I have two personal vehicles - one is a "toy" that does not get used for business, the other is mixed use. I track my business miles via my employer's expense reporting system. I also have a written log.
My issue is this:
My company has an office - I periodically work there. I know travel to/from the office is not re-imbursible.=>Correct;
However, most days, I travel to clients both in and out of my home state via car. My employer re-imburses me for mileage above 70 miles round trip. In other words, the first 35 miles each way, are not reimbursed.
So, here's my question: can I deduct those 70 miles, and how would I fill out the forms? Most tax software I have seen - including HR Block and Turbo Tax, just ask for the total miles driven in the year, and then the total business miles. For some reason it just seems weird to me that if I had 100 travel days x 70 miles un-reimbursed per travel day = 7,000 miles (which at .54/mi is not a small amount of money), that number would be suspect to someone at the IRS. Does any of this make sense?=========>>> On the tax return software, you must report only unreimbursed biz related mileage.No not at all aslongas you actually drive 7K miles for your employment/biz purposes. As you know In order to claim this deduction, you need to keep a detailed mileage log. Your mileage log should include the date, start time and end time, the activity involved, and the beginning and ending odometer readings. Mileage and expense-tracking tools can help you maximize this mileage amount because they are the most comprehensive., you may use your car for business purposes, perhaps to make sales calls, make deliveries, or pick up supplies or equipment or etc.
UNLESS your ER reimburse you for vehicle expenses, you will generally be able to deduct these expenses on your individual item tax return, as a miscellaneous itemized deduction on SCh A . So unless you itemize your deductions on SCh A of 1040 , you can never claim your biz related auto expenses; Given the limitations on employee business expense deductions, your employees will probably come to resent a non-reimbursement policy if they use their car for your business on a regular basis. |