Error message for business mileage calculation

[Superfly]

On the Car and Truck Expenses Worksheet are two line items to enter business mileage; 6a for miles 01/01/22 through 06/30/22, and 6b for miles 07/01/22 through 12/31/22.

I used my car for business use in 2021 and will again in 2023, but simply did not travel in 2022, therefore I have 0 miles to claim in both 6a and 6b. Turbo Tax is flagging an error because the combined value of 6a and 6b is not greater than 0. Is there something to toggle to bypass this error? Can the code be updated to account for this (it seems that something was overlooked in the software validation with regard to this situation)?

In case it mattered, I added a 0 and removed the 0 from line 7 to see if that somehow affected anything and it does not affect the error message.

[Vanessa A · Accepted solution]

Did you select that you did not use that vehicle in 2022 for business?  On the screen that says tell us about your business vehicle, there is a box that you can check that says "I stopped using this vehicle in 2022"  then you can enter the date you stopped using it.  You can enter 12/31/2021 or whatever date you stopped using it, if you did not use it even a day in 2022. 

[Superfly]

I was not prompted on whether or not I used my vehicle in 2022 and didn’t even consider doing anything with my vehicle for 2022 in Turbo Tax. I was flagged when doing the “check for errors” feature after entering all my tax info at which point it brought up a window with line items that needed attention on the Car and Truck worksheet.

I went in to the business expenses section for vehicles and found the check box you were describing. I guess I’ll enter 12/31/2022 for “stopped using” date. There’s quite a few questions that need to be answered now which are not applicable which is annoying, and no doubt, more questions to answer next year when I add my vehicle back in use. I wish this was more simple (more so on the IRS side of things), but I am thankful for Turbo Tax nevertheless.

I’m error-message free now, so thank you.

[pandora1988]

I am getting the exact same error. Hubby didn’t start job until august so I put in $0 for 1/1-6/30/22 and actual mileage for 7/1-12/31/22. Checks it and says it’s OK till I get to the end for a review. Then it tells me business miles should be zero. I’m lost. 

[Superfly]

I'm sure one of the experts may see your question and chime in with solid advice, but for what it's worth, I would double check the mileage numbers and the date the vehicle was put into service to make sure a number wasn't incorrectly entered (funny enough I did that very thing last time where I entered my odometer reading with a digit swapped that threw some things off).

For curiosity sake, I looked at my 2021 taxes to see if anything stood out since I added my vehicle late in the season but I see that in 2021 there's only one line item (line 6) for miles driven in the year compared with the 2022 version that splits line 6 into two parts. I can't see any reason to do this and can only guess it's something the IRS implemented to torture us common folk 🙂

I'm not sure if you're doing this or not, but open the forms up (upper right corner of Turbo Tax and go to the Car and Truck worksheet under schedule C) so you can see everything easier than looking at the little pop-up window that opens when there's an error. I find this easier to look things over. Maybe you're already doing that. Anyway, good luck.

[AmyC]

There are two mileage rates in effect for 2022 for business mileage. 

1/1-6/30 is 58.5 cents per mile

7/1-12/31 is 62.5 cents per mile

Double check that you entered the date the vehicle was placed in service, own or lease. If you lease the car, you can't claim lease cost and standard mileage.

Entering zero for the first part is correct.

I wonder if you lease. Otherwise, I tried your scenario and it worked fine for owning a vehicle.

@pandora1988 

@Superfly 

[pandora1988]

I’ve decided it’s just a heads up because you get a different amount for the first six months of the year, but he didn’t start until August. I think it’s just reminding me that that line should be zero. We own the car outright, and I’m not messing with depreciation or any of that. We are just taking mileage because it’s such a small amt overall. 

[pandora1988]

I looked and it’s not actually an error message. It’s telling me to check because business mileage should be zero for the first six months of the year. I had it listed as zero. So I think it was just a double check based on his start date of August. Thank you though!

[celstria]

I owned two vehicles in 2022.  First vehicle was from 1/1/2022-4/29/22 then traded in on 4/29/2022 for another vehicle.  The first vehicle I keep getting an error for having zero miles from 7/1-12/31/22.  We did not own this vehicle during this time, so it is zero.  Or should it be left blank?  How do I resolve this error?

[pandora1988]

I had the same message and figured out it’s just asking us to verify it should be zero. There were 2 different reimbursement rates in 2022. One was from 1/1-6/30/22. The other was 7/1-12/31/22. So, it’s just an added check and not an error —- I believe. 

[RobertB4444]

That is an added check.  The system figures you should have mileage for the whole year.

@celstria @pandora1988 

[pandora1988]

Thank you! That’s what I was thinking. I’m seeing a lot of people confused about it. They should’ve been a little more clear.  

[UpsideDown]

I don't believe that marking a vehicle as no longer used for business - when the break in use may be temporary - is the right solution.  I don't see a reason that the Car and Truck Expenses Worksheet shouldn't be able to handle the situation where zero miles are driven for business in a given year.  In past years, this hasn't been a problem - TurboTax happily accepted zero business miles on the Car and Truck Expenses Worksheet.

As the OP noted, removing a vehicle from business use makes even more work - additional fields that need to be filled out to decommission the vehicle from business use, plus re-adding the worksheet in the future if the vehicle is again used for business.

When will TurboTax be correcting the Car and Truck Expenses Worksheet to accept zero for total business miles so that we can retain the worksheet with the return for future years?

[AliciaP1]

Can you clarify which version of TurboTax you are using?  For instance, TurboTax Online or TurboTax Home & Business.  I cannot recreate your error.

@UpsideDown

[UpsideDown]

@AliciaP1 

I am using the latest update of TurboTax Home and Business Desktop (Windows).

The Car and Truck Expenses worksheets in my return were automatically added to my 2022 return by TurboTax, based on data in my 2021 TurboTax data file.

I have two vehicles that have been used for business in the past - and may be used again for business in the future - but which were not used for business in 2022.  I am seeing the exact same validation error as @Superfly when I run the final review of the return, and TurboTax will not let me e-file.