Deduct your business mileage
If you do not use the Standard Vehicle Depreciation Method for your taxes this year, you are entitled to take a federal tax deduction of .55 cents for every mile you clocked doing business for 2009. Or put another way, you lose fifty five cents in deductions for every mile you forget to document. Small trips such as running to the post office or hardware store often get overlooked. Just like dropping your pocket change into a piggy bank, these nickle and dime jaunts add up over the year. So if you use your vehicle in your business you will need to keep good, complete records of all the miles you drive.
The best time to start keeping your mileage is at the first of the year or as soon as you have started your new business. Even if you do not know if you are going to take the standard vehicle deduction, you should still keep a record of your business miles in order to keep your options open come tax time. That way you can compare which way works best for you when filling out your taxes.
Keeping your business mileage is as simple as recording the date, destination, starting mileage, ending mileage and total for each business trip you take. If you get into the habit of recording, this information as soon as you get into your vehicle and immediately after you turn the engine off, if becomes second nature. And, you don’t have to try and go back and remember and fill in the form based on best guesses.
I have included a very simple mileage form that I use. You can either create your own form or print this one out and use it as often as you like.
Tip:
If you use your vehicle partly for personal driving, you can still deduct your business miles.
You cannot take the standard deduction if you take actual costs, but you still need to know how many business miles you drove.
Also record and deduct…
- 24 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
- 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations
