Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 section 370

Travel costs and expenses where duties performed abroad: employee's travel

Section 370 allows employees who perform duties abroad to claim a tax deduction for the cost of their own travel between the UK and the overseas location where they work, provided specific conditions are met.

• A deduction equal to the travel amount included in earnings is available where the employer provides travel facilities or reimburses the employee's travel expenses for qualifying journeys
• Three sets of qualifying circumstances exist: Case A covers employees absent from the UK entirely to perform overseas duties; Case B covers employees whose duties are split between the UK and abroad (not on a vessel); Case C covers those whose split duties are performed on a vessel
• In all three cases, the overseas duties must be ones that can only be performed outside the UK, and the journey must be made wholly and exclusively for the purpose of performing those duties or returning afterwards
• The deduction applies only to "relevant taxable earnings" — broadly, UK-taxable general earnings that would still be taxable regardless of any remittance basis claim (for 2024–25 and earlier) or that are not qualifying foreign general earnings under the overseas workday relief rules (for 2025–26 onwards)