team plan from €29/month. Card required, nothing charged until day 7.