# Question about standard deduction automatically applying



## Alltel77 (Mar 3, 2019)

I'm going to have a tax person do my taxes this year so I am only looking for general knowledge , last year due to covid I used TurboTaxPro which I regret because it only confused me and gave me wrong info in the help article. I worked both W-2 and delivery 2019. I did owe taxes for 2019 but I was expecting that since I claimed 2 withholdings at my W2 job and usually pay about approx $900-$1000 at the end of the year. I was just going to claim mileage on the Uber portion but turbotax said in the help article since my car was FINANCED I could not because I did not own it (later found out this was completely incorrect) so I claimed gas expenses, maint, interest. TurboTax software stated it auto-caculates the business vs personal use. When I finally got to the end it basically said I was too poor so it applied the standard deduction of $12,200 with $941 owed in taxes. So my question is since it applied the standard deduction can I just claim mileage this year I know you cannot flip flop if you have the same vehicle but I'm not sure if it matters since the standard deduction was applied 2019 or would I need to amend 2019? I file single, unmarried.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

With the limited information you provided I think I would start out by filing a amended 2019 return before filing your 2020 return. Something does not sound right to me. The standard deduction should have nothing to do with business income. Maybe I'm not reading your post right.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

I agree with @FLKeys, you should probably amend your 2019 return. Ask the tax person about it. If you use actual expenses the first year using a vehicle, you have to use that method as long as you use it in your business. Hopefully by amending that return you can change to the SMR, since for most gig workers that works out better tax wise. 
FYI, you probably didn't need TurboTax Pro, for which you paid a premium. T/T Deluxe (Costco and similar stores, $40 after $10 off coupon) has everything that you need, including Schedules C and SE, along with the vehicle worksheet. I'm not sure how any tax program could automatically figure business vs personal mileage. You have to enter at least one along with your total annual mileage.
Anyway, good luck to you. A good source here for tax advice is @UberTaxPro.


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## Daisey77 (Jan 13, 2016)

If you claimed actual expenses the first year you have to stick with that the entire time the vehicle is in service. If you use standard mileage the first year you can swap back and forth between standard mileage and actual expenses the subsequent years


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## Alltel77 (Mar 3, 2019)

FLKeys said:


> With the limited information you provided I think I would start out by filing a amended 2019 return before filing your 2020 return. Something does not sound right to me. The standard deduction should have nothing to do with business income. Maybe I'm not reading your post right.





Older Chauffeur said:


> I agree with @FLKeys, you should probably amend your 2019 return. Ask the tax person about it. If you use actual expenses the first year using a vehicle, you have to use that method as long as you use it in your business. Hopefully by amending that return you can change to the SMR, since for most gig workers that works out better tax wise.
> FYI, you probably didn't need TurboTax Pro, for which you paid a premium. T/T Deluxe (Costco and similar stores, $40 after $10 off coupon) has everything that you need, including Schedules C and SE, along with the vehicle worksheet. I'm not sure how any tax program could automatically figure business vs personal mileage. You have to enter at least one along with your total annual mileage.
> Anyway, good luck to you. A good source here for tax advice is @UberTaxPro.





Daisey77 said:


> If you claimed actual expenses the first year you have to stick with that the entire time the vehicle is in service. If you use standard mileage the first year you can swap back and forth between standard mileage and actual expenses the subsequent years


Thank you everyone for the responses. I'll probably just have 2019 amended. I should've explained it better when I was wrapping up the process TurboTax said I would save more by just claiming the standard deduction so it just automatically applied the standard deduction instead of claiming the gas etc, although a schedule C was still filed with that information on there. I thought it was one or the other.


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