Are job related expenses (business mileage) considered a tax break or tax credit?

[JulieCo · Accepted solution]

Job-related expenses are not a tax credit.  If these are unreimbursed job-related expenses (meaning that you receive a W-2 from your employer and have job-related expenses for which you are not reimbursed), these expenses are a DEDUCTION where the total is subject to the 2% of your AGI rule.  As noted earlier, they are not a credit that reduces the amount of your taxes due. If the total of these expenses exceeds the 2% of AGI, then they will reduce the amount of your income that is taxable.

If you have your own business, then your business miles expense would be completely deductible offsetting your business income on the business portion of the return.