How and where do I claim mileage?

[DS30]

It depends.

The miles driven between your home and your primary work location are considered commuting and are not deductible. Business miles can be deductible if you are an employee (as a job-related expense, if you itemize and are subject to a 2% AGI limitation) or if you are self-employed (as a business use of your vehicle)

If you have any deductible business mileages as an employee, you can report your business miles as an employee under job-related expenses. (You will only be able to deduct these business miles if you were not reimbursed by your employer (or if your employer reimbursed you but included this reimbursement in taxable income).

For someone who is considered an employee:

You would enter your unreimbursed employment expenses under Federal Taxes>Deductions and Credits> I'll choose what I work on (or jump to full list or see all tax breaks)> scroll down to Employment Expenses> Job-related expenses (start/update). Use the TurboTax guide to help you enter these expense.

• Say "yes" to question "Did you have any of these expenses in 2015 for your W-2 income?" under the screen titled "Employment Expenses Related to a W-2".
• after about 6 to 10 question screens, you will get to a screen titled "Job-Related Expenses" you can put this information here. List as "additional unreimbursed business miles"

For someone who is considered self-employed:

If you are self-employed contractor, you can claim a deduction for miles driven to a job assignment. The starting point must be a home, an office or a job location, and the destination must also be a home, an office or a job location. You cannot deduct miles driven for other reasons even if you drove the same vehicle. The IRS requires you to take relatively straight routes from one location to another

To deduct business miles for self-employed in TurboTax Online or Desktop, please follow these steps:

1. Once you are in your tax return, click on the “Business"” tab
2. Next click on “I’ll choose what I work on” (jump to full list)
3. Scroll down the screen until to come to the section “Business Income and Expense”
4. Choose “Profit or Loss from Business ” and select start/revisit/update.
5. If your business is already listed, choose to "edit"
6. You will eventually get to a screen titled "Your () Business"
7. Scroll down to Business Expenses and select "Business Vehicle Expense".

[jellismith25]

• What about if you calculated the standard mileage deduction by. 58 like it says and comes out to 3000.00 i feel like didn't claim it yet.
• but I ended up paying 386 self employment tax why ?. 

[JotikaT2]

TurboTax will give you a message saying "Actual expenses vs. standard mileage rate" after you have entered your actual expenses versus your business mileage. 

TurboTax will recommend using the method which yields the highest deduction. 

It does, however, give you the option to select another method.  Please make sure you have selected the standard mileage rate if that yields a better result for your situation.

Self employment tax is calculated on your overall net income from your Schedule C business, or total income less total expenses.  If your net income is positive, you will be subject to Self Employment(SE) income.  SE tax is computed at 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare.  

The following provides more details of how the Self Employment tax is calculated.

Self Employment tax

[jellismith25]

Will I be able to get a credi5 since I ended up being 3000 even though i had to pay self employment tax I also work another job with a company so I do a w2 plus the self employed tax one. I normally get over 5000 in federal but this year it dropped 

[KathrynG3]

Your refund or balance due depends on how much tax was submitted throughout the year.  Last year, the amount the IRS took out from your paycheck was adjusted for the new tax law changes. Some people were not fully realizing that would mean less of a refund or even owing tax at the end of the year.

To get a better idea of what you will owe for the next year, use this IRS Tax Withholding Estimator. The more details you put in, the more accurate it will be. 

When you add in self-employment, too, which also is taxed at a different rate, it can be more difficult to estimate.

The IRS expects self-employment tax estimates paid in four times through the year: April 15, June 15, September 15, and Jan 15.

QuickBooks Self-Employed is a fabulous app that is free for TurboTax Online Self-Employed customers. It will calculate the quarterly tax amount due for you when you keep track of everything in the app. 

Between these two resources, you can know what you need to pay in to get back to your higher refund amount.

@jellismith25

[jellismith25]

• Thank you the lady helped me by saying that just paid tax some get refunds but I'm getting  a total of five grand back altogether so how can avoid paying the tax am I paying fairly or no?

[AmyC]

Your job takes out Medicare and Social Security with each paycheck. When you are self- employed and making money, you must pay into Medicare and Social Security. The tax is added into your return and changes your refund. The IRS will give the credit to the Social Security Administration for you. As your business grows, so will your taxes. If you ever reach the point that your taxes exceed your refund, you will need to make estimated payments.

@jelliesmith25

[jellismith25]

• Thank you the lady helped me by saying that just paid tax some get refunds but I'm getting  a total of five grand back altogether so how can avoid paying the tax am I paying fairly or no?

[jellismith25]

Thank you i work for together homecare and maxim healthcare and drive for lyft also but guess what I just paid my tax for the year I'm glad I got it straightened out and paid it and got it out the way. How do people end up getting a refund with rideshare ?. I drive 5000 miles times it by .58 got 3000 total. Plus I added my expenses in there like say to do for lyft so what you made pretty  much. Someone said that 700 ended up getting taken out from them

[KathrynG3]

@jellismith25 You are welcome!

[KathrynG3]

@jellismith25 You are welcome!

[tjm7377]

Does the mileage reimbursement come with the tax return deposit or is it separate? I was supposed to get back about 2800 for self employed mileage but my tax return is showing my w2 returns only from a previous job.

[JamesG1]

Are you wanting to report self-employment income and claim vehicle mileage against that self-employment income?

To report self-employment income, you will need either the Self-Employed version of TurboTax Online or TurboTax Desktop.

To enter your self-employment income and vehicle mileage and other common business expenses:

• Type  Schedule C in the magnifying glass Search box.
• Select the Jump to link

If this is your first time working in this section, you will be asked questions about your self-employment work and income.  The questions will lead you to properly report your self-employment income, expenses and vehicle mileage.

See also this TurboTax Help. 

[tjm7377]

I already filed all of that info and it said I'd get 2800 back for mileage reimbursement and 1400 for tax return. Do I get my reimbursement and tax return separate or together?