The taxpayer, who was employed as a forestry equipment operator, was required to travel to various remote logging sites with a forestry vehicle. His employer paid an allowance, but disallowed the first 50 kilometers of each trip on the basis that the taxpayer was assumed to head to the employer's office first (a personal expense), and from there to the logging site. Woods J. found at paras. 16-18 that no portion of the drive to the site was a personal expense. The general principle, that travel from home to work is a personal expense, is typically confined to cases where the taxpayer's destination is a regular place of business.
Woods J. found at paras. 20-22 that the allowance could not be excluded from income under s. 6(1)(b)(vii.1), because it was not a "reasonable allowance." The allowance was not calculated solely on the basis of kilometers but included other factors such as which equipment was being transported. Moreover, the allowance was not intended to reimburse all employment-related costs, but only to provide some assistance. However, because the allowance was not reasonable, s. 8(1)(h.1)(iii) did not apply and the taxpayer was entitled to deduct his motor vehicle travel expenses.