mileage-Pastors/Ministry

[veritas]

I am wondering if a church minsitry person can be reimbursed for business mileage from their home to church for any reason? An example would be pastor works all day goes home and returns in evening for meeting.

Or pastor leaves home in evening to meet with congregation member at their home then returns to pastor's home again.

[Snaggletooth]

Lots of Mileage

I tell my ministerial clients the same thing as any other commuter: The first trip to the Church every day is non-deductible. Some Ministers go to their church 3-4 times on Sunday, and drive a ton of mileage in visitation, or to faraway towns for revivals, or to various fun places with teenagers. Deductible mileage would also include weddings and funerals and special events.

[veritas]

I often go home and return more than once in a day so can I deduct the second trip?

[Snaggletooth]

Deductible, But

Yes more than one trip to work is deductible if performed for a business purpose.
Lots of people do this, for example some people have to go to the bank or post office every day on behalf of their employer. It is surprising how fast mileage can build up. 4 miles daily is 1000 miles per year.

The big problem is that if you are an employee, rarely does the deduction help you, because this becomes subject to the 2% floor for miscellaneous Schedule A stuff. However, if you are self-employed, every mile can be deducted.

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE=Snaggletooth]Yes more than one trip to work is deductible if performed for a business purpose.

That's the whole point - the trip is for a business purpose to a business location. When a minister goes to his home and then back to the church (his place of employment) it is still commuting - no matter how many times a day he does it. No business miles.

If the minister left the church to see a parishioner in the hospital, then he has business miles. If he meets with a teen for counselling at a restaurant, business miles. Etc. But a straight home to work/work to home trip is commuting.

[Unregistered]

Oh

Wouldn't most ministers have an office in there home?

[Snaggletooth]

Commuting

My above statement is that mileage incurred by a Pastor (or anyone else) in excess of one commute (applied daily) is deductible so long as there is a business purpose. Does someone have anything authoritative that would apply?

In the case of a Pastor, he makes one trip to Church to preach and comes home. At 1:30 PM his phone rings and one of the [deacons, elders, presbyters] has someone down at the Church building who wants to be baptized on the spot, right now. Pastor drives 10 miles back to Church, performs a baptism, and returns home. Pastor has 20 miles deductible mileage.

Example 2: Pastor needs to stay until 2:30 one Sunday afternoon for a business meeting. He drives his wife home 10 miles, and then returns 10 miles back to the Church building. Non-deductible because no business purpose.

Unregistered disagrees. Can anyone speak to this with certainty?

[Mary A.]

I was going to post the chart from Pub 463 which shows that traveling between home to your main place of business is NEVER deductible. However, the chart won't post properly - it gets all garbled - so maybe you would want to take a look at the pub. Also Regs 1.162-2(e) and 1.262-1(b)(5) are relevant.

As to whether or not most ministers have an office in the home, my experience is that most ministers have an office at the church. Even if a minister (who has a housing allowance) would want to claim OIH, all of his expenses would already have been excluded due to the housing allowance.

[Gene V]

commuting

I found this in my archives of books.

Here is a paragraph from the book Minister’s Guide for 1994 Income Tax by Conrad Teitell, LL.B., LL.M.

You can deduct expenses incurred traveling to see parishioners in your community (in their homes or in the hospital), even if it’s the first trip after leaving home (or the last).
Those expenses usually include auto costs, taxis, bus or train fares and tips. However, you can’t deduct the cost of commuting between your home and your church or office.

Actually, there are 7 pages on Travel expenses and Transportation expenses in the book.

[veritas]

So the conclusion is a clergy person can never deduct from home to church no matter how many times a day.

Secondly if such person leaves home or church to make visitation it is always deductible.

[Gene V]

commuting

So the conclusion is a clergy person can never deduct from home to church no matter how many times a day.

Secondly if such person leaves home or church to make visitation it is always deductible.

I agree.

This is from IRS MSSP: Audit technique Guide

Many ministers receive a nonaccountable auto allowance, which is includible in income. Transportation costs, which may be deductible, include trips for hospital and nursing home visits, attendance at conferences, or other church business. However, trips to and from church are considered nondeductible commuting expenses. (Hamblen v. Commissioner, 78 T.C. 53.) In this case, the minister was claiming an office-in-home and they still disallowed the mileage between the home and church.