I attempted to apply mileage for a vehicle I use in my business and it asked me for actual expenses. I don't have records for actual expenses. Can I still claim mileage?

[Username3663139]

I have mileage records, just not actual expenses for other maintenance.

[eardleec]

Short answer: Yes, You can either claim the miles using the standard business mile rate (2020: 0.575/Mi) OR you can claim the actual expenses (gas, wear/tear, oil changes, etc).

Long Answer: you will need to remember and document all the trips you've taken with the vehicle for business. Document them in your calendar and/or excel spreadsheet. Calculate the round trip miles for each occurrence. Directions in google maps is good for this and can be used if you are ever questioned about the actual miles of your trip. Your deduction will be total miles X Std Mileage rate.

Tip: If you take the total miles driven for business and divide that by the total miles driven for the calendar year, you will get the percentage of business use. Using this percentage you can also deduct that percentage of your yearly auto insurance bill and any loan interest (like you would for percentage of home used for business). 

[JoannaB2]

Yes, you may use the mileage usage, and it is deductible as business expense, if standard mileage is used rather than actual expenses. You must record personal and business mileage.  To enter the mileage business portion of your vehicle:

• Login to Turbo Tax.
• Jump to Income and Expenses.
• Click Self-employment, click show more.
• Under Expense Category, click vehicle.
• Enter vehicle information , mileage for the whole year, & the business mileage usage of the year

[Username3663139]

I use MileageIQ for tracking mileage and I'll look at it again but it kept asking for actual expenses which tells me I've answered something incorrectly that's led me to this roadblock. I'll let you know what I end up with. Thanks for the reply.

John

[SweetieJean]

Did you claim actual expenses for 2019?  Once you use actual expenses for the vehicle (even if it's the first year you used it for business), you can't switch to standard mileage rate. You must continue using actual expenses as long as you use that car for business.