Babysitter milage

[ltap91]

Hello, so my wife is an independent contractor for a babysitting service where she has to drive to client's house to perform the service. Can we deduct the milage from our home to work site then back home?

[Miss MCJ2]

No, that is not deductible.  Commuting from work to job and back home is not deductible.  

[xmasbaby0]

Your wife cannot deduct mileage to go to and from work.    Commuting to or from work is not deductible.  But if she drives the children around to dance lessons, soccer practice, etc. etc. she can keep track of that and deduct the mileage for that sort of driving when she babysits.

[ltap91]

Even if she is traveling to a different house every time to babysit this is still consider commuting?

[macuser_22]

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@Miss MCJ2 wrote:

No, that is not deductible.  Commuting from work to job and back home is not deductible.  

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That is not correct.

Mileage for *employees* is not deductible. But mileage for self-employed persons most certainly is deductible as a business expense on Schedule C. For 2020 it is $0.57.5 per mile.

https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/standard-mileage-rates

[xmasbaby0]

The other thing that is confusing----does she babysit at the same house daily----or different houses?   If she is babysitting in one family's home then she might actually be a household employee, not an independent contractor.  We need more details.

[ltap91]

She is babysitting at different houses every time. Clients just send a request to the service that my wife is a independent contractor for. She then choose to accept the job offer or not and then drives to the clients home babysits and comes back home. 

[ltap91]

Example: Client A needs a babysitter for one time on Tuesday 1pm to 5pm.  Client B need a baby sitter for a one time 6 pm to 9 pm. She drives to client locations to perform the service then drives home.  

[macuser_22]

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@ltap91 wrote:

Example: Client A needs a babysitter for one time on Tuesday 1pm to 5pm.  Client B need a baby sitter for a one time 6 pm to 9 pm. She drives to client locations to perform the service then drives home.  

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As I said above.  If she is self employed and files a Schedule C then all mileage is a deductible business expense on Schedule C (it is NOT a deductible "personal expense" on Schedule A.

[GeorgeDenseff]

The commute to the place where she babysits is not deductible even if self-employed.  Any other driving associated with the business is deductible.

Some travel is not considered business-related:

• Driving from your home to your workplace and back is commuting. It's not deductible on either your business or your individual return.
• If you stop at the store on the way home from a business trip, the remaining miles from the store to home are generally considered personal mileage, so you usually can't include them.

Business Use of Vehicles - TurboTax Tax Tips & Videos (intuit.com)

[ltap91]

But if we consider our home the principle place of business ( where she accepts new jobs) then has to travel to the clients home to work. Wouldn't that be consider deductible?  ( now i would need to know if our home would be consider the principle place of business. 

[GeorgeDenseff]

The principal place of business is where you perform the tasks that earn you money.  She does not perform the babysitting in her home and taking an appointment from her home does not make her home her place of business.

An Uber driver starts their day when they arrive at their first pickup point.  Then all of their mileage counts until their final person is dropped off and they return home.  The home is not their place of business.  The IRS has never paid for a commute from you home to your work, no matter how far you have to drive to get to work.

[Hal_Al]

@ltap91  You identified the critical issue: what is your principal place of business (PoB)*.  If your home is not your PoB, then your mileage is not deductible, except if there is more than 1 client in a day and the trips are consecutive.  It's unlikely that a baby sitter would  qualify for the home being the PoB. 

In your Example: Client A needs a babysitter for one time on Tuesday 1pm to 5pm.  Client B need a baby sitter for a one time 6 pm to 9 pm. Only the mileage between Client A and Client B is deductible. The mileage to the 1st client's home and the mileage from the last client's home back to your home are not deductible. Any trips in-between are deductible.  An exception is allowed for out-of-town trips. There is no simple mileage definition of "out of town".

*To deduct mileage, even if self employed, the home  needs to be the "Principal Place of Business".  It does not need to qualify for the Home Office deduction (the 'Regularly and Exclusively' rule does not apply).  
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-99-7.pdf
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch04.html

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p587.pdf (page 3) POB defined

[Carl]

The bottom line is unfortunately, commuting from your residence to your primary place of employment is not deductible and never has been. Doesn't matter if you're self-employed or a W-2 employee. For a babysitter who does not provide childcare or babysitting services in their own home, that home is not their primary place of employment. The first client location of the day, each day, is their primary place of employment.

[AmeliesUncle]

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@macuser_22 wrote:

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If she is self employed and files a Schedule C then all mileage is a deductible business expense on Schedule C 

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It was mentioned in some later comments, but that is absolutely NOT true.

Miles are deductible from a business location to another business location.  Whether or not your home qualifies as a business location depends on the circumstances.