# Can I deduct ...



## Valstar (May 26, 2017)

Are dash cams , hard drives to store video , SD cards , USB SD card readers eligible to be written off as a ride share business expense?

What about a portable carpet shampooer, and shampoo to clean the accumulated minor messes up so I dont have to pay sky high prices at a detailer every few months.

What about disinfectants to kill flu and cold viruses and what ever else people may have. I have gotten sick several times over now from sick passengers coughing and touching things in the car.

These expenses are adding up and I wasn't sure if the mileage deduction covered these items or not.


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## Robertk (Jun 8, 2015)

i'm not an expert but every one of these expenses is directly applicable to your business and thus deductible. Last year I claimed my phone charges, cleaning supplies, and carwashes (all of these expenses were entered via the Turbotax program, the cost of which is also deductible). Your car registration fee is also deductible.

( the external hard drive may be pushing it...)


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Valstar said:


> Are dash cams , hard drives to store video , SD cards , USB SD card readers eligible to be written off as a ride share business expense?
> 
> What about a portable carpet shampooer, and shampoo to clean the accumulated minor messes up so I dont have to pay sky high prices at a detailer every few months.
> 
> ...


Yes, the business % use of those items are deductible. So if you use 1/2 the bottle of disinfectant cleaning up after pax and 1/2 cleaning up after your kids it would be 50% deductible. Regular exterior and interior car washes are generally included in the SMD but additional items used for the comfort and safety of you and your passengers like the ones you mentioned are deductible subject to the business % use.


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## Valstar (May 26, 2017)

Cool thanks for the responses. Since I don't have kids all the messes are from passengers. I do the bar rush and people take home food from down town and I swear they must be wiping their greasy hands on the seats or wet or sweaty clothes leaving stains. They don't eat in the car but the bags are soaked in grease which gets on their fingers. Good ole southern fried food. 

If I told all the passengers no food at all in the car that would leave me with a rating that would get me deactivated very quickly because I have several a night bring food home. You tell a passenger he cant bring his food into the car its an automatic one star. I tried it one night. I have Scotch Guarded my seats but I still have to shampoo frequently. I have a newer car and was shocked to see how nasty that water was when I did it. 

Almost every morning I find a new stain. I'm almost scared to know what some of these stains are. I will keep thinking they are grease when I know full well some of them are not. I will leave that up for debate what the others are. I spray the seat with a disinfectant before I even touch them.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

That stuff *sounds* deductible to me, assuming you never use any of that for personal use. Make sure you keep receipts for everything for taxi time.


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

I deducted my dash cam, that's not a standard expense covered by the SMD.


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