A borough supplies station wagons or pick-up trucks to foremen, who regularly perform part of their duties on a daily basis in an office in the public works department, but are on call in the evenings and on weekends to respond to an emergency call, such as a water main break or in a snowstorm, whereupon the foreman typically goes first to the public works office to assign different tasks among the employees, and thereafter proceeds to the field to supervise.
Should weekend days be considered in computing the automobile standby charges; and would travel between home and a place of work in response to an emergency call be considered personal or work-related? CRA responded:
[A]n automobile is available to an employee if the employee has access to or control of it. The employee ceases to have access to it when the employee hands over all the keys.
Thus, weekend days must be considered in calculating the taxable benefit under paragraph 6(1)(e) and subsection 6(2).
… [U]se of a motor vehicle [is not] personal use if the employer requires the employee to travel directly from the employee’s home to a place other than the place of business where the employee regularly reports, or to return home from that place.
… [T]he borough's public works office is a regular place of employment for the foremen.
Thus, foremen's travel in response to emergency calls in the evenings and on weekends to get to the public works office would be of a personal nature.