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Deductions & credits

You can claim deductible business auto expenses in one of two ways.

  • IRS Mileage Rate:  You can claim business miles times the IRS mileage rate.  IRS mileage rates for business activities are $.555/mile.
  • Actual Cost:You can claim your actual costs including depreciation times the percentage that you use your car for business.  Actual costs would include gas, oil, insurance, repairs, etc. Payments on a note would not be deductible.  The cost of the vehicle would be deducted through depreciation instead (or lease deducting lease payments if you lease it.)
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Where to Deduct

If you are an employee, they are a miscellaneous itemized deduction.  Miscellaneous itemized deductions are only available if you qualify to itemize and only to the extent that they exceed 2% of your Adjusted Gross Income.  Example:  If your Adjusted Gross Income is $50,000, only miscellaneous itemized deductions over $1,000 are deductible.  Because of this, many items deductible as miscellaneous itemized deductions have no tax value because the taxpayer doesn't itemize, or because they are lost in the 2% of adjusted gross income limitation.

If you are self-employed, these expenses would be business expenses on Schedule C.

(No matter which method you use, your auto expenses must be reduced by any reimbursement not otherwise reported as income.)

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