Mileage Deduction for Rental Property

[papabarr]

When travelling home from an out-of-town vacation, I drove directly from out-of-town to my rental property to perform an inspection. Is the mileage from out-of-town to the property deductible?

[Anonymous_]

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@papabarr wrote:

Is the mileage from out-of-town to the property deductible?

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No, not unless the mileage to get to your rental property was farther than to get to your home.

Example: You were driving home from your vacation and the trip was 500 miles from your house. If the distance to get to your rental property was 550 miles, you might be able to deduct the extra 50 miles. On the other hand, if the distance to get to your rental property was 475 miles, you would most likely not be able to deduct any mileage.

[papabarr]

Thanks for the reply. The rental property is farther away than my home, but only by a few miles. Do you have any citations for me to read to see what the thresholds are?

[Anonymous_]

See https://www.irs.gov/publications/p527#en_US_2020_publink1000218997

Travel expenses.

You can deduct the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home if the primary purpose of the trip is to collect rental income or to manage, conserve, or maintain your rental property. You must properly allocate your expenses between rental and nonrental activities. You can’t deduct the cost of traveling away from home if the primary purpose of the trip is to improve the property.

[papabarr]

So the deduction is unrelated to whether or not the property is farther away than your home, but instead depends on the "primary purpose" of the trip?

[Anonymous_]

The primary purpose of the trip must be as stated in the italicized text in the post, which would exclude trips for which the primary purpose is pleasure (e.g, vacations).

[papabarr]

I understand. But to confirm, it has nothing to do with the property being farther away than my home, correct?

[Anonymous_]

Correct. I was just using the distance to illustrate a point.