Mileage reimbursement for driving your vehicle for work

bigmackloud

Active Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
Hey,

i drive my Cherokee a lot for work. i know could write off my mileage as a deduction when i do my taxes, but aside from that being a huge hassle, since i only work part time (in school), the amount i'd save in taxes wouldn't nearly cover my vehicle expenses.

so i've been trying to talk my boss into reimbursing me weekly for vehicle expenses. i tried looking at the IRS tax website, but that was just confusing. basically, i'm looking for an article or some type of information that i can print out and take to my boss showing what the federal reimbursement rate is for mileage. (44.5 cents per mile starting jan 2006 right?)

for my boss, should i keep up with the actually odometer mileage each week, or would saying i drove 50 miles today be good enough?

thanks,
bigmac
 
Dude if your use your personal vehicle for work other than driving from home to work or work to home or lunch, you are to be reimbersed. I think last year it was .40 a mile or something?? Your boss may be porking you.... Either get a company car or he'll have to reimurse you..
 
Keep your insurance coverage in mind, too. If you're running a personal policy and doing business work, the insurance company has the right to refuse coverage if you're in an accident while doing work stuff.
 
he does NOT have to pay you...not a law or anything. You can claim it on your taxes but chances are you will not get it back (complicated, but 2% floor on misc deductions, and only if you itemize, not taking std deduction)

.445 per mile in 2006

http://taxes.about.com/od/2006taxes/qt/IRSMileageRate.htm

Most employers will reimb you...but they may choose a lower rate. For instance one of my clients pays .28 per mile...and then the employee can turn in the rest as tax deduc if they choose to.

Sam
 
Hey,

thanks for the link.

yea, i didn't get reimbursed for any of the driving i did last year. but looking at my driving pattern already for this year, i'm literally driving 2x as much this year. it's basically to the point that i can't afford to do all this driving on my dime, especially since i'm only working part time. i like my boss, and my job has some good jeep benefits, so i don't want to make it a pushing match, but if i'm not going to get reimbursed, i'm going to have to find something else to do. so we'll see how it goes.

thanks,
bigmac
 
Here is another thing to think about

Unless you drive a vehicle that gets great (MPG) it is not worth using your own vehicle to do this kinda stuff for your work. I have to do this all the time for my company and I drive all overthe place but it ends up costing me $$$$ to run around for them. Diesel is $$$$$$ than gas. I was getting 49.5 for the 2 months of november and december. That was the only time i broke even and had a nice check cut out to me at the end of the month. It is 44.5 cents a month now. Overall its still nice to get out of the office and get to drive around in your own car or truck for a little while during the day.:D
 
Mikey said:
was 47.5 / mile and recently went up. I would keep exact mileage numbers you drive for work (not including commute to / from office) and submit them to him for payment.
Click to expand...


it went up last year some due to the higher gas prices...but it has indeed dropped as SHINTON posted...

we get notices here at BellSouth everytime it changes, as we simply follow the IRS guidelines...

BTW...if we drive a company vehicle for "commuting" purposes, and don't fall under a certain category, we have $.445/mile DEDUCTED from our pay...;)

Greg
 
Hey,

no, i'm only counting mileage when i'm actually do something FOR work. from my house to the office is my time/cost, that's fair. but i feel like if i'm using my vehicle to do something that benefits the company, i should get reimbursed.

thanks,
bigmac
 
bigmackloud said:
Hey,
no, i'm only counting mileage when i'm actually do something FOR work. from my house to the office is my time/cost, that's fair. but i feel like if i'm using my vehicle to do something that benefits the company, i should get reimbursed.
thanks,
bigmac
Click to expand...

This is not unreasonable by any means. Go talk to your boss about it, and just explain how it is becoming a problem, esp since you re in college and part time. Everybody wants to help out college kids....

Either way though, you shoudl consider a cheap gas car. The reimbursement rate is the same regardless of the car, so you do better if you get better economy - by al on gshot. Depending on how much you drive, just the change in MPGs could cover the cost of the car, esp if you just buy an $800 Escort that gets 35 mpgs.

Sicne I am a real nerd (and poor), I made up this spredsheet last summer. Check out where you fall on the curve, and see how it changes your cost per mpgs.
http://www.rewazule.com/echnet/4Runner/Gas costs worksheet.xls
 
My worst employer ever always paid us mileage. It wasn't often we used our own vehicles but when we did, he always asked us to keep up with it, and cut us an extra check on pay day.

Occasionally I don't mind, but I'll be damned if I used my vehicle on a regular basis for work. I'd ask him to borrow one of his vehicles. Your Cherokee doesn't get that great of gas mileage. Think about what this guy pays you, then deduct that 2.15 a gallon with a Cherokee that gets 16 mpg. Not to mention the wear/tear/depreciation/tires/oil changes on your vehicle.
 
Back
Top