Two self employed earners, married, filing jointly. We took a trip, both conducted business. Can we just put the mileage under his Schedule C?

[tuckerdognc]

We are both “Semi-retired” and file Schedule Cs. We both took a trip for business. However, we have two cars and the “other” car is my spouses. I’m not asking if we double the mileage (to get that out of the way), I’m asking since the car is listed as the one I primarily use, and for business, can I just deduct that mileage as since we’re filing jointly?  (And we actually both did business at the final destination, though his was more involved … we only have meals and transportation as lodging was with friends). 

[DanielV01]

Yes you may.  The question is not whether or not he did more business, but the fact that you conducted business on your trip.  Of course, as your question suggests, if you count the mileage connected to your business, then your husband will not count it on his schedule C.  

[tuckerdognc]

What if I do not conduct business and am just the driver (this could come up ... we aren't using the 2002 Outback on long trips anymore, just short runs within a hour's drive, but I may go along for the trip as an excuse for a mini-vacation. 🙂

[DanielV01]

There's a way around this.  He could claim it legitimately since you both own the vehicles if it's a joint return.  But, if you don't want to "crossover" reporting of expenses between the two Schedules C, then he could "pay" you for the use of the car to his work at the standard mileage rate.  Then you would claim the pay and the deduction on your Schedule C.  This way your car expenses do not get directly reported on his Schedule C but they still get reported and expensed.  This technique is legal since they are two separate businesses.  One business is vehicle renting to the other and getting paid for the exact amount of expense.

[TuckerdogAVL]

Hope you can help. Very difficult to “get in” this year. New Question: I gave him a car, purchased in 2001 in 2015. (Yes, we keep cars for  a long time). We replaced that car with 179000 miles on it in Dec 2019. How do I handle the depreciation? I never took it from 2001 - 2015 and I have all the mileage. Mileage fluctuated for all those years, sometimes zero. In 2015, the car was probably worth about $6000. We traded it in for $1500. It was always “sometimes” used for business, so it doesn’t fall into the “did you convert to personal use” But obviously the base value of 26,191 doesn’t work because he didn’t acquire it til 2015. The savings for taxes is quite different between ignoring this step and adding in the depreciation re: mileage. Just want to do it correctly. 

[DaveF1006]

Normally, when you deduct mileage, there is a depreciation equivalent built into that mileage rate. it fluctuates each year and IRS posts a depreciation equivalent mileage table that goes back several years. Have you used this for business between 2001-2015? 

Please read page 24 of this IRS link, that give you the Rate of Depreciation Allowed in Standard Mileage Rate. You can multiply the total mileages times the depreciation rate to give you the depreciation for that year. Then you add up all of the totals to determine your total depreciation used during those years for your business.