Business address

[aschreffler]

I have a business address that is different than my home address but it is not an office. I just use it to get mail and it's my legal address. I assume the money I pay for that is not rent and I would not include it on line 20 on the Profit or Loss Form on Schedule C when trying to estimate my taxes? Similarly, I assume my mileage would be calculated based on my home address and not the business address since I do not have an office there? 

[Cindy4 · Accepted solution]

Hi @aschreffler !

The expense of maintaining the business address may be a deductible expense, even if it's not rent.  Any expense related to earning the business income is usually deductible.   If it's an expense you're incurring strictly because of the business, it would be deductible. 

Your business mileage is calculated based on where you initiate the business travel from and to.  So one leg of your journey may be considered commuting or personal while another leg may be business mileage.  

There is a really good graphic on page 12 of this publication that displays how business mileage is calculated:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

Hope this helps!

Cindy