I have to, want to, buy specific floor matts for my vehicle because the ones that came with the vehicle get way to dirty and are too hard to clean. My question is, is something like this deductible as a business expense? I use my personal vehicle for business and claim the standard mileage deduction for income tax purposes. I think these floor matts are a deductible expense, but I'd like to see other takes on this topic. Here is my reasoning: if I were not using this vehicle to carry riders via Uber, I would not purchase the floor matt replacements, therefore, it is not part of the standard vehicle expense.
Similar to this, I subscribe to a monthly car wash service for unlimited carwashes. I do this only because of my business where I need to keep my vehicle clean for the customers. If I were not using the vehicle for Uber driving, I would pay for a car wash a couple of times a year (I certainly wouldn't subscribe to a carwash service and, in fact, stopped the subscription for the period of time I was not driving for Uber). Is this a deductible expense over and above the vehicle wear and tear, maintenance, etc. covered by the standard mileage deduction? What about detailing, which is something again, that I would not likely do if I were not using my vehicle for Uber driving.
Do you think the IRS would accept my reasoning if I claimed special, business purpose, floor matts, monthly carwash subscriptions, more often than normal detailing, etc. if I were to get audited. Would I be significantly more susceptible to audit were I to claim these and similar items? I want to do what it right according to the IRS, but I also want to be able to claim what I can rightfully claim.
Thanks all.
