W-2 employee with a Side business: Is Turbotax asking for Commute mileage for W-2 employer or to my side business site?

[Irasaco]

I am a W-2 employee (home IV/infusion nurse)  who job requires me to travel to patients’ homes. I go directly from my home to theirs. I do not have a regular work office at my hospital. But I also have a part-time side gig (self-employed) dog-sitting and house-sitting. I don’t have an office for this side gig either. TurboTax is asking me about the commute miles to and from my “office.” It also is asking me for my annual total miles. Are those commute miles referring to and from the homes of my nursing patients or to the homes of my dog-sitting clients? I assume the lattee (dog-/house-sitting only). Because I know that I cannot deduct commute miles to or from either place, and only from the latter dog-/house-sitting if I do errands for that side gig).

[Bsch4477]

Mileage would only pertain to self employment.  From your post it seems that you have commuting miles only which are not deductible and no home office so you can ignore those issues. 

[Irasaco]

Thanks for this answer.  I only dog-sat/house-sat a few times last year, 96 commute miles (most of those houses are on the far side of my county), and no other miles while staying there. 

[Bsch4477]

The commuting miles are not deductible  

[Opus 17]

In all cases, the difference between deductible work mileage and non-deductible commuting expenses are described in chapter 4 of publication 463.  You need to look at the definition of "main place of work".  If you have no "main place of work" for the dog and house sitting, then none of your mileage is deductible.  If your home is your main place of work, then driving to other work sites is deductible.  (Your home might be your main place of work, even if you don't have a formal office, you have to read the rules carefully). 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

Mileage for your W-2 job is listed on the deductions and credits page under work-related expenses.  These expenses are not tax deductible on your federal return for 2018-2025, but might be deductible on your state return (depending on which state you live in and other tax facts), so you can enter the mileage and it might benefit your state return.

Mileage for schedule C self-employment is reported as a business expense in the self-employment interview, and not on the general deductions and credits page.  You can deduct mileage for your self-employment even if you can't or don't deduct W-2 mileage. 

[Irasaco]

I did have a small home office when the pet-sitting/house-sitting and eBay sales businesses were major income sources (up until 2018). But since I got involved in nursing, that home office has remained under-used. Last year I only made $500 doing these self-employment activities versus my much greater W-2 nursing wages. 

[Opus 17]

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@Irasaco wrote:

I did have a small home office when the pet-sitting/house-sitting and eBay sales businesses were major income sources (up until 2018). But since I got involved in nursing, that home office has remained under-used. Last year I only made $500 doing these self-employment activities versus my much greater W-2 nursing wages. 

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The fact that you no longer report a home office deduction does not necessarily mean that your home is not your main place of work for your self-employment.  For example, you could do all your bookkeeping, scheduling, recordkeeping, and other administrative tasks from your kitchen table.  That would fail the "exclusive use" test for the home office deduction, but you would still be using your home as your main place of work for purposes of the mileage calculation.