hi!

I own a small business and also offer services to my clients at their home, how should i write the miles i have driven from my work to the clients house?

i am new to this so i have no clue,
would really appreciate your help.

thank you.

To deduct mileage, you must use the guide provided by the IRS. It is updated annually to reflect price changes. A self-employedr can claim a deduction for miles driven to a job assignment. The starting point must be your home, an office or a job location, and the destination must also be a home, an office or a job location. You cannot deduct miles driven for other reasons even if you drove the same vehicle. The IRS requires you to take relatively straight routes from one location to another. An auditor may not allow you to claim side trips between two points if they added to the total length of your reported deductible use. You can deduct mileage driven for non-work reasons related to the business. This includes driving to the bank to make a deposit and meeting with professionals managing your business.you have the option of deducting actual expenses. This option provides benefits if you spent more on traveling than the federal reimbursement rate provides. Actual vehicle expenses include the actual cost for fuel, maintenance costs, oil change costs, the cost of new tires, vehicle registration fees, vehicle loan interest, vehicle insurance, lease payments, vehicle depreciation and toll booth and parking fees. Vehicle loan interest, toll and parking fees and registration fees also can be deducted by those who opt for the standard mileage rate. When you use the actual expenses option, you also must calculate the percentage of business use of the vehicle. The vehicle is used 100 percent for business if you do not use it for personal reasons. Otherwise, you have to subtract a percentage of the expenses due to your personal use of the vehicle. To deduct mileage on your federal tax returns, you must keep records of your mileage. Your records must show the starting point, each stop on your trip and the total mileage. You also must include the time and the date of your trip and the business purpose. If you opt to deduct actual expenses, you must maintain records, including receipts and canceled checks, to document the expenses. You also must have records of the total miles that you drove for the year. Normally, you can record each use of your vehicle and total the mileage to meet this requirement.

Note;the standard mileage rate and the actual costs method cannot be used at the same time. The standard mileage rate already has vehicle depreciation built into it, meaning that one cannot claim additional depreciation when using this form of deduction. In addition, small businesses that decide to use the standard mileage rate for a vehicle must do so in the first year that the vehicle is placed into service. In later years, a business can switch to the actual cost method if they so desire. However, a straight line method of depreciation, which yields a smaller deduction, must be used in all subsequent years for vehicles that initially used the standard mileage rate.

thanks for your help!

do I have to put how much the car cost even though I am haven't bought the car the years I am filing for

for eg: car bought in 2008
and filing for 12 and 13

do I still need to put car's vale

please reply.

thank you