Babysitter milage

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
October 20, 2021
2 replies
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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?

taxlady28

Level 10

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

macuser_22

Alumni - Champ

@taxlady28 wrote:

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

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

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

Hal_Al

Level 15

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.

@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

Level 11

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.