tnweb2
New Member

Vehicle travel to check on rental property that is also personal use.

I drive my vehicle usually once or twice a year to check on rental property. (we use the rental part time and rent it when we aren’t there.)  The rest of the time the car is for personal use. Is this considered a business vehicle or can I just deduct the gasoline part of the car travel expense?
Additional info:  I received your answer regarding separating personal from business use of the car, but my question is: I guess I must I fill out the Vehicle Expense part of the tax return? (hoping I could just record the gasoline expense under Travel Expenses?)  I did not think to record my total mileage for the year 2016 (or from the start of the rental?).  We didn't start renting the place until September, (so should I have started tracking mileage on that date?), therefore do not know what the ratio would be.  :(   I can estimate, but it won't be accurate.  
MargaretL
Expert Alumni

Investors & landlords

You must allocate the rental portion and the personal portion of your vehicle expense since you used the car for both purposes.  For example, if you drove straight to your rental property, only mileage to the property and back is your rental purpose or only mileage for rental purposes is deductible.  Compare this against your total mileage driven, and you will have the ratio of rental vs. personal use. 

As to the gasoline part - you can deduct standard miles or actual expenses when claiming vehicle expenses. If you choose to deduct actual miles, then you can deduct the gasoline (and, of course, the rental portion as I explained above). If you choose to use standard mileage method (.54 cents per mile), the gasoline is included in the standard mileage rate, you cannot deduct it separately. 

View solution in original post

Investors & landlords

I have a rental property and I'm I'm entering actual expenses for it.

How to I calculate Gasoline and Vehicle Insurance?

 

Say I use the car 1 time every 2 weeks to go to the property.

 

For Insurance - should I enter the full cost of Insurance or only the number of days in the year I used it for traveling to and from the rental?

 

What about Gas?

If I traveled 10,000 miles in the year and 1,000 was for rental property.

If I spent $1,000 on gas would I enter $100 for Gasoline in Turbo Tax or the full $1,000

MarilynG1
Expert Alumni

Investors & landlords

The key is to calculate the % you use your vehicle for Business.

 

If you calculated that you used your vehicle 10% for Business (as in your example), then 10% of your Actual Expenses can be Vehicle Expenses for your rental.

 

However, when you enter your Personal/Business miles in TurboTax, the program calculates your Business Use % for you, and you only need to enter annual amounts for items like gas, oil, tires, etc. 

 

Some different rules apply if you use your vehicle less than 50% for business, though you can still claim expenses.

 

TurboTax gives you the Standard Mileage deduction amount first, then you can choose to see if Actual Expenses gives you a larger deduction. 

 

Click this link for more info on Using a Vehicle for Business.

 

 

 

 

 

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