Mileage Deduction for a Private Tutor with Part Time Job as well

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Here's the situation. I have a part time W2 job (no benefits included) for which I work about 19 hours a week. I also tutor privately at each client's house.

During the week, I drive to the location of my part time W2 employment. After working there, I often travel direct to a client's house for private tutoring. Then from that client's house I either travel to an additional client or directly home. On weekends, I often travel direct from my house to client 1 and then usually on to a few more clients, before returning home.

My part-time W2 job and my private work are not related besides the fact that both involve tutoring. Can someone please explain if I am able to deduct any mileage from my private tutoring and if so what I would need to do. Also, if this involves claiming a home office exemption, would it make a difference if I am currently renting a room in a house? I do spend quite a bit of time at home, prepping for lessons.

rjs

Level 15

You cannot deduct mileage for any trip from or to your home. Those trips are commuting, which is not deductible. You can deduct, as a business expense, mileage for trips between work locations - from your W-2 job to a client, or from one client to another.

What you have to do is keep a detailed contemporaneous log of every trip, showing the date, starting point, destination, and mileage. When you prepare your tax return at the end of the year you will have to enter your total mileage for business (the deductible miles), commuting, and personal use. Those three should add up to the total mileage on the car for the year. You do not have to have a home office for this.

You might be able to deduct the mileage for trips between home and a client (but not your W-2 job) if your home qualified as your "principal place of business" for the private tutoring work. But you probably don't meet the requirements for your home to be your principal place of business. First of all, you would have to have a space in your home that is used exclusively for the business. There are exceptions to the exclusive use rule for storage of inventory and running a daycare center, but those don't apply to you.

McCoolAuthor

Level 2

Thanks for the response. Its doesn't seem all that fair that the IRS does not allow me to claim for mileage to and from my residence - that's my only real expense. So far, I've kept a diary of the addresses and times of client appointments so I can easily calculate mileage to and from clients.

There is a spare room in the house that I may be able to dedicate to my tutoring prep. I don't really care about deducting $$ for the home office, but it may be worth it if it allows me to deduct mileage to and from my house? However, if doing so sets off any type of flag for the IRS, I'll just leave things as is!

rjs

Level 15

The IRS doesn't decide what's deductible, Congress does. The fact that an expense is large is not one of the considerations in determining whether it's deductible.

I wouldn't bother with an office in your home. The IRS takes a hard look at business use of your home, so it's likely that it would be a red flag to some extent. To make your car trips deductible you would have to meet two sets of requirements - business use of your home and principal place of business. They overlap, but they are not the same. There are other requirements besides exclusive use. I just mentioned that because I thought it was likely that you didn't meet that requirement. You can read the requirements for principal place of business in IRS Publication 587, at the following link.

Principal Place of Business

Note that one of the considerations is "the relative importance of the activities performed at each place where you conduct business." Tutoring is obviously performed primarily in the clients' homes, not in your home. Also look at the examples of what are considered administrative or management activities. Preparing lessons does not fit comfortably into that category. Claiming that your home is your principal place of business for tutoring is a stretch. If I were you, I wouldn't push it.