Miles to and from airport

[CarolToppCPA]

Client lives 40 miles from airport. Wife drops him off for business trip and returns home (round trip 80 miles). No other car available. Same story when she pick him up (80 miles round trip for her). Is the wife's return home mileage included in business miles deduction?
TIA,
Carol

[DaveinTexas]

I've had the same question for some time

My thinking is that if the airport was his office in town, the mileage would be commuting and nondeductible.

You can also argue that the mileage to the airport has a business purpose, so it should be deductible. Add to that the fact that commuting to a temporary work location is deductible only if the taxpayer has one or more regular work locations or the work area is located outside the taxpayer's tax home area. If that rule reigns in this topic, then the drive to and from the airport is deductible, as well as the flight and his other travel expenses.

My answer is usually nondeductible because the purpose of the miles is to get to his first point of contact or his final destination. I hope I am wrong, maybe someone can shed some light on the subject.

[Gretel]

I see it a little differently. Since the airport is not the destination but just one stop for travel outside the metropolitan area the miles are deductible.

I don't think the additional miles because they only own one car is deductible since this is their personal choice.

[OldJack]

Client lives 40 miles from airport. Wife drops him off for business trip and returns home (round trip 80 miles). No other car available. Same story when she pick him up (80 miles round trip for her). Is the wife's return home mileage included in business miles deduction?
TIA,
Carol

The best option here is for the business to reimburse the individual tax-free on a mileage basis. As was pointed out by others, this is deductible as it is part of an out-of-town trip expense and not just the normal business mileage expense(see pub 463, page 5 for chart showing it as deductible). If the individual is filing a 1040 Sch-C, this would be 100% deductible on Sch-C. If the individual is filing the expense as an employee it would be deductible on form 2106 or 1040 Sch-A subject to the 2% limitation.

[Snaggletooth]

for Carol Topp

Hi Carol, welcome to the TTB message board. My answer for your mileage deduction would have been identical to Old Jack so I won't repeat.

We hope you will post often, both questions and answers. We have many public accounting questions here as well as tax questions because they are often interrelated.
You'll get to know many of our personalities (Old Jack is really snurly) as well as find this a great forum for tax information.

Ron Jordan, Manchester, TN

[OldJack]

You'll get to know many of our personalities (Old Jack is really snurly) as well as find this a great forum for tax information.

Why what a nice compliment Snag! Thank you.

[RJM]

All deductible

When I worked as a consultant, the company would reimburse me for a taxi to and from for a business trip. If I wanted to drive and park at the airport, and drive back, they would reimburse this if it was less costly. And same for if I would be driven by spouse, with her return home, and later pick-up at the airport and another return home. Anything that was less costly than the cab was reimbursable. This is the same way I would expense for a sch C or 1120 travel expense, without digging up any support, I think it passes the "necessary and reasonable test" at least. -Bob

[Joe Btfsplk]

If the good Lord had meant for man to fly----

If the good lord had meant for man to fly he wouldn't have made it so hard to get to the airport.

[CarolToppCPA]

Thanks everybody

and thanks for the welcome Snaggletooth.

The client is a Sch C. He gets hired occasionally to do sound for ESPN basketball games (sounds like fun work, huh?). He also has a day (W-2) job. He gets reimbursed for most travel expenses (hotel, airfare, etc), but hadn't been taking these mileage deductions until he saw me last year. I think I'll talk about the wife's return trip mileage as "undetermined", but certainly a reasonable expense.

I really enjoy this forum for small, quick questions. I have a program I use for in-depth research. It charges an annual fee and a per question charge, but this forum is nice for smaller issues.

Carol

[OldJack]

I have a program I use for in-depth research. It charges an annual fee and a per question charge, but this forum is nice for smaller issues.

Well... that comment could be considered not very nice. There are a lots of members (CPA's, EA's, etc) here that have many years experience with in-depth research and with answers that you may not find in the publications or elsewhere. Maybe if we charged a fee you would think better of us?

[jainen]

in this forum

>>this forum is nice for smaller issues<<

Carol, business travel expenses is one of the most difficult questions a tax professional deals with, requiring additional documentation, forms and worksheets. Skilled judgement is called for in advising the client about how conservative to be--an issue that is way too big for any subscription research service, but which we can readily handle in this forum.

[veritas]

Well... that comment could be considered not very nice. There are a lots of members (CPA's, EA's, etc) here that have many years experience with in-depth research and with answers that you may not find in the publications or elsewhere. Maybe if we charged a fee you would think better of us?

See! How come you don't have to be subtle?

[sea-tax]

Well... that comment could be considered not very nice. There are a lots of members (CPA's, EA's, etc) here that have many years experience with in-depth research and with answers that you may not find in the publications or elsewhere. Maybe if we charged a fee you would think better of us?

Now Old jack don't go mudding the waters. I don't think anything was meant by that comment. God knows by looking at my post one can tell I don't know much.

[New York Enrolled Agent]

I think Old Jack is "right on" on this one. I don't for a second believe it was intended that way but it did come across as a backhanded compliment.

[CarolToppCPA]

No offense intended!!!

My research for a fee is from the National Assoc of Tax Professionals (NATP). I know you all have many pros here. That's why I like this site so much. What I meant was that the answers here are quick and down to earth! The NATP researcher can take a couple of days to get back to me and I get reams of stuff to read. But no "real life", this-is-what-I'd-do kind of answer.

Oh gosh, I intended a compliment and it came out wrong! :-(

I hope I'm better with numbers than words!

Carol