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Thread: commuting

  1. #1
    Veteran Member LilMissSophie's Avatar
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    Default commuting

    After reading, oh...say 20 pages so far of Dollar Den, I've found out that you cannot deduct commuting costs to your "home club".

    This makes sense, but I have a weird situation. As mentioned before, I worked in 2006 (and part of 07-gotta file that quarterly soon!) at a peep show at an adult bookstore. The thing is, we were required to travel to 3 different stores (and an occassional trip out east to the 4th). Do all of these places constitute my "home club"? I don't quite understand as each store had a different business name although they were all essentially the same thing, and I think owned by the same person.

    Should I choose the place closest to me and designate that as my home club, or are they all my home club, as I consistently worked monthly shifts at each one all year?

    I'm only asking this because 2 of the places are 50 miles and 65 miles away, and the other only 15 miles away. Oh, and the 4th is 215 miles away, but I only went there four times and had to stay overnight at a hotel (no I don't have the receipts, unfortunately.)

    I have racked up nearly 17000 miles in one year commuting.

    Also, what about turnpike tolls? I don't have paper receipts but I have EZPass, which will show the tolls paid on the days that I worked.

    I'm not sure what my accountant will tell me about this, but I think you ladies (esp Melonie) probably know more about it than she does!!!!

  2. #2
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: commuting

    under IRS interpretations, business travel is only deductible if
    A. it consists of trips between different places of business but not from home to a place of business, or
    B. the travel was distant enough to require an overnight stay.

    If you drove directly from your home to club 2 and 3 and didn't stop at club 1, these trips are probably not deductible. If you travelled from your home to club 1, and then from club 1 directly to club 2, the travel between clubs (but not from home to the first club) IS deductible.

    However, your trips directly from your home to club 4 ARE deductible, along with the mileage, tolls, and hotel bill, because of the overnight stay.

  3. #3
    Veteran Member LilMissSophie's Avatar
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    Default Re: commuting

    Boo. I was really hoping to use that as a deduction--that's a lot of mileage!! 4 trips out east = approximately 1704 miles, $88 in tolls, and if I can find the confimation emails for my hotels, at least $600 there, I think.

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    Veteran Member LilMissSophie's Avatar
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    Default Re: commuting

    Another thought...this sounds ridiculous...but say I still worked there, and stopped at club 1 each time before I went to either club 2 or 3, would that be deductible for the next tax year? Or would I have to prove that I worked at club 1 before travelling to club 2 or 3. This is confusing.

    Technically, I *would* be travelling from business to business...sounds pointless and tedious though, just wondering.

  5. #5
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: commuting

    You would have to prove that you left your home, drove to club 1 first, then drove to club 2 to work, then drove back to club 1, and then drove home ... for EACH night that you plan to claim the deduction for travel between club 1 and club 2. The IRS ruling originates with sales reps, who typically drive from their home to their office every day (which is NOT tax deductible), but during the day travel from potential customer to potential customer to potential customer all day long before returning to the office at the end of the day (which IS tax deductible), and then return home (which is NOT tax deductible).

    As to the 1704 miles driven to long distance club #4, I would definitely take that deduction. Besides the tolls and hotel bills, you can also claim a mileage deduction of 44.5 cents per mile driven !!! If the IRS questions the deduction, all you would have to do is produce some EZPass toll receipts proving that you were there overnight (although the hotel confirmation e-mails would help).

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