jsong83

hey,
i was on the AC expressway yesterday and during the long drive, my friend and i were having a conversation and the topic eventually went to being about work and cars. and when i told him that i drive a lot of miles during the work week for work because my commute is pretty far but he told me that i can use the miles i accumulate while going to work and deduct it from my taxes. he said something about $0.40 per mile but i dont understand the concept.

can anyone tell me if this is true and how i would go about doing this?

doopstr

You can not deduct your commute to work.

Beelzebub

Nope, commuting is not tax deductible.
Unless of course you are a consultant, then I think it is.

AdamNJ

Sounds like your friend overs the government some back taxes. Commuting doesn't count. If you actaully use your car for work: business trips, salesman using you own car, or driving between offices all day, then that is different.

eve

I saw my accountant yesterday and asked the same question. He told me that commute to work, no matter how far it is, is not tax-deductible (parking isn't deductible either). The only way you can deduct it from your taxes is when you have multiple office locations and you have to commute between offices, clients, etc. during work hours.

And it's 44.5 cents per mile.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

This is correct. You cannot deduct any mileage from commuting. If you go somewhere else though, you can deduct it. So say you drive to work, but then you need to go to a client 10 miles away. If you use your car, you can deduct those 20 miles.

But be careful... b/c if you get reimbursed by your company for that trip including the mileage... you cannot deduct it from your taxes. Personally when I did that I had my company reimburse me b/c I would get every penny back verses deducting it from your taxes which really doesn't do much when you're talking about that little...

GIBSON6594

Effective 1/1/07 the IRS mileage rate is 48.5 cents per mile.

eve

Thanks. I didn't know that.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Cool. Good to know. I have an expence report to file.

You cannot deduct your commute to work. However you may deduct your commute between jobs.

proaudio22

...well, sort of. The deal is (like everyone said) that you can deduct commuting expenses from YOUR office to somewhere else, like a clients. Soooo...if you are self employed and have a HOME office - driving from home to whatever company you are working for as a consultant/contractor/etc IS deductable.

I would know

Don't forget Section 179 for vehicles over 6000lbs GVWR!