Milage Price

[Brian Keating 14]

Does anyone know what the current milage price is? I am using $0.365. Is this the current amount per mile?

[RAJD 14]

Brian

In New York that is the amount of the tax deduction for milage.

My accountant told me I could deduct either Gas or Milage,

I went with gas because what I use for the machines would be included.

If you are asking what to charge the customer for travel time,

I go by my hourly rate.

Bob

[Paul B. 523]

$0.365 per mile is the current rate.

[reed 500]

In January the price is to increase to .375. You use one or the other is correct.

Reed

[Mike Williamson 198]

RAJD:

Have you checked your figures both ways? If I drive 100 miles each day, that's 500 miles a week. That's $182.50 in deductable mileage expenses. Now, if my vehicle gets 10 mpg, that's 50 gallons of gas, plus another 30 gallons for the washer if I'm running all day, all week. That's 80 gallons of gas at $1.60, or $128.00 in gas. If you're burning deisel all week too, that's another 30 gallons at $1.50, or $45.00, for a total deduction of $173.00. Now, if your vehicle gets better gpm, or if you drive further each day, or if you don't use that much gas or deisel in your washer, you're coming out even further ahead.

The only way I can see that claiming fuel over mileage would be a benefit would be if you were running multiple machines and not driving very far, or if you were running an older box truck and only getting 5gpm....

[Bozobush 47]

The IRS deduction is premised on the operating costs of a vehicle, not solely the gas or diesel it burns. You cannot compare diesel and gas used in the machine on the back of a truck, to the gas or diesel used IN the truck. The IRS deduction will not float for the equipment fuel usage scenario. If you are to compare apples to apples, add in license, registration, insurance and maintenance...and then see if you are coming out ahead. You won't be. If your company is paying for your truck, vis a vis car payments, gas credit card, paying the insurance bill, etc., then you cannot also write off a deduction. The simplest method is to have the company pay all vehicle related expenses. Now if the question refers to reimbursing an employee to use his own vehicle, then he must bear the daily expense of fuel as well as all insurance and maintenance, and then you pay him $.365. The IRS, hard as it may be to believe, is not in the business of, nor interested in, giving the taxpayer a way to "make money" off deductions. If they give you an "allowance" of .365, it generally will fall way short of what is really required.

[Paul B. 523]

If you drive a vehicle which is strictly used for business, you are most likely better off to deduct all expenses separately (gasoline, oil changes, tune-ups, etc.) vs. using the mileage deduction as $0.365 will most likely not cover all these expenses. Insurance, license and other such fees are not included in the $0.365 figure from the IRS. Even of you use this method you can still deduct these on top of the mileage as long as you are using the vehicle full time for business.

However, if you are using a vehicle which is used part time for personal/family and the other part for business, than you need to use the mileage ($0.365) deduction. In this case, you may not deduct oil changes, tune-ups, license fees and insurance.

If you are using $0.365/mile method of deduction for your vehicle, you can still deduct fuel cost for your equipment. Obtain a seperate receipt for fuel purchased for your equipment.

[Mike Williamson 198]

RAJD:

You're absolutely correct...Not having to look at things from an owner's perspective before this year, I was looking at it from an employee's perspective. I wasn't thinking of all the other vehicle related expenses, which would obviously outweigh the benefits of claiming mileage alone. Thanks for pointing that out!

[Jesse 15]

Here is some additional gas price info from another forum that I like to read. I have found a lot of good business type info on "www.jlconline.com" at the top click "Forums".

Jesse R. Kirchhoff

Kirchhoff Handyman Solutions LLC

Advanced Power Washing and Restoration Services LLC

114 Forest Hill Ave. Jefferson City, Mo 65109

Local 573-635-2708 Toll Free 1-866-635-2708 Fax 573-634-8882

E-Mail jessekirchhoff@mchsi.com

6/10/04 11:52 a.m.

Does anyone have any info on current rates for charging for additional mileage with the increase in gas prices?

We typically only do jobs within a 15 mile radius, but a local customer has a property 80 miles away that he wants us to do some work on. It would mean an additional 3 hours per man/day for drive time as well.

Any info on how this is typically estimated/billed would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Pete

Re: Additional Charge for Mileage

SamT 6/11/04 10:53 a.m.

Briefly:

$.36 times (160 miles minus 30 miles)= $46

$46 times # of vehicles (1) = $46

Plus

3 hours times # of men (3) = 9 man hours

9mh times Billable Rate($50) = $450

$46 plus $450 = $496

$496 divided by Billable hours (3 men x 8 hours) = $20.67

Billable Rate plus Adjusted Travel Charge = $70.67

Results:

Bid job at a billable rate of $70.67 instead of $50.00 with no OT for travel time.

Your crew may accept a lesser pay scale for travel time, meaning you can lower your bid by that amount. They may accept a flat fee for travel time, use that figure instead of the $496 above.

Someone else here will have a different method, so take your pick.

SamT

[EmpirePW 14]

I am new to the business but my accountant (who from the recomendations I got on him is the best) told me to record all of my miles as well as get a reciecpt for everything with my truck (gas, oil, carwashes, parts, etc). He said to save everything. My accountant also said since my vehicle was fairly new at the end of the year he would compare my expenses, my milage, and the depreciation on my truck and use whichever would get me the biggest tax break of the 3.

Matthew Krupitzer

Empire Pressure Washing

[John Doherty 126]

One more thing to check into. State tax rebates for off road fuel use. I'm about to send my application into Co. They give you a quarterly rebate, which is a % of the State tax you pay on fuel for any non vehicle fuel expenses. They won't tell me the multiple until they get the app, but they did say PW has one of the higher multiples.

May not be very much but every bit helps!

Best Regards,

JD

[CCPC 26]

Just bringing this topic back up because I'm just finishing up my taxs for last year and one of the last things my accountant needs is my milage for last year.

I use my truck for both business and personal, Allthough (because my life revolves around my work, and I no longer have a social life) 80% of the time when driving my truck it's work related.

I'm very organized with all aspects of my business, recipts, billed work, customers, payables, reciveables, etc, but milage is where I drop the ball.

2004 I spent a lot of time trying to record my milage for every business related journey, but as 2005 started I just flat said the heck with it, too much of a pain in the A**!!

Now I'm stuck trying to reconstruct my milage for last year. Thankfully, most of my work is in the same communities, so estimating distances is easy. I spent several hours last night going through Quickbooks and every customer last year and estimating milage for each. Then I estimated the most common places I go other than job sites, gas station, bank, P.O. Box, Lowes, Walmart, etc. and finally came up with a reasonable figure.

What a pain, but I must say spending 3 or 4 hours now was still easier than trying to keep up with it everyday for an entire year.

How do others handle their milage recording? Do you write it in everytime you go some where business related, or do you just estimate it at the end of the year? I know a lot of you have stricktly business vehicles, so this isn't so much of an issue.