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Topic no. 511, Business travel expenses

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Tax issues arise when employers pay employee business travel expenses

Employers must determine proper tax treatment for employees.

Most employers pay or reimburse their employees’ expenses when traveling for business. Generally, expenses for transportation, meals, lodging and incidental expenses can be paid or reimbursed by the employer tax-free if the employee is on a short-term trip. However, the tax rules become more complex when the travel is of a longer duration. Sometimes the travel expenses paid or reimbursed by the employer must be treated as taxable compensation to the employee subject to Form W-2 reporting and payroll taxes.

The purpose of this article is to address some of the more common travel arrangements which can result in taxable income to employees for federal tax purposes. Although business travel can also raise state tax issues, those issues are beyond the scope of this article. This article is intended to be only a general overview as the tax consequences to an employee for a given travel arrangement depend on the facts and circumstances of that arrangement.

In the discussion below, it is assumed that all travel expenses are ordinary and necessary and incurred by an employee (or a partner in a partnership) while traveling away from home overnight for the employer’s business. In addition, it is assumed that the expenses are properly substantiated so that the employer knows (1) who incurred the expense; (2) where, when, why and for whom the expense was incurred, and (3) the dollar amount. Employers need to collect this information within a reasonable period of time after an expense is incurred, typically within 60 days.

Certain meal and lodging expenses can fall within a simplified substantiation process called the “per diem” rules (although even these expenses must still meet some of the substantiation requirements). The per diem rules are outside the scope of this article.

One of the key building blocks for the treatment of employee travel expenses is the location of the employee’s “tax home.” Under IRS and court holdings, an employee’s tax home is the employee’s regular place of work, not the employee’s personal residence or family home. Usually the tax home includes the entire city or area in which the regular workplace is located. Generally, only expenses paid or reimbursed by an employer for an employee’s travel away from an employee’s tax home are eligible for favorable tax treatment as business travel expenses.

Travel to a regular workplace

Usually expenses incurred for travel between the employee’s residence and the employee’s regular workplace (tax home) are personal commuting expenses, not business travel. If these expenses are paid or reimbursed by the employer, they are taxable compensation to the employee. This is the case even when an employee is traveling a long distance between the employee’s residence and workplace, such as when an employee takes a new job in a different city. According to the IRS, if it is the employee’s choice to live away from his or her regular workplace (tax home), then the travel expenses between the two locations which are paid or reimbursed by the employer are taxable income to the employee.

Example: Bob’s personal residence is in Chicago, but his regular workplace is in Atlanta. Bob’s employer reimburses him for an apartment in Atlanta plus his transportation expenses between the two cities. Since Atlanta is Bob’s tax home, these travel expenses are personal commuting expenses and the employer’s reimbursement of the expenses is taxable compensation to Bob.

Travel to two regular workplaces

Sometimes an employer requires an employee to consistently work in two business locations because of the needs of the employer’s business. Factors such as where the employee spends the most time, has the most business activity, and earns the highest income determine which is the primary location with the other being the secondary location. The employee’s residence may be in either the primary or the secondary location. In general, the IRS holds that transportation costs between the two locations can be paid or reimbursed by the employer tax-free. In addition, lodging and meals at the location which is away from the employee’s residence can generally be paid or reimbursed tax-free.

Example: Caroline lives in Location A and works at her company headquarters there. Her employer opens a new store in Location B and asks her to handle the day-to-day operations for two years while the store is getting up to speed. But Caroline is also needed at the headquarters so her employer asks her to spend two days a week at the headquarters in Location A and three days a week at the store in Location B. Because the work at each location is driven by a business need of Caroline’s employer, she is treated as having primary and secondary work locations and is not treated as commuting between the two locations. Caroline’s travel between the two locations and her meals and lodging at Location B can be reimbursed tax-free by her employer.

As a practical matter, the employer must carefully consider and be able to support the business need for the employee to routinely go back and forth between two business locations. In cases involving two business locations, the courts have looked at time spent, business conducted and income generated in each location. Merely having an employee “sign in” or “touch down” at a business location near his or her residence is unlikely to satisfy the requirements for having two regular workplaces. Instead, the IRS would likely consider the employee as having only one regular workplace with employer-paid travel between the employee’s residence and the regular workplace being taxable commuting expenses.

Travel when a residence is a regular workplace

In some cases an employer hires an employee to work generally, or only, from the employee’s home, as he or she is not physically needed at an employer location. If the employer requires the employee to work just from his or her residence on a regular basis, does not require or expect the employee to travel to another office on a regular basis, and does not provide office space for the employee elsewhere, then the residence can be the tax home since it is the regular workplace for the employee. When the employee does need to travel away from his or her residence (tax home), the temporary travel expenses can be paid or reimbursed by the employer on a tax-free basis.

Example: Jason is a computer programmer and works out of his home in Indianapolis for an employer in Seattle. He periodically travels to Seattle for meetings with his team. Since Jason has no assigned office space in Seattle and is expected by his employer to work from his home, Jason’s travel expenses to Seattle can be reimbursed by his employer on a tax-free basis.

Travel to a temporary workplace

Sometimes an employer temporarily assigns an employee to work in a location that is far from the employee’s regular workplace, with the expectation that the employee will return to his or her regular workplace at the end of the assignment. In this event, the key question is whether the employee’s tax home moves to the temporary workplace. If the tax home moves to the temporary workplace, the travel expenses between the employee’s residence and the temporary workplace that are paid or reimbursed by the employer are taxable compensation to the employee because they are personal commuting expenses rather than business travel expenses. Whether or not the employee’s tax home moves to the temporary workplace depends on the duration of the assignment and the expecations of the parties.

One year or less . If the assignment is expected to last (and actually does last) one year or less, the employee’s tax home generally does not move to the temporary workplace. Therefore, travel expenses between the employee’s residence and temporary workplace that are paid or reimbursed by the employer are typically tax-free to the employee as business travel.

Example: Janet lives and works in Denver but is assigned by her employer to work in San Francisco for 10 months. She returns to Denver after the 10-month assignment. Janet’s travel expenses associated with her assignment in San Francisco that are reimbursed by her employer are not taxable income to her as they are considered temporary business travel and not personal commuting expenses.

More than one year or indefinite . If the assignment is expected to last more than one year or is for an indefinite period of time, the employee’s tax home generally moves to the temporary workplace. This is the case even if the assignment ends early and actually lasts one year or less. Consequently, travel expenses between the employee’s residence and the temporary workplace that are paid or reimbursed by the employer are taxable compensation to the employee as personal commuting expenses.

Example: Chris lives and works in Dallas but is assigned by his employer to work in Oklahoma City for 15 months before returning to Dallas. Chris’s travel expenses associated with his assignment to Oklahoma City that are reimbursed by his employer are taxable income to him as personal commuting expenses.

One year or less then extended to more than one year . Sometimes an assignment is intended to be for one year or less, but then is extended to more than one year. According to the IRS, the tax home moves from the regular workplace to the temporary workplace at the time of the extension. Therefore, travel expenses incurred between the employee’s residence and the temporary workplace that are paid or reimbursed by the employer are non-taxable business travel expenses until the time of the extension, but are taxable compensation as personal commuting expenses after the extension.

Example: Beth’s employer assigns her to a temporary workplace in January with a realistic expectation that she will return to her regular workplace in September. However, in August, it is clear that the project will take more time so Beth’s assignment is extended to the following March. Once Beth’s employer knows, or has a realistic expectation, that Beth’s work at the temporary location will be for more than one year, changes are needed to the tax treatment of Beth’s travel expenses. Only the travel expenses incurred prior to the extension in August can be reimbursed tax-free; travel expenses incurred and reimbursed after the extension are taxable compensation.

When an employee’s residence and regular workplace are in the same geographic location and the employee is away on a temporary assignment, the employee will often return to the residence for weekends, holidays, etc. Expenses associated with travel while enroute to and from the residence can be paid or reimbursed by an employer tax-free, but only up to the amount that the employee would have incurred if the employee had remained at the temporary workplace instead of traveling home.

Travel to a temporary workplace – Special situations

In order for an employer to treat its payment or reimbursement of travel expenses as tax-free rather than as taxable compensation, the employee’s ties to the regular workplace must be maintained. The employee must expect to return to the regular workplace after the assignment, and actually work in the regular workplace long enough or regularly enough that it remains the employee’s tax home. Special situations arise when an employee’s assignment includes recurring travel to a temporary workplace, continuous temporary workplaces, and breaks in assignments to temporary workplaces.

Recurring travel to a temporary workplace . Although the IRS has not published formal guidance which can be relied on, it has addressed situations where an employee has a regular workplace and a temporary workplace to which the employee expects to travel over more than one year, but only on a sporadic and infrequent basis. Under the IRS guidance, if an employee’s travel to a temporary workplace is (1) sporadic and infrequent, and (2) does not exceed 35 business days for the year, the travel is temporary even though it occurs in more than one year. Consequently, the expenses can be paid or reimbursed by an employer on a tax-free basis as temporary business travel.

Example: Stephanie works in Location A but will travel on an as-needed basis to Location B over the next three years. If Stephanie’s travel to Location B is infrequent and sporadic and does not exceed 35 business days a year, her travel to Location B each year can be reimbursed by her employer on a tax-free basis as temporary business travel.

Continuous temporary workplaces . Sometimes an employee does not have a regular workplace but instead has a series of temporary workplaces. If the employee’s residence cannot qualify as his or her tax home under a three-factor test developed by the IRS, the employee is considered to have no tax home and is “itinerant” for travel reimbursement purposes. In this case, travel expenses paid by the employer generally would be taxable income to the employee.

Example: Patrick originally worked in Location A, but his employer sends him to Location B for eleven months, then assigns Patrick to Location C for another eight months. Patrick will be sent to Location D after Location C with no expectation of returning to Location A. Patrick does not maintain a residence in Location A. Travel expenses paid to Patrick by his employer will likely be taxable income to him.

Breaks between temporary workplaces . In an internal memorandum, the IRS addresses the outcome when an employee has a break in assignments to temporary workplaces. When applying the one-year rule, the IRS notes that a break of three weeks or less is not enough to prevent aggregation of the assignments, but a break of at least seven months would be. Some companies choose to not aggregate assignments when the breaks are shorter than seven months but are considerably longer than three weeks, given the lack of substantive guidance from the IRS on this issue.

Example: Don’s regular workplace is in Location A. Don’s employer sends him to Location B for ten months, back to Location A for eight months, and then to Location B again for four months. Although Don’s time in Location B totals 14 months, since the assignments there are separated by a break of at least seven months, they are not aggregated for purposes of applying the one-year rule. Consequently, the travel expenses associated with each separate assignment to Location B can be reimbursed by the employer on a tax-free basis as temporary business travel since each assignment lasted less than a year.

Conclusion

The tax rules regarding business travel are complex and the tax treatment can vary based on the facts of a situation. Employers must carefully analyze business travel arrangements to determine whether travel expenses that they pay or reimburse are taxable or nontaxable to employees.

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Tax Deductions for Business Travelers

When you are self-employed, you generally can deduct the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for business from your income. But before you start listing travel deductions, make sure you understand what the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) means by "home," "business," and "ordinary and necessary expenses."

Ordinary vs. necessary expenses

Business home, not home sweet home, transportation expenses on a business trip are deductible, fees for getting around are deductible, lodging, meals and tips are deductible.

Key Takeaways

Typically, you can deduct travel expenses if they are ordinary (common and accepted in your industry) and necessary (helpful and appropriate for your business).
You can deduct business travel expenses when you are away from both your home and the location of your main place of business (tax home).
Deductible expenses include transportation, baggage fees, car rentals, taxis and shuttles, lodging, tips, and fees.
You can also deduct 50% of either the actual cost of meals or the standard meal allowance, which is based on the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate.

The IRS defines expense ordinary and necessary expenses this way:

An expense is ordinary if it is common and accepted in your industry
An expense is necessary if it is helpful and appropriate for your business

You can claim business travel expenses when you're away from home but "home" doesn't always mean where your family lives. You also have a tax home—the city where your main place of business is located—which may not be the same as the location of your family home.

For example, if you live in Petaluma, California but your permanent work location is in San Jose where you stay in hotels and eat out during the work week, you typically can't deduct your expenses in San Jose or your transportation home on weekends.

In this situation San Jose is your tax home , so no deductions are permitted for ordinary and necessary expenses there.
Your trips to your home in Petaluma are not mandated by business.

Go by plane, train or bus—the actual cost of the ticket to ride is deductible, as well as any baggage fees. If you have to pay top dollar for a last-minute flight, the high-priced ticket is a business expense, but if you use frequent-flyer miles for a free ticket, the deduction is zero.

If you decide to rent a car to go on a business trip, the car rental is deductible. If you drive your own vehicle, you can usually take actual costs or the IRS standard mileage rate. For 2023 the rate is 65.5 cents per mile. You also can add tolls and parking costs onto your deduction. This amount increases to 67 cents per mile for 2024.

TurboTax Tip: Even if you use the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rates to calculate your deductions, be sure to keep receipts from all your meals and incidental expenses.

Fares for taxis or shuttles can be deducted as business travel expenses. For example, you can deduct the fare or other costs to go to:

Airport or train station
Hotel from the airport or train station
Between your hotel and the work location
Between clients in the area

If you rent a car when you arrive at your destination, the expense is deductible as long as the car is used exclusively for business. If you use it both for business and personal purposes, you can only deduct the portion of the rental used for business.

The IRS allows business travelers to deduct business-related meals and hotel costs, as long as they are reasonable considering the circumstances—not lavish or extravagant.

You would have to eat if you were home, so this might explain why the IRS limits meal deductions to 50% of either the:

Actual cost of the meal
Standard meal allowance

This allowance is based on the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate that depends on where and when you travel.

Generally, you can deduct 50% of the cost of meals. Alternatively, if you do not incur any meal expenses nor claim the standard meal allowance, you can deduct the amount of $5 per day for incidental expenses. You can also deduct incidental expenses, such as:

Fees and tips given to hotel staff
Fees for porters and baggage carriers

But don't forget to keep track of the actual costs.

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What are the Rules for Employee Business Travel?

Feb 1, 2022
Best practices for small businesses , Tax

Business travel has substantially decreased over the past couple of years due to the pandemic, but from time to time, employees still need to travel for work-related reasons. Maybe it’s driving between different employer-owned locations within a workday, or maybe it’s to attend a conference or trade show that includes an overnight stay. Regardless of the purpose, it’s important to know how employees are paid for these different activities.

Paying Business Travel Expenses

The first question to ask is whether the company reimburses travel expenses under an accountable plan. An accountable plan allows travel expenses to be excluded from the employee’s wages, meaning they’re not subject to withholding or reporting (i.e., the travel reimbursement doesn’t trigger a Form W-2). There are three requirements for an accountable plan:

The expense must be work-related
The employee must provide accurate documentation within a reasonable time
Any excess reimbursements or advances must be returned to the employer within a reasonable time

Employees are responsible for maintaining good records, which means receipts, mileage documentation, and turning in a reimbursement request in a timely manner. The employer is then responsible for reimbursing the employee also in a timely fashion, generally within 30 days after the employee submits a reimbursement request.

The next question is whether the business travel is within the employee’s normal workday, or whether it requires an overnight stay. Rules for paying expenses and employee hourly wages differ for each of those scenarios.

Meals. If an employee is away from the workplace for the day and has lunch and/or dinner while on the road, that is not a reimbursable business expense because the employee is not staying overnight. However, if the meal is directly related to and necessary for the business, such as attending a business meeting that includes a meal, then it is reimbursable.

Overnight Travel Expenses. Reasonable business-related expenses for travel, lodging and meals can be paid to employees using a per diem rate or reimbursed for actual expenses.

Per diem is a flat rate under an accountable plan for business travel away from home. The General Services Administration (GSA) sets the federal per diem rate, which is $59 for meals and incidentals and $96 for lodging in 2022. Employers can also choose to use the IRS simplified per diem rates which set one rate for urban areas with a higher cost of living and a lower rate for areas with a lower cost. Per diems are not considered wages as long as employees follow the accountable plan rules above for documentation and returning any excess.

Note – business owners and sole proprietors can’t use per diem for lodging expenses and must maintain records of actual expenses instead.

Vehicle Usage. If an employee uses their personal vehicle for business travel, the employee can be reimbursed using the cents-per-mile method or using the actual cost incurred by the employee substantiated by receipts including date(s), mileage, and business purpose. Any reimbursement over the federal mileage rate (58.5 cents per mile in 2022) is taxable and reportable on Form W-2.

If the employee uses a company-owned vehicle for business travel, there are no tax consequences but the employee is required to maintain mileage records. For more information, refer to our blogs on this topic.

The (Fringe) Benefits of Providing a Company Car
2022 Mileage Rates and Tax Rules for business Use of an Automobile

When is Travel Time Paid?

Employees must report – and the employer must pay – all hours the employee works. Employees who are subject to overtime (non-exempt employees) are paid overtime for working more than 40 hours in a week (and in some states, for working more than 8 hours in a workday). Exempt employees are not subject to overtime, so time spent traveling is not paid any differently than their normal salary.

Here are examples of how pay should be handled for different travel situations:

Travel During the Normal Work Day

An employee’s normal commute between work and home is not work time. This is true even if the employee normally works at a different location each day, and if the employee goes to the workplace outside their normal work hours (to catch up on work over the weekend, for example).
If an employee travels to different work locations throughout the normal workday, that travel time should be paid. This can include traveling from the employee’s normal workplace to other employer-owned locations, to visit customers, or other work-related travel. This includes traveling out of town and returning within the workday.

Business Travel Requiring an Overnight Stay

If an employee is a passenger on an airplane, train, bus, boat, or automobile traveling outside normal working hours, that time is not considered work time. However, if the employee is working while a passenger, that time should be paid.
If the employee is required to drive themselves or others, that time must be paid. If the employee volunteers to drive their own vehicle, the time outside normal work hours is not required to be paid.
While out of town on overnight business travel, time spent working must be paid, but time spent in personal activities is not compensable. That means if an employee attends a conference from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and then goes out to eat with conference buddies, then back to the hotel to watch TV and sleep, only the 10 hours of work – attending the conference – is paid.

What About Spouses or Traveling Companions?

Any company-paid travel expenses on behalf of a spouse or non-employee traveling companion are considered income and reportable on the employee’s Form W-2 as a taxable fringe benefit. For instance, if you have a larger hotel room because of your spouse, only the cost of a single room is considered to be a reasonable business expense. If both parties travel on an airplane, only the employee’s ticket is a business expense.

Your State May Differ

State rules usually follow these federal rules, but be sure to check your state’s requirements to ensure you’re in compliance.

For More Information

Both IRS Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits and Publication 463, Travel Gift, and Car Expenses cover the topic of business travel. Or contact your Mize relationship manager for assistance with your situation – we’re here to help!

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View From The Rock

Understanding tax rules for employee travel expenses.

April 11, 2017
David Shindel
Business Practices

The first step is for the employer to identify the employee’s tax home. The determination of tax home is important because any expenses paid by the employer for the employee’s transportation between his or her personal residence and his or her tax home are treated as personal commuting expenses and are taxable to the employee.

To identify the employee’s tax home, the employer needs to answer the following question: What is the work location where the employee spends more of his or her time than any other work location?

The identified location is the employee’s tax home, which could be the employee’s personal residence if the employee spends more time working there than at any other location.

The second step is to identify specific destinations to which the employee travels (other than his or her tax-home work location) and determine the tax treatment of travel expenses paid by the employer related to those destinations. Each specific destination must be analyzed separately to determine whether the travel expenses related to the destination are taxable.

To determine the tax treatment, it is necessary to analyze the relationship between the tax-home work location and the other work location. The starting point is to explore an important concept referred to as “away from home.” If the other work location is away from the employee’s tax-home work location, all reasonable expenses paid by an employer related to travel between the tax-home work location and the other work location are nontaxable This includes transportation, meals and lodging.

The third step is to understand that Rev. Rul. 99-7, 1999-1 CB 361, provides that costs for transportation between a taxpayer’s personal residence and a temporary work location are deductible. Thus, employers can pay for these costs on a tax-free basis to employees. In CCA 200026025, the IRS states that if there is a realistic expectation that an employee will perform services at a work location for no more than 35 workdays (or partial workdays) during a calendar year, employment at that location may be treated as temporary for a calendar year in which the employee actually works no more than 35 workdays (or partial workdays) at that location. Thus, if an employee goes to a work location 35 days or less in a calendar year, the transportation expenses paid by the employer are nontaxable to the employee, and no further analysis with respect to that location is required. Based on this, an employer should answer the following question: Does the employee spend 35 days or less in a calendar year at the work location? Note that in answering this question, a day counts as a full day even if the employee is at the work location for only part of the day.

If the answer is yes, expenses paid by the employer for the employee’s transportation expenses are nontaxable to the employee. If the answer is no, the employer should proceed to Step 4 because further analysis is required to determine whether the transportation expenses paid by the employer are taxable or nontaxable to the employee.

Rev. Rul. 99-7 provides that if a taxpayer’s residence is the taxpayer’s principal place of business within the meaning of Section 280A(c)(1)(A), the taxpayer may deduct daily transportation expenses incurred in going between the residence and another work location in the same trade or business, regardless of whether the work location is regular or temporary and regardless of the distance. Thus, if an employee qualifies for this treatment, transportation expenses paid by the employer are nontaxable, and no further analysis is required. Under Section 280A(c)(1), a portion of the personal residence must be used exclusively by the employee for administrative or management activities, and there must be no other fixed location of the trade or business where the employee conducts substantial administrative or management functions. In addition, the personal residence must be used for the convenience of the employer.

To apply the rules described above, an employer should start by answering the following question:

Does the employee use a portion of his or her residence exclusively for administrative or management activities related to the employer?

If the answer is no, the employer should skip to Step 5 for further analysis, since the employee does not qualify for this special home office rule. If the answer is yes, the employer should answer the following additional question:

Is there any other work location of the employer where the employee performs substantial administrative or management activities for the employer?

If the answer is yes, the employer should skip to Step 5, since the employee does not qualify for this special home office rule. If the answer is no, the transportation expenses that the employer pays related to the work location are nontaxable to the employee, as long as the employee’s use of his or her personal residence is for the convenience of the employer. If an employee is using a portion of his or her residence exclusively for the employer’s business, that use is probably a convenience to the employer.

As noted earlier, Rev. Rul. 99-7 provides that a taxpayer may deduct daily transportation expenses incurred in going between the taxpayer’s residence and a temporary work location. The Ruling provides rules for determining whether a work location is temporary. Under the Ruling, if employment at a work location is realistically expected to last (and does in fact last) for one year or less, the employment is temporary in the absence of facts and circumstances indicating otherwise. If employment at a work location is realistically expected to last for more than one year or there is no realistic expectation that the employment will last for one year or less, the employment is not temporary, regardless of whether it actually exceeds one year. If employment at a work location initially is realistically expected to last for one year or less, but at some later date the employment is realistically expected to exceed one year, the employment will be treated as temporary (in the absence of facts and circumstances indicating otherwise) until the date that the taxpayer’s realistic expectation changes; it will be treated as not temporary after that date.

CCA 200026025 provides break-in-service rules for purposes of applying the one-year rule in Rev. Rul. 99-7. It provides that if there is a continuous break of seven months or more, the one-year clock is stopped, and starts again if and when the employee resumes employment at the work location. It also provides that a break of three weeks does not stop the clock. No guidance is provided with respect to breaks that are between three weeks and seven months.

Thus, an employer needs to adopt a rule with respect to breaks that are between three weeks and seven months. The most conservative approach is to adopt a rule that only a break of seven months or more is sufficient to stop the one-year clock, and that any breaks that are less than seven months will not stop the one-year clock. The remainder of this article assumes that the employer has adopted the most conservative approach, because such an approach ensures that the employer will not treat transportation expenses as nontaxable when the IRS might take a contrary position.

To apply these rules, the employer should ask the following questions in the order presented: Has the employee been going to this work location for more than one year?

To answer this question in a manner that accurately applies the rules, the following instructions are necessary: Answer yes even if the employee has not gone to this location on a regular schedule, and even if the employee has not gone frequently.

If the employee has had a break of seven months or more in the past during which he or she completely stopped going to the location, answer yes only if the employee has been going to the work location for more than one year following the break.

If the answer is yes, the work location is not temporary, and any transportation expenses paid by the employer are taxable to the employee. No further analysis is necessary.

If the answer is no, the employer should continue to the following question:

Do you anticipate that when you add the time the employee has been going to this location and the future time that you anticipate the employee will be going to this location, it will add up to more than one year?

To answer this question in a manner that accurately applies the rules, the following instructions are necessary: Answer yes even if the employee’s work at this location is not on a regular schedule and even if it is infrequent.

When you count the time the employee has been going to this location, if the employee has had a break of seven months or more in the past during which he or she completely stopped going to the location, count only the time the employee has gone to the location since the break.

When you count the future time that you anticipate the employee will be going to the location, if you anticipate that the employee will have a break of seven months or more in the future during which he or she completely stops going to the location, count only the time you anticipate the employee will go to the work location before the break.