oilfield mileage

[versius]

Hello, I'm really sorry to ask another mileage related question here, but my situation doesn't quite fit the rest of them... or doesn't seem to anyway.

I'm a roughneck and my general daily work is on a specific oil rig, however we do also have a "yard" in which we work at certain times. I'm wondering if this could be considered a "normal" work site. The rig moves every 14-60 days and, so, each work site is temporary. Some locations are in other states and some are only a couple of hundred miles away.

I've kept a log book with the actual mileage traveled each day, the site I was going to and what vehicle it was in (two different vehicles).

I'm really confused, as it seems like this might be considered commuting, but everyone at work uses the mileage deductions and they don't seem to have had any problems with doing so.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as this deduction makes the difference between me owing several thousand dollars that I can't pay (I no longer have the job) and just about breaking even.

Thanks in advance.

[Brad Imsdahl]

It is a facts and circumstances issue. If you do actually have a regular place of work, possibly the “yard” that you work at, then the temporary work locations away from this “yard” would qualify for a mileage deduction, assuming all of these temporary work locations last for less than a year.

If on the other hand, you do not have a regular place of work, maybe because this “yard” location is simply a token place to work to keep you busy during the in-between times, then the commuting in your local area would be non-deductible. However, any mileage to out of town locations which are too far away for you to go back to your tax-home to sleep during the night would still be deductible as travel expenses. You have to first establish that you do in fact have a tax home before you can deduct out of town travel costs.

[Black Bart]

When in Rome,

...everyone at work uses the mileage deductions and they don't seem to have had any problems...this deduction makes the difference between me owing several thousand dollars that I can't pay...and...breaking even.

do as the roughnecks do.

After a couple more years of this problem, you'll no longer feel the need to come on to a board and ask.