Mileage deductible for work?

I teach at a University, and it has two campuses 10 minutes apart. My office is offically on one campus, but I occasionally have to drive to the other campus to give a lecture. Is the mileage deductible?

I always drive from my official office, to the other campus, then back.

I am a W2, if that is relevant.

Thanks

Reply to
odiegoogle
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When driving from one work location to another, you can deduct the mileage. I'm surprised they're not paying you for those trips - some employers do.

It means you can't deduct it all - someone else will come along and remind me of the floor you can only deduct above - I think it's 2% of your income, but I'm not certain.

Reply to
Stuart A. Bronstein

On Tuesday, July 8, 2014 10:21:46 AM UTC-7, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote: | I teach at a University, and it has two campuses 10 minutes apart. My office | is offically on one campus, but I occasionally have to drive to the other | campus to give a lecture. Is the mileage deductible? |... | I am a W2, if that is relevant.

I would expect that the mileage would be deductible. You would need to keep a mileage log for the vehicle. And since this would be an unreimbursed employee expense, it would be reported on Schedule A and only deductible if it exceeded 2% of your annual gross income (AGI). The latter consideration would likely make it not worthwhile unless you had other miscellaneous deductions subject to the same limit.

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At the current reimbursement rate of $0.565 / mile you would need to drive about 1800 miles per year for any of it to be deductible with an AGI of $50,000. Since the average salary of university professors seems to run in the range of $75,000 to $150,000 you would need to drive even more. This makes it unlikely to be of any help to you. Although unreimbursed professional society dues and professional journal subscriptions could also be added to the total.

More useful would be if the university would reimburse the mileage as part of an accountable plan.

Reply to
taruss

office is offically on one campus, but I occasionally have to drive to the other campus to give a lecture. Is the mileage deductible?

It surprises me that such an institution would not provided a free or subsidized shuttle between its two campuses, located 10 minutes apart. Or is it more typical for fellow employees to walk the distance? (I can imagine that un-parking, driving through pedestrian-infested streets, and parking again on the other end could easily take the same ten minutes that walking would take).

This might affect whether the expenses are considered ordinary and necessary (assuming that is the standard for unreimbursed employee business expenses, I haven't looked it up lately).

Reply to
Mark Bole

office is offically on one campus, but I occasionally have to drive to the other campus to give a lecture. Is the mileage deductible?

It surprises me that such an institution would not provided a free or subsidized shuttle between its two campuses, located 10 minutes apart. Or is it more typical for fellow employees to walk the distance? (I can imagine that un-parking, driving through pedestrian-infested streets, and parking again on the other end could easily take the same ten minutes that walking would take).

This might affect whether the expenses are considered ordinary and necessary (assuming that is the standard for unreimbursed employee business expenses, I haven't looked it up lately). ====== Aside: I hope you're kidding about walking? Even when the average speed is

30 m.p.h., that's still a 5 mile walk, and that takes the average person with supplies in tow at least 90 minutes.

Travelling between two work locations for most people (i.e. other than travelling salesmen) is deductible.

Reply to
D. Stussy

Don't you mean, other than travelling salesmen without a tax home?

Reply to
Stuart A. Bronstein

On 2014-07-10 11:22, D. Stussy wrote: [...]

No, I wasn't. Saying two work locations are "ten minutes apart" is not clear at all, does that mean door to door, or car engine on to car engine off? You assume 30 mph for the entire ten minutes, I assumed lots of time walking to/from parking lots, feeding meters, getting in/out of parking lots to city streets, waiting for pedestrians at every intersection as is common near many campuses, etc. We don't have enough information to know.

But for the sake of argument, let's assume my scenario, where door to door travel is just about the same duration by either method, car or by foot. Would mileage in that case be a legitimate unreimbursed employee expense? Or, more to the point, what if university does provide a free shuttle between campuses for students and staff?

Reply to
Mark Bole

No, I wasn't. Saying two work locations are "ten minutes apart" is not clear at all, does that mean door to door, or car engine on to car engine off? You assume 30 mph for the entire ten minutes, I assumed lots of time walking to/from parking lots, feeding meters, getting in/out of parking lots to city streets, waiting for pedestrians at every intersection as is common near many campuses, etc. We don't have enough information to know.

But for the sake of argument, let's assume my scenario, where door to door travel is just about the same duration by either method, car or by foot. Would mileage in that case be a legitimate unreimbursed employee expense? Or, more to the point, what if university does provide a free shuttle between campuses for students and staff? ================ OK, I see your other point, and respond as:

1) If the employee, travelling by himself, can do so more cheaply than the employer provided transportation, then the deduction is clearly allowed. 2) If the employee is unable to avail himself of the employer provided transportation (e.g. incompatible hours of operation), then the deduction is allowed.

Therefore, I reduce your question to: Can the employee have a deduction if the employer provided transportation can be used if he chose not to use it (and the above do not apply)? In that respect, I point out that the IRC in sections 162 and 274 do not require that the cheapest form of transportation be taken; only that the amount be "ordinary and necessary" and "not lavish or extravagant."

This answer has give no consideration to any other tax effect such as fringe benefits, state level carpooling tax credit, etc.

Reply to
D. Stussy

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