Took both Std & Actual mileage on same Vehicle?

[AZ-Tax]

New client. I had to read it 3 times to see if my eyes deceived me. Its a 2010 paper filed tax return. This is a first for me to see. Previous tax preparer probably override it.

[JohnH]

Did they also deduct food & vet bills for their "security cat" that guarded their inventory in their home office?

[AZ-Tax]

Aahhhhh no on the Cat bills...

Did they also deduct food & vet bills for their "security cat" that guarded their inventory in their home office?

Aahhhhh no on the Cat bills probably only because taxpayer does not own a cat, actually no pets.

Yep, another reason for the competency exams.

[OtisMozzetti]

I am wondering whether if a cat named "Sheba" appears in humorous, charming ways in most of the advertising materials, and does duty meeting the clients who come in to the tax office, could that cat's expenses be deducted as a business expense?

[JohnH]

Sounds reasonable to me.
Probably would fall into the "Greeter Cat" category rather than "Security Cat." That would likely mean grooming expenses are deductible as well. Sort of like what my former tv reporter client used to try and convince me about.

[RitaB]

My security cat

Took both Std & Actual mileage on same Vehicle?

My security cat wonders if you mean "took both Standard Mileage Rate and Actual Expenses for the same vehicle"? Or if the preparer thinks there is a standard mileage "allowance", much like the pretend standard donation allowance for one's leftover yard sale crap.

And, if you mean he took both actual expenses and SMR, how could you tell? Cause they go on the same line on Sch C. I told my security cat you probably have the taxpayer's mileage log and figured it out that way.

He said, "That's right, but nobody said anything about a Sch C, so there."

I enter my security cat expenses under three categories: Security (duh), Office Expense (paper shredder), and Continuing Education (see above).

[Gary2]

A bit more seriously: I took a look at the 2106 to see what might prompt the software to even permit an override. One of my thoughts was simply entering the same vehicle twice, but then I was surprised to see that the 2106 merges the standard mileage total from all vehicles.

Which raises a legitimate question: Suppose an employee has a vehicle for which they can't claim standard mileage due to not claiming it the first year. Next, suppose it's totaled mid-year, they buy a brand new car, and want to start out right with standard mileage. Can they? If so, that might be a situation in which the software would need to allow an override to just take the standard mileage on the second car. But I don't see anything in the instructions for doing that, nor whether it's even permitted.

[joanmcq]

Sure you can. And the 2106 has room for two cars used by an employee, and one can be actual, while the other is SMR. Look at page 2.

[Gary2]

Sure you can. And the 2106 has room for two cars used by an employee, and one can be actual, while the other is SMR. Look at page 2.

I did look at page 2. Section A has two columns, and requires info on both vehicles, including mileage. Section B, for the standard mileage dollar amount, only has a single box. Particularly since 2011 had two different rates, you can't simply look at the number and conclude which car it applies to. For example, box 22 could have $1,000, vehicle 1 could be 1,961 miles in the first half, and vehicle 2 could be 1,802 in the second half, either one of which results in $1,000. How do you know which?

You can infer it by only filling out Section C (for actual expenses) for one of the two vehicles. But there's no indication in the instructions that that's acceptable.