Milage

[tjthresh]

What do you guys claim? From where to where?

Now, what is legal to claim?

[yawetag]

I keep track of all mileage from the second I leave my house until I return, which even includes picking up the kids at the in-laws.

I only claim mileage in three situations:

1. All miles that take me outside my "metro" area, from when I leave the house until I return. In these situations, I also claim other expenses related to the trip.

2. If I go to work and then the event (meeting, game, etc), I claim miles from work to the game and back home.

3. If I go to the event and then work, I claim miles from the event to work and back home.

What's legal? From what I can tell from the documents available from the IRS, I'm claiming correctly. However, I'm not a tax professional, so don't use my situation as law.

[JaxRolo]

In my case we get paid milage by the school and it is a deal worked out by the association with the school.

We get paid from the Middle of Downtown to the game site. It doesn't matter where you live.

Sometimes I work a game right down the street from home and get $14.00 for milage. Sometimes I drive 45 minutes and get $9.00

[yawetag]

FWIW, here's a link to the relevant IRS document: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

[tjthresh]

Looks like I need to go back and figure some more mileage.

For record keeping, do you record each leg of the travel separately?

[FVBump]

I keep track of all mileage from the second I leave my house until I return, which even includes picking up the kids at the in-laws.

I only claim mileage in three situations:

1. All miles that take me outside my "metro" area, from when I leave the house until I return. In these situations, I also claim other expenses related to the trip.

2. If I go to work and then the event (meeting, game, etc), I claim miles from work to the game and back home.

3. If I go to the event and then work, I claim miles from the event to work and back home.

What's legal? From what I can tell from the documents available from the IRS, I'm claiming correctly. However, I'm not a tax professional, so don't use my situation as law.

Can you elaborate on #1? Then I can talk to my accountant.

And I do the same for 2 and 3...

[yawetag]

For record keeping, do you record each leg of the travel separately?

Sorta, and I realize now I misspoke originally. When I worked day shift and had a game that afternoon (going directly to the game after work), I wrote down my starting mileage when I left work and my ending mileage when I returned home. This often included extra mileage to pick up the kids from my in-laws. In the spreadsheet I use, I wrote these miles, then had a separate column for "claimed miles." At this point, I'd pull up Google Maps and map the trip from work to the field to home, then put the total miles into the "claimed miles" slot.

Now I work night shift, I don't get the opportunity to claim many miles, simply because most of my travel is from home, to the game, and back home.

Can you elaborate on #1? Then I can talk to my accountant.

According to the document I linked, Table 1-1 on page 5 shows what you can deduct "when you travel away from home." Further, "tax home" is defined on page 3. This states, "Generally your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work is located."

Again, I'm not a tax professional, and this information is given solely upon my interpretation of what I've read. This interpretation may or may not be correct under law.

[catsbackr]

NASO has so tax/mileage tips here NASO.