# Driving wife's car for Uber work. Can I deduct expenses on MY taxes



## Bubs (Apr 22, 2017)

I recently just started driving, using my wife's car with the agreement that I make her car payment from the monthly Uber income. I'm essentially renting her car at the rate of her car payment. My wife will not be driving for Uber, just me. Can I use mileage deductions on my 2017 taxes even though the car is not mine? How does renting vs owning the work car affect my filing?

We filed our 2016 taxes separately, but will be filing jointly for 2017.


----------



## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Bubs said:


> I recently just started driving, using my wife's car with the agreement that I make her car payment from the monthly Uber income. I'm essentially renting her car at the rate of her car payment. My wife will not be driving for Uber, just me. Can I use mileage deductions on my 2017 taxes even though the car is not mine? How does renting vs owning the work car affect my filing?
> 
> We filed our 2016 taxes separately, but will be filing jointly for 2017.


As long as your filing jointly you can deduct expenses from a vehicle owned by either or both of you. You can't rent the car from your wife if your filing jointly.


----------



## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

UberTaxPro said:


> As long as your filing jointly you can deduct expenses from a vehicle owned by either or both of you. You can't rent the car from your wife if your filing jointly.


But if you are not filing jointly, only she can deduct the standard mileage deduction. And of course she will need to mention her rental income too.

You can, however, deduct actual expenses that you pay for instead of standard mileage deduction. But if you do actual expenses the first year you cannot do standard mileage in subsequent years.


----------



## M-Rod (Apr 27, 2017)

I am about to start doing the same thing, my girlfriend and I are going to begin using each others cars because mine doesn't meet the age requirement there's no renting of cars or paying each others cars notes and we are not filing taxes jointly, am I understanding correctly that I cannot write off mileage if I'm using her car?


----------



## Human v2.0 (Mar 5, 2017)

M-Rod said:


> I am about to start doing the same thing, my girlfriend and I are going to begin using each others cars because mine doesn't meet the age requirement there's no renting of cars or paying each others cars notes and we are not filing taxes jointly, am I understanding correctly that I cannot write off mileage if I'm using her car?


The answer is easier with a girlfriend's car. You create an arrangement where you do pay part of her car and then you can deduct that plus any maintenance you paid for related to your driving. Generally you take a total of ALL the vehicle's expenses for the year. Use number miles driven for work divided by total mile driven to get the % of total expenses you can deduct.


----------

