The miles you drive
for your job do qualify. Unfortunately, there can be any number of reasons it doesn't
show up on your Schedule A (Itemized
Deductions) or affect your bottom line.
One common reason is
that your total itemized deductions (Property Tax, Mortgage Interest,
Charitable Donations and State Income Tax) don't add up to more than the
standard deduction for your filing status. More
info about your situation would be needed to know for sure. You can see
that standard deductions below.
Simply using 10,000
miles at the standard mileage rate of .54/miles (2016) would equal a $5,400
deduction. Unfortunately, you must reduce this (combined with other employment
expenses such as cell phone, office supplies, etc.) by 2% of your AGI (Line 37,
1040). With a $50,000 income, you would have to take $1,000 (50,000 x 2%) off of the $5,400, leaving you with $4,400 This can seriously reduce your deduction depending on your AGI.
In this example, you would be better off with a $6,300 standard deduction (Single), than $4,400 itemized. Understand that there are more itemized deductions that you're allowed, but this is a simple example showing how sometimes in doesn't help.
Here are the
standard deduction amounts for 2016. (Your itemized deductions need to exceed
this number in order for them to help you and trigger a Schedule A on your
return.)
Filing Status Standard Deduction
Single
$6,300
Married Filing
Jointly $12,600
Married Filing
Separately $6,300
Head of Household
$9,300
Qualifying Widow(er)
$12,600
