Different tax deductions on different business vehicles?

[Savvydesp]

I’m a 1099 self employed delivery courier. I currently have a van that I use solely for business purposes. If I were to acquire a new vehicle this year for business use, would I use the standard mileage deduction for my current vehicle, and section 179 depreciation for the new vehicle I buy?

[leeloo]

Yes, you can take two different types of depreciation for two different business vehicles. You must use the property more than 50% for business to claim any section 179 deduction

What are you going to do with your old car? Retire it to personal use? Continue to use both for work? Sell it?  At the point in time when you sell, you must recapture the depreciation taken. Even though you used standard miles, you must use the mileage recapure rate found in  Pub 463.

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

[Savvydesp]

Yes, I’ll most likely use both for business, as I already have a personal vehicle besides the van that I currently have. But it’s kind of old and I wanted to buy a new and more reliable van so I can have one for far away delivery areas, and I’ll probably use my current older van for miscellaneous tasks like buying auto parts, but furniture delivery’s etc. I definitely think I’ll keep them, as delivery is my main career. Thanks for the information I really appreciate it!

[Savvydesp]

Actually I had a follow up question! So in the beginning of the work day, I commute to the place where I pick up packages for delivery that day, which are personal miles. However, I deliver them to an area quite far away from where I live. At the end of my day when I deliver my last package, I’m usually 75-80 miles away from my where I live, and have to drive an hour and a half to get home. My question is, is that considered all personal miles as well? If I were to drive back to the terminal from which I was dispatched, would it then be considered business miles? 

[leeloo]

The miles from your home to your first stop are personal, and so are the miles from your last stop home. Everything in-between are business miles.