24 month rule in London

[SueEllen]

London travel is explicitly covered in HMRC guidelines and examples. A change of a couple of tube stops (even Zone 1 to Zone 2 or reverse) simply doesn't cut it...

Luckily London is bigger than that. So someone can work in Canary Wharf then the outskirts of London then Victoria meaning on each occasion their journey is different.

[eek]

Luckily London is bigger than that. So someone can work in Canary Wharf then the outskirts of London then Victoria meaning on each occasion their journey is different.

You may want to dig up HMRC's examples....

[SueEllen]

You may want to dig up HMRC's examples....

HRMC's examples use the City. Locations in the City are all within 10-20 minute walking distance to one another e.g. same location.

I know it's a hard concept for those who don't live in London and the SE to grasp but London is one of the world's mega cities so it's massive. So someone living in East London travelling to the North, West or South of London or even some London termini will have a different journey from someone in West London, someone in North London etc.

This is unlike the other UK cities I've lived and worked in where walking from the centre to where I lived on the outskirts was possible within 30-40 minutes. (OK I was with friends and drunk.) If I walk for 30-40 minutes in London I'm still the same damn borough unless I start on the border of one.

Also unless you live in London you won't be aware that depending on where you live the route to one part is completely different e.g. much shorter or long in time, and costs a different amount than a route to another part. (With the Elizabeth II line and the other train lines they are building some of this will change.)

If you live outside London and home counties then your journey is exactly the same regardless of where you work in London unless your first contract was right next to the terminus you arrived at and the next contract is somewhere on the opposite outskirts of your route in.

[kaiser78]

Luckily London is bigger than that. So someone can work in Canary Wharf then the outskirts of London then Victoria meaning on each occasion their journey is different.

This was the point I was making in my earlier post in this thread. 1 or 2 tube stations is doubtful agreed. However working from one end of London to another and taking a different (mainline) train into a different station is satisfactory. One of my previous accountants had taken this up with HMRC who confirmed this to be the case.

[SueEllen]

This was the point I was making in my earlier post in this thread. 1 or 2 tube stations is doubtful agreed. However working from one end of London to another and taking a different (mainline) train into a different station is satisfactory. One of my previous accountants had taken this up with HMRC who confirmed this to be the case.

You, me and CP are on the same page with this one due to where we are based. The others questioning it live in smaller towns/cities.

[Old Greg]

IIRC the determining factor is not the destination bu the journey. A few years ago, I moved contracts from:

1. Location in North London, journey 100 miles by car to train station 10 miles away, train to mainline station, tube to tube station (contract length 2 year 11 1/2 months - ahem)

to

2. Location in South Central London (about 8 miles away), journey 100 miles by walk to train station 200 yds away, train to different mainline station, train to tube station.

These were the easiest journeys to each destination, and Journey 2 was about 20% cheaper, so there could be no argument that I was swapping routes as a taxation convenience. My accountant advised that I should not claim Journey 2, but I did my own research and claimed as the journey was different, the cost was different and it was all necessary etc. etc.

[eek]

Given the fact I used to live in Kent (oh and buckinghamshire) I do know about London. Sadly from both directions I need to use the same train station so regardless of where I worked the journey was the same (walk to local station, get appropriate train to blackfriars or Victoria) then walk or catch the tube.

In all cases regardless of where in London I worked (city, west end, canary wharf) the base journey was the same.

[SueEllen]

Given the fact I used to live in Kent (oh and buckinghamshire) I do know about London. Sadly from both directions I need to use the same train station so regardless of where I worked the journey was the same (walk to local station, get appropriate train to blackfriars or Victoria) then walk or catch the tube.

In all cases regardless of where in London I worked (city, west end, canary wharf) the base journey was the same.

My journeys aren't.

[Drei]

So if your main London entry point is let's say Liverpool Street or London Bridge or Victoria yet the contracts are in completely different parts of London HMRC only looks at the entry point?

Liverpool Street then walking to Old Street is much different than Liverpool Street to Waterloo then walking for example, not to mention about 40 minutes extra.

The actual cost might be a little more confusing. If you get a train in from Chelmsford you would pay the train and the travel card cost however if you drove to the station at Zone 6 (a lot of people do this to save money) it would be just a 1 to 6 travel card and it will always be the same cost regardless if you traveled to Liverpool Street or Ruislip.

[LondonManc]

Having lived in the East End and switched gigs between Canary Wharf and Brentford, I can confirm that the two commutes are vastly different and the rented accommodation in the East End was ditched quickly!