Posted by John Bouchard on 10/29/12 4:57pm
Msg #441138

Mileage - It the borrower is ten miles from your home office

do you write off ten miles or 20 miles for the round trip? The reason I ask this question is I have a friend with a company car. THier policy is the first call for him when he leaves his home office is considered personal miles and he must list it that way...

Reply by JPH13/MO on 10/29/12 5:05pm
Msg #441142

When I was a real estate agent I had to deduct the mileage it would take me to get to my real estate office from the mileage to the first appointment and also from the mileage back home from the last appointment (when I went straight from home and didn't go to my real estate office first). This was considered personal mileage because my office in my home was not my "real" office, my real office was at the real estate agency that had my real estate license. Just like going to any other job where you don't get a write-off for mileage just because you went to your job.

For a notary business, most people ONLY have a home office, so they can deduct mileage from the time they leave their home until they time they return as long as it is all business-related, and should keep a log of what the mileage was for each assignment. So the answer would be that unless you own a separate office elsewhere that you use for your notary business, you can deduct the full 20 miles as long as it was all business-related and you didn't, say, stop to see a friend on the way that caused extra mileage. If you stopped to see a friend, subtract whatever mileage occurred due to that from the mileage you can use as a deduction that was all due to business.

Reply by Clem/CA on 10/29/12 7:23pm
Msg #441179

Auto expenses



http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch04.html#en_US_2011_publink100033930

Reply by JanetK_CA on 10/30/12 12:15am
Msg #441211

What you're describing is one of the differences between being an employee and being a business owner or independent contractor. I believe the IRS allows deduction of mileage from your "primary place of business" to and from other business-related activities at whatever the established rate is that they publish for that year. Mileage from home to and from the primary place of business (for employees driving to a job) is considered commuting mileage and is not deductible. However, for the business use, you're also supposed to keep a record of the business purpose, who you met with and where.

Like someone else said, when you don't have any other office, your home is your primary place of business. In your friend's case, since he's an employee, if his company is paying for the car, they get the deduction for the mileage for business use. They're not supposed to deduct his personal use mileage, so that's presumably why they ask him to separate that out. (That's only if they use the mileage deduction vs. actual cost.)