If you are an employee receiving a W-2, there is nothing you can claim on your Federal tax return related to using your personal vehicle for work purposes. The unreimbursed employee expense deduction was suspended for tax years 2018 through 2025 due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
Had that not been the case, claiming the mileage or the actual expenses related to using your car may not have been possible anyway depending on your circumstance. The rules for when vehicle expenses may be claimed as an employee are strict. Prior to the tax law change, employees could deduct mileage for commuting between multiple job sites during the same day, as well as commuting to temporary work locations and offsite business meetings.
That being said, certain states did not conform to the changes for the TCJA and they still allow employee business expenses. If your actual vehicle expenses exceed the amount that you were reimbursed for mileage, then you may be eligible to claim the difference on your state return. You would need to go through Form 2106 Employee Business Expense in the Federal return to enter the information, which would then transfer to the state return.
Use these steps to get started and TurboTax will let you know if your state may allow the deduction:
- On the top row of the TurboTax online screen, click on Search (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax locate the search box in the upper right corner)
- This opens a box where you can type in “2106” (be sure to enter exactly as shown here) and click the magnifying glass (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax, click Find)
- The search results will give you an option to “Jump to 2106”
- Click on the blue “Jump to 2106” link
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