I’m going to use my truck for the next few weeks to get to and from the job instead of going in and getting the company van.
What is a good figure for travel expenses and/or reimbursement ?
My truck gets 17 mpg and it takes approximately 30 minutes to get to the job. Job is about 23 miles away.
How much a day???
Replies
It's been awhile but I think I was getting .17 per mile.
The IRS millage re-imbusrement is 48.5 cents per mile.
If that is used then neither you, nor the employer has to substanate it and it is tax free.
That is suppose to be a "total rate" for gas, maintance, and depreciation. But it is one number that covers all vechicles.
Do you have a link to the IRS that shows the milage reimbursement rate? Thanks
Here is the link.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=147423,00.html
I work for a large corporation. Their policy is to reimburse at the IRS rate, currently 48½ ¢ per mile. It just went up due to gas prices. I can't ever remember the rate changing mid year before. Usually they come out with a new rate each January.
That rate covers all vehicle expenses (gas, maintenance, insurance, depreciation, etc.) so there is no other reimbursement except extras like tolls and parking.
Other travel expenses (meals, lodging, and so forth) are paid at actual with no limit (but I have seen people who routinely charge lavishly, like $100 bottles of wine and $400 phone bills, not last long with the company). Most companies, I believe, though, have limits or pay per diem. Entertainment expenses (video rentals, newspapers, etc.) are never reimbursed.
Like others have posted 48 1/2 cents per mile.
I've had travel time handled differently. One company didn't pay for any.
Another company paid from the time I left my house, till the time I left the job. Basically splitting the travel time.
"I'm going to use my truck for the next few weeks to get to and from the job instead of going in and getting the company van."
My understanding is that travel is on your ticket until you report to your first place of work. After that is it your employer's obligation.
So, if your employer pays you to travel to the work site, that reimbursement would be technically taxable. Dang hard to trace though.
Whereas using your truck for the travel AFTER you report at the shop, that can reimbursed and not reported.
The current IRS rate ($0.485/mile) is the easiest, most defensible and fairest, in general. If you're driving a Corolla, you'll make a little money. If you're driving a Hummer, you'll lose money. And maybe that is proper.
I think the downside of a single rate is if there's a mix of vehicles and one guy always uses his truck to haul the trash, tow the trailer, etc. My practice is to throw that guy an extra $10 that day.
If it is 10 miles to the shop and 15 miles to the jobsite, you get to claim 5 miles at the IRS rate, not 15 miles, for a total of 10 miles claimed for the day if you do not travel to another job.
Mileage from the starting job to the next is allowed.
If you are performing company business out of your own vehicle, or you are carting company tools/materials, the company insurance is liable (in my area) if an accident happens. Better check up on that.
jackstraw.
As an employee you are required to get to and from work on your own nickle.. however if your vehicle is used for work you get 48.5 cents per mile.. What I do since I'm a salesman is I don't count the mileage between my home and my first stop but I make it a practice to call on the nearest contractor to me first.. never more than a mile or two away..
I still document everything since I did for so many years it's a habit and I also use it to analize my travels (to make sure I'm as efficent as possible).
Should Uncle Sam ever want my records I've got them and that sort of record keeping has saved my butt the time I was adutited..
the rule has always been you cant deduct commuting expenses, that is driving to the office. but if you drive to a temporary jobsite, either from the office or home, the entire trip is business, and deductible or reimbursable. home to temp. site is fine. home to office, then to the temp. site limits you to the office-temp. site leg.
Our company just incresed reimbursement for pers vehicle use to 42.5 cents mile.
"if you drive to a temporary jobsite, either from the office or home, the entire trip is business, and deductible or reimbursable"No the trip from home to FIRST BUSINESS STOP and LAST BUSINESS STOP to home is commuting and not deductable.You can be reimbusred for ANYTHING, but it is taxable if it does not meet the above requirements.There is no distinction between fixed or permante business stops or what a buisness stop is other that it has to have a legit business purpose.If you have office in home (or shop out back) you can make that your first business stop.
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No the trip from home to FIRST BUSINESS STOP and LAST BUSINESS STOP to home is commuting and not deductable.You can be reimbusred for ANYTHING, but it is taxable if it does not meet the above requirements.There is no distinction between fixed or permante business stops or what a buisness stop is other that it has to have a legit business purpose.
----Not according to the IRS:
(http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/fringe_bnft_flsg.pdf)Pub. 463 Rev. Rul. 99-7 Transportation expenses are costs for local business travel that is not away from the tax home area overnight and is in the general
vicinity of the principal place of business. Travel expenses are
expenses for travel away from your tax home overnight.Reimbursement of expenses for local transportation for "temporary"
assignments are generally not taxable to the employee.Transportation expenses may include:
• Air, train, bus, shuttle and taxi fares in area of tax-home
• Mileage expenses or costs of operating a vehicle
• Tolls and parking feesTransportation expenses do not include:
• Meal and lodging costs
• Commuting to regular or principal place of businessRebeccah
"Transportation expenses do not include:• Commuting to regular or principal place of business"EXACTLY.And in the case of contruction unless they usely go to the office or shop where they start from each day then whatever the job is that day is the regular place of business.Read page 29 - 33.
I *am* reading pages 29-33.This is from page 32:Nontaxable (Excludable) Business Transportation
1. An employee with a one or more regular workplaces drives from
her residence to a temporary job site, either within the area of your
tax home or outside that area.
2. An employee drives from his regular office (or job location ) to ####temporary work site.
3. An employee drives from a first job to a second job.
4. An employee drives between temporary job sites.
5. An employee works at two places in one day and drives between
work sites whether or not for the same employer.
6. An employee has an office in the home that qualifies as a principal
place of business and drives between the home and another work
location in the same trade or business.As long as the job is less than a year in duration, it looks to me like example 1 applies. (If the job is more than a year, it's considered "indefinite" transportation rather than "temporary" transportation, and is taxable according to page 31.)Rebeccah
"Taxable Commuting4.An employee with no regular or main place of business drives between
his residence and his first and last business stops."But he also said this "I'm going to use my truck for the next few weeks to get to and from the job instead of going in and getting the company van."Which is not detailed. But if he NORMALLY drives to the office/shop and then normally takes a company vechicle to the job site, but in this case he is going DIRECTLY to the job site without stopping at the office/shop then it might be temporary work location where it is deductible.If he has to stop at the office/shop then that part is commuting, but not from their to the job site.
Agreed.Rebeccah
the distinction is whether you have a regular location or not. if a salesman works out of his home, and doesnt report to an office, then his first trip of each day is commuting. if a carpenter (or in my case 20 years ago, irs agent) has a regular office, but drives to the temporary job site instead, it is not commuting. commuting is a personal, non deductible expense. as agents we were taught to maximize our reimbursable expenses by going to a taxpayer's office first and last, and make any necessary stop at the office during the day. it made all day reimburseable. more importantly, it allowed us to take "french leave" (disappear at 3 p.m.) of course, this was before cell phones and other types of electronic ball and chain.
Or then again, maybe not...Page 33:
"(2) A Fish and Game warden lives in a remote area and doesn’t have a regular place of business. He drives daily to various, temporary job locations and is reimbursed for his mileage. Are any of his reimbursements taxable as a wage?Reimbursements for the daily travel between the employee's residence and the first and last work locations are taxable as a wage because the game warden doesn't have a regular place of business and he isn’t driving to a work site outside of the general area of his residence. Reimbursements for travel between the work sites is not taxable."So, I guess it really hinges on whether or not you have a "regular place of business". If you are employed by contractor and pick up your paycheck at the contractor's office rather than on-site, I wonder if that would qualify.Oh, and for the person who suggested the excludable mileage was the difference between the distance to the office and the distance to the first job:"(3) An employee travels from his residence to a temporary work site for the day, driving past his official duty station on the way. Is reimbursement for the mileage from the residence to the temporary work site excludable, or is it limited to the distance from the official duty station if it is less?Reimbursements for transportation between the residence and the temporary work site may be excludable because that is the actual distance traveled."