Business Mileage Tracking When To Count Mileage

cdhodgdon · ‎February 25, 2020

I know that there are a couple of ways this is handled, when trying to track business miles in a personal vehicle. Most of what I have seen says don't start counting mileage until you got to your job or office. So here is my situation and want to confirm that this is right.

I run a small computer business out of my house. My operations does some work for customers in my home office and the rest are done on site at the customers location. So, when I am going to a customers location to do work, I should be counting my mileage from the time I leave my house, since this would be on the job driving and not just commuting to work. Is this correct

IntuitLily · ‎February 25, 2020

Glad to see you again, @cdhodgdon.

I've got just the information about tracking business miles to suit your needs. Ideally, the right way to track this trip is by counting mileage starting from the office.

Since you're operating the business from home, you can deduct business-related car expenses for travel back and forth from home to business locations for business purposes. These expenses include all the costs of running your car, under these circumstances:

You work at home in your home-based business.
Your home is your principal place of business (the place where you earn most of your income or where you do your administrative or management tasks).
You can prove that the car expenses were business-related, not personal.

It'd also be best to consult a tax expert to properly guide you with tracking this mileage. You can check this article for more information about the trips that are categorized as a business: Learn how QuickBooks Self-Employed calculates your mileage deduction.

Let me know if you have additional questions. I'm always here and ready to help. Take care!

View solution in original post

IntuitLily · ‎February 25, 2020

Glad to see you again, @cdhodgdon.

I've got just the information about tracking business miles to suit your needs. Ideally, the right way to track this trip is by counting mileage starting from the office.

Since you're operating the business from home, you can deduct business-related car expenses for travel back and forth from home to business locations for business purposes. These expenses include all the costs of running your car, under these circumstances:

You work at home in your home-based business.
Your home is your principal place of business (the place where you earn most of your income or where you do your administrative or management tasks).
You can prove that the car expenses were business-related, not personal.

It'd also be best to consult a tax expert to properly guide you with tracking this mileage. You can check this article for more information about the trips that are categorized as a business: Learn how QuickBooks Self-Employed calculates your mileage deduction.

Let me know if you have additional questions. I'm always here and ready to help. Take care!

View solution in original post

cdhodgdon · ‎February 25, 2020

That is how I have been doing it for years. Have a tracking program and everything. But have a friend that is starting a home base business and tried to tell me I was doing it all wrong and had no clue, because some else told him differently. By the way, he's never started or owned a business at all.

I just needed reassurance to my methods and a record that I can look back on if needed in the future. Thanks

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Business Mileage Tracking When To Count Mileage