Mileage Expenses and Deducting 'Personal Commute'

[vyfxdotcom]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey

I work for an IT company that sends us to different customer sites every day (one site per day). We travel from our home, and although we do have a "home office", we do not ever go to the office unless we have a meeting with our manager, etc..

Our company has asked us to expense mileage in the following way:

• Record amount of miles driven from HOME to JOB SITE
• Record amount of miles driven from JOB SITE back to HOME
• Add these miles together to get our TRIP MILES
• Now, take the number of round-trip miles it would take to drive from our HOME to the OFFICE and deduct it from the total TRIP MILES, even though we do not ever go to our office

For example, I live in a town in Central NJ.. I travel 50 miles south to a customer site, then 50 miles north back home. The total round-trip miles I drove to complete my job was 100 miles. However, I live 62.5 miles each way (125 miles round trip) from my company's office in Northern NJ.

In our company's online expense management system, I am told to enter: 100 - 125, thus giving me negative 25 miles, in which case I'd expense 0 miles and be reimbursed nothing.

Is this how it should be done legally? Am I supposed to take the round-trip miles to and from a customer site and, from that, subtract my total round-trip commute to our company's office? Should I only be deducting one way?

I have not been able to find a straightforward answer on IRS.gov or any other website. Thanks very much.

 

[cbg]

One reason you are not finding anything is that the IRS does not require your employer to pay you mileage at all, and you are not in either of the two states where mileage reimbursement is required by state law. The IRS has set a point at which mileage becomes taxable in the event that the employer opts to provide it, but there is no requirement that it be provided and therefore no procedure which is determined to be the "legal" method.

 

[tranquility]

I agree, the company does not need to reimburse mileage. But, the OP can deduct work mileage if not reimbursed.

Commuting mileage is not reimbursable, nor is it deductible. (Absent exceptions.)

Some exceptions:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch04.html

 

[TheGeekess]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey

I work for an IT company that sends us to different customer sites every day (one site per day). We travel from our home, and although we do have a "home office", we do not ever go to the office unless we have a meeting with our manager, etc..

Our company has asked us to expense mileage in the following way:

• Record amount of miles driven from HOME to JOB SITE
• Record amount of miles driven from JOB SITE back to HOME
• Add these miles together to get our TRIP MILES
• Now, take the number of round-trip miles it would take to drive from our HOME to the OFFICE and deduct it from the total TRIP MILES, even though we do not ever go to our office

For example, I live in a town in Central NJ.. I travel 50 miles south to a customer site, then 50 miles north back home. The total round-trip miles I drove to complete my job was 100 miles. However, I live 62.5 miles each way (125 miles round trip) from my company's office in Northern NJ.

In our company's online expense management system, I am told to enter: 100 - 125, thus giving me negative 25 miles, in which case I'd expense 0 miles and be reimbursed nothing.

Is this how it should be done legally? Am I supposed to take the round-trip miles to and from a customer site and, from that, subtract my total round-trip commute to our company's office? Should I only be deducting one way?

I have not been able to find a straightforward answer on IRS.gov or any other website. Thanks very much.

So, what's the mileage from the HO to the work site?

 

[ecmst12]

They are offering to reimburse you for mileage over and above what you might travel from your home to the office. A normal commute (home to job site and back) is not generally reimbursable, not a business expense or compensable work time. If you were to travel to multiple job sites during the day, that would be compensable work time and that mileage would be a legitimate business expense. They are not offering to reimburse you for any and all miles you drive to work, only for those times that you have to drive an extra-long distance to a job site.