The taxpayer worked throughout the year at a construction site 50 kilometers away from his home, for which his employer gave him a transportation allowance of $8,467. The Minister argued that the allowance was taxable income. Paragraph 8(1)(h.1) only applies to expenses for travel to places other than the employer's place of business. Because the taxpayer worked at the same site throughout the year, the Minister argued, the construction site was the employer's place of business.
Woods J. found that this allowance was not a taxable benefit. The employer's presence on the site was not in the nature of a permanent establishment, so it was not the employer's place of business (paras. 18-22). Paragraph 8(1)(h.1) also requires that the expenses be incurred in the course of the office or employment. Woods J. stated at para. 25: "The appellant worked at temporary construction sites, often away from the municipality in which he lived and that in which his employer was based. From a common sense point of view, and in the context of s. 8(1)(h.1), traveling to and from these sites is not a personal activity but is part of the duties of employment."