# Link with Uber/Lyft specific tax information for 2016



## disp350 (Jul 16, 2016)

https://hurdlr.com/blog/uber/16-tax-deductions-uber-drivers-can-use-immediately#.WG7_kRsrK9I

I cant speak for the validity of this information, but comparing it to what I have seen in my H&R Block Tax Software, it looks pretty good.


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## mghtyred (Apr 14, 2016)

It's largely accurate. However, tolls are not deductible as FUBER reimburses you for those.


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## Mielle (Dec 26, 2016)

so are you able to deduct #1, #2 and #3 all at the same time??


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Mielle said:


> so are you able to deduct #1, #2 and #3 all at the same time??


No!


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## disp350 (Jul 16, 2016)

mghtyred said:


> It's largely accurate. However, tolls are not deductible as FUBER reimburses you for those.


Yes, 100% correct. Although if you have to deadhead back from a NYC dropoff like I do since we cant pick up there, if I cant get them to reimburse me, then you can deduct them (sometimes they will reimburse).


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## Sagamore (May 27, 2016)

Anybody know when UBER will have our 1099 prepared? When do they usually send them. I've checked for electronic delivery but nothing official has been sent


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

Sagamore said:


> Anybody know when UBER will have our 1099 prepared? When do they usually send them. I've checked for electronic delivery but nothing official has been sent


By law they have to send them by Feb 1, but they usually send them out sooner.


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## Sagamore (May 27, 2016)

UberTaxPro said:


> By law they have to send them by Feb 1, but they usually send them out sooner.


Thank you Uber Tax Pro


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## Geno71 (Dec 23, 2016)

Not bad, so I understand that the Standard Mileage and Actual Expenses are your two main options, we use one or the other, not both, but what about Common Operating Expenses? Is it part of Actual Expenses and can be used instead of Mileage or can those be used with Standard Mileage?


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## circle1 (Sep 17, 2016)

They forgot to include the fees Uber charges us. That's a business expense! (of course one has to do all the business paperwork and pay taxes to the state in order to claim all that.)


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

#10 can get you audited by the IRS, you can only deduct the percentage of your cell phone bill that is directly related to Uber/Lyft. If you used 800 total minutes in a month, but only 100 of them for Uber/Lyft, you can deduct 8% of that month's bill. In an audit, the IRS will make you go line by line high lighting the calls which are Uber/Lyft specific, if you don't know the numbers, you're SOL, they will disallow it. I just went through this with the IRS>


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## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

I'm deducting a portion of my cell phone based on % use of mileage. Based on my total mileage and tracking I used my 30% of the total miles on my car for my independent business use. I used my cell phone exclusively during those miles whether it be text, phone or data usage.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

El Gato said:


> I'm deducting a portion of my cell phone based on % use of mileage. Based on my total mileage and tracking I used my 30% of the total miles on my car for my independent business use. I used my cell phone exclusively during those miles whether it be text, phone or data usage.


Nope, doesn't work that way. In an audit, you will need to provide an itemized copy of your cell phone bill for the year in question, the IRS will make you highlight the phone numbers that are specific to your business, they may call up to 50% of those numbers to verify. I'm a regional truck driver, when I went through my audit, I provided them with full cell records, highlighting all business calls. I know for a fact, the IRS verified 37 calls (they were all to the same customers, so that made it easy) they also matched the calls to my log books to confirm I was actually doing that run. I was claiming actual minutes for those calls, the IRS rejected this method, and recalculated the total number of calls as a percentage of all calls for the year, then taking that same percentage, as a percentage of the total amount I paid in cell charges.


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## crimson.snwbnny (Nov 24, 2016)

Frontier Guy said:


> #10 can get you audited by the IRS, you can only deduct the percentage of your cell phone bill that is directly related to Uber/Lyft. If you used 800 total minutes in a month, but only 100 of them for Uber/Lyft, you can deduct 8% of that month's bill. In an audit, the IRS will make you go line by line high lighting the calls which are Uber/Lyft specific, if you don't know the numbers, you're SOL, they will disallow it. I just went through this with the IRS>


i dont talk much on my phone. does that mean that in a month if lets say i used 80 min and 50 of those were with uber/lyft does that mean 40% of my monthly bill can be deducted?


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## circle1 (Sep 17, 2016)

Frontier Guy said:


> Nope, doesn't work that way. In an audit, you will need to provide an itemized copy of your cell phone bill for the year in question, the IRS will make you highlight the phone numbers that are specific to your business, they may call up to 50% of those numbers to verify. I'm a regional truck driver, when I went through my audit, I provided them with full cell records, highlighting all business calls. I know for a fact, the IRS verified 37 calls (they were all to the same customers, so that made it easy) they also matched the calls to my log books to confirm I was actually doing that run. I was claiming actual minutes for those calls, the IRS rejected this method, and recalculated the total number of calls as a percentage of all calls for the year, then taking that same percentage, as a percentage of the total amount I paid in cell charges.


I'm getting a phone exclusively for business use. That should end that concern.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

crimson.snwbnny said:


> i dont talk much on my phone. does that mean that in a month if lets say i used 80 min and 50 of those were with uber/lyft does that mean 40% of my monthly bill can be deducted?


Based on your numbers, you would be able to deduct about 70% of your bill, as long as you can prove the calls were Uber/Lyft with an itemized bill showing all the numbers



circle1 said:


> I'm getting a phone exclusively for business use. That should end that concern.


Nope, still doesn't make it 100% deductible. I can guarantee you, the IRS would still reduce the amount allowed in an audit, I would not deduct more than 75% of an item like that, a tax professional might tell you otherwise, make sure they will defend you in an audit.


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## Geno71 (Dec 23, 2016)

Does the amount saved by claiming phone usage worth the hustle anyway?


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## circle1 (Sep 17, 2016)

Frontier Guy said:


> Based on your numbers, you would be able to deduct about 70% of your bill, as long as you can prove the calls were Uber/Lyft with an itemized bill showing all the numbers
> 
> Nope, still doesn't make it 100% deductible. I can guarantee you, the IRS would still reduce the amount allowed in an audit, I would not deduct more than 75% of an item like that, a tax professional might tell you otherwise, make sure they will defend you in an audit.


Huh?? If the only thing I use that phone for is business, how can the IRS say no to 100%?


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## UberATLDriver (Sep 20, 2016)

Is the standard mileage deduction rate that we file this time around 54 cents or 53.5 cents per mile? My recording app is telling me 53.5 but on the irs website it is 54 cents in 2016 so probably 54 right?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

UberATLDriver said:


> Is the standard mileage deduction rate that we file this time around 54 cents or 53.5 cents per mile? My recording app is telling me 53.5 but on the irs website it is 54 cents in 2016 so probably 54 right?


It's $0.54 for 2016. The new rate starting January 1, 2017 is $0.535.


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## UberATLDriver (Sep 20, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> It's $0.54 for 2016. The new rate starting January 1, 2017 is $0.535.


thank you.


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## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

Then what you do you all do for data and texting? How do you track that portion of your bill for TNC use?


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

circle1 said:


> Huh?? If the only thing I use that phone for is business, how can the IRS say no to 100%?


This is the IRS, they can say no to anything and everything and do not have to justify it, and they will look for any reason to disallow it. Let's say every call to Lyft and Uber is the exact same, BUT, there's one number that doesn't match up, OH NO, an Uber pax called you..........sorry, it's not 100% anymore.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

El Gato said:


> Then what you do you all do for data and texting? How do you track that portion of your bill for TNC use?


The explanation I was given by my tax friend is just add up the minutes for Uber/Lyft, and claim that percentage as the amount, since realistically all you are paying for is data, not the minutes or texts, unless you pay by the minute or text.


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## Sub Guy (Sep 22, 2016)

Frontier Guy said:


> #10 can get you audited by the IRS, you can only deduct the percentage of your cell phone bill that is directly related to Uber/Lyft. If you used 800 total minutes in a month, but only 100 of them for Uber/Lyft, you can deduct 8% of that month's bill. In an audit, the IRS will make you go line by line high lighting the calls which are Uber/Lyft specific, if you don't know the numbers, you're SOL, they will disallow it. I just went through this with the IRS>


You do not instill confidence in your advice when you repeatedly mess up simple math....100/800= 1/8= 12.5% not 8%.



Frontier Guy said:


> Based on your numbers, you would be able to deduct about 70% of your bill, as long as you can prove the calls were Uber/Lyft with an itemized bill showing all the numbers
> 
> In her example she used your flawed math and figured 5/8 as 5 x 1/8 = 5x8% = 40%. You corrected her and said it would be about 70% (no idea where that comes from). Actually 5/8 = 62.5%. IRS would not consider rounding it to 70% to be acceptable.
> 
> ...


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

Sub Guy said:


> You do not instill confidence in your advice when you repeatedly mess up simple math....100/800= 1/8= 12.5% not 8%.


My fingers were typing faster than my brain.


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## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

Frontier Guy said:


> The explanation I was given by my tax friend is just add up the minutes for Uber/Lyft, and claim that percentage as the amount, since realistically all you are paying for is data, not the minutes or texts, unless you pay by the minute or text.


Right but data isnt tracked by minutes it's by GB. I pay $30 for a 6GB plan, how do I know how much of that was for TNC use? I have an unlimited text plan but it costs me like $20, do I have to track every text and divide that number by total texts that month to get a % of TNC text use and multiply that % by the $20?


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

It is my understanding that there is no realistic way to calculate actual GB used, UNLESS, you had a phone that was devoid of all other data users (apps, etc.), and thus the amount used by Uber/Lyft could easily be tracked. Therefore, you take the total minutes used for calling pax, divide that by the total of all minutes used for the month to get the percentage you can deduct. My example from before, if you used 800 total minutes for the month, but only 100 of them were for TNC, then you can only deduct 12.5% of the total bill for that month.

I suppose, you could cross that over and say you used 12.5% of the data for the month, BUT, the IRS is only going to let you claim one or the other, but since with almost all cell plans, you are paying for data, not minutes, either way, you are only going to be able to calculate based on minutes used. 

I've never tried to deduct text, I suspect, that would be akin to trying to deduct the cost of emails, the IRS might frown on that, a tax professional would be the better person to ask.


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## Sub Guy (Sep 22, 2016)

In the case of unlimited data plans or even preplanned data plans (8GB, 32GB etc.) what you pay is a set amount regardless of how much of the data you actually use (unless you exceed your plan amount). In that case I am not sure how to determine "business usage" of the phone. Would it be a factor of how many hours the phone is on and amount of time spent driving for TNC? If you drive 6 hours a day but the phone is on for 24 hours/day is your usage 25%? But wait, I have opted in to getting text messages from Uber notifying me of high surge periods and my phone has to be on to receive those messages, so even though I may not be "driving" or having the driver app running, I am using to the phone to manage my business.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

Since there is no specific way to determine data usage by app, you would only be able to calculate it based on phone calls.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Frontier Guy said:


> Since there is no specific way to determine data usage by app, you would only be able to calculate it based on phone calls.


I'm far from being any kind of phone expert, but on my iPhone 6 I can look up cellular data use by app for each billing period:
Settings>Cellular>scroll to "use cellular data for" and toggle the apps you want to track. The usage for each app shows under the name. Would this info allow you to establish the percentage of data totals on your bill used for business? My bill shows data used, even though it's included in a data plan.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

Older Chauffeur said:


> I'm far from being any kind of phone expert, but on my iPhone 6 I can look up cellular data use by app for each billing period:
> Settings>Cellular>scroll to "use cellular data for" and toggle the apps you want to track. The usage for each app shows under the name. Would this info allow you to establish the percentage of data totals on your bill used for business? My bill shows data used, even though it's included in a data plan.


It would be at the discretion of the IRS if that would work or not.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Frontier Guy said:


> It would be at the discretion of the IRS if that would work or not.


Well yeah, they decide whether to accept it, but if you can show the Uber app used x-amount and that it's x-% of your total data costs for the year, what's not to like? Similar to showing your miles accrued for business, backed up by your mileage log, but even better because your phone data usage is tracked independently.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

It's the IRS, they don't have to accept anything, and they don't have to give you a reason.


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## pushmyredbutton (Jan 9, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> I'm far from being any kind of phone expert, but on my iPhone 6 I can look up cellular data use by app for each billing period:
> Settings>Cellular>scroll to "use cellular data for" and toggle the apps you want to track. The usage for each app shows under the name. Would this info allow you to establish the percentage of data totals on your bill used for business? My bill shows data used, even though it's included in a data plan.


I'd say this is the most prudent approach. As long as you don't claim 100%, I don't think this will raise many red flags.


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## Honu (Nov 6, 2016)

Frontier Guy said:


> #10 can get you audited by the IRS, you can only deduct the percentage of your cell phone bill that is directly related to Uber/Lyft. If you used 800 total minutes in a month, but only 100 of them for Uber/Lyft, you can deduct 8% of that month's bill. In an audit, the IRS will make you go line by line high lighting the calls which are Uber/Lyft specific, if you don't know the numbers, you're SOL, they will disallow it. I just went through this with the IRS>


I am deducting 50% of my bill, not sure how they can prove otherwise since the majority of the plan is based on data+line fees etc, and Uber runs on data mostly, we don't use minutes.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Honu said:


> I am deducting 50% of my bill, not sure how they can prove otherwise since the majority of the plan is based on data+line fees etc, and Uber runs on data mostly, we don't use minutes.


Just so you understand, the IRS doesn't have to "prove otherwise." If you are audited, the burden of proof for every item in the return is on you. If you can't show to their satisfaction how you came up with that 50% cell phone deduction, they can disallow all or part of it.


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## 22531 (Jul 29, 2015)

I think you guys want to first see if your mileage rate exceeds your income. If it does, there is no point in doing an itemized deduction. If you do itemized deduction you better have all your receipts and evidence. Im curious if Uber is counting the tolls as income. They should not be doing that! I keep an excel spreadsheet with Earnings, Miles, Fees, Tolls etc and my "real earnings" is my total earnings - total tolls. I wonder if Uber is saying you earned that? No you didnt! The customer paid for that toll by paying you back! Thats not income!


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## Sub Guy (Sep 22, 2016)

yamafx4dude said:


> I think you guys want to first see if your mileage rate exceeds your income. If it does, there is no point in doing an itemized deduction. If you do itemized deduction you better have all your receipts and evidence. Im curious if Uber is counting the tolls as income. They should not be doing that! I keep an excel spreadsheet with Earnings, Miles, Fees, Tolls etc and my "real earnings" is my total earnings - total tolls. I wonder if Uber is saying you earned that? No you didnt! The customer paid for that toll by paying you back! Thats not income!


I haven't checked this year's code yet but a word of caution here.....IIRC for a schedule C business, your first year determines your "accounting" practice for the following years. In plain English, if you take standard deduction this year, you can not take actual expenses next year and vice versa, so don't only look at what works best for you for this year but look ahead and analyze if it will work next year based on any changes you may make (work more, work less, etc.)


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## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

Yes Uber is including tolls. It is on the 1099. But you deduct this on your schedule C so it all evens out. Plus if you are keeping good records you can also deduct other tolls not reported by Uber. Similar to extra miles not reported by Uber. ie) tolls used on the way to pick up a pax, just like the miles you used on the way to pick someone up.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Sub Guy said:


> I haven't checked this year's code yet but a word of caution here.....IIRC for a schedule C business, your first year determines your "accounting" practice for the following years. In plain English, if you take standard deduction this year, you can not take actual expenses next year and vice versa, so don't only look at what works best for you for this year but look ahead and analyze if it will work next year based on any changes you may make (work more, work less, etc.)


Not quite. If you use the Standard Mileage Deduction the first year for a car you own, you can switch between SRM and Actual Car Expenses in following years. For leased cars, if you use the SRM it must be for the entire lease period.
Source: IRS Publication 463


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

^^^I already started my taxes, rough estimates puts Actual about 10% higher than SRM for the deduction.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Frontier Guy said:


> ^^^I already started my taxes, rough estimates puts Actual about 10% higher than SRM for the deduction.


Is that after subtracting for the percentage of personal use based on a contemporaneous mileage log? From what I have read on these boards the SRM works to the advantage of most drivers.


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## 22531 (Jul 29, 2015)

If you have a vehicle thats expensive to operate, perhaps mileage is not a good idea.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

Older Chauffeur said:


> Is that after subtracting for the percentage of personal use based on a contemporaneous mileage log? From what I have read on these boards the SRM works to the advantage of most drivers.


I keep detailed mileage for the year. My starting mileage on Jan. 1, my ending miles on Dec. 31., every time I did Uber/Lyft I recorded beginning and ending miles. I also track all my finances on Quicken, and all my fuel purchases/MPG on Fuelly. Via Fuelly, I know how much gas I put in my pickup all year, the miles driven for that tank, the price per gallon, total gallons purchased, and total price. I went off Fuelly to get the total amount of fuel I bought for my pickup for the year, since I have all receipts for repairs (oil changes and a brake job, everything else was under warranty) so I added those up. Same with car washes, those were tracked in Quicken and notated which vehicle it was for. Put all those into Turbo Tax, it calculated which gave me the bigger deduction, then gave me the option to take it or use miles only. I'm a long way from being done, I won't truly delve into my taxes until the end of Feb., as I won't have my brokerage statement until then. I'm just picking at it now, breaking down my Verizon bills for Uber/Lyft phone calls and phone calls related to being a truck driver.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Frontier Guy said:


> I keep detailed mileage for the year. My starting mileage on Jan. 1, my ending miles on Dec. 31., every time I did Uber/Lyft I recorded beginning and ending miles. I also track all my finances on Quicken, and all my fuel purchases/MPG on Fuelly. Via Fuelly, I know how much gas I put in my pickup all year, the miles driven for that tank, the price per gallon, total gallons purchased, and total price. I went off Fuelly to get the total amount of fuel I bought for my pickup for the year, since I have all receipts for repairs (oil changes and a brake job, everything else was under warranty) so I added those up. Same with car washes, those were tracked in Quicken and notated which vehicle it was for. Put all those into Quicken, it calculated which gave me the bigger deduction, then gave me the option to take it or use miles only. I'm a long way from being done, I won't truly delve into my taxes until the end of Feb., as I won't have my brokerage statement until then. I'm just picking at it now, breaking down my Verizon bills for Uber/Lyft phone calls and phone calls related to being a truck driver.


So what I'm asking is, does Quicken calculate the percentage of business use vs personal use miles in that computation? Even if a vehicle is dedicated to business use, the IRS may consider some of the miles accumulated as commuting miles.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

Yes, Turbo Tax will ask for all miles for the year, it will also ask for all business miles, it will use that computation to then adjust for everything else if you claim all vehicle expenses.


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## Sub Guy (Sep 22, 2016)

Yes, concur with the above post


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## tevee123 (Jun 28, 2016)

Excuse my ignorance, but am I right in assuming that if we are claiming mileage, we are not able to claim oil changes, tires, brakes, etc?


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## Geno71 (Dec 23, 2016)

tevee123 said:


> Excuse my ignorance, but am I right in assuming that if we are claiming mileage, we are not able to claim oil changes, tires, brakes, etc?


That's Correct. If you're using Turbo Tax, I don't believe it'll let you even if you tried.


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## Sub Guy (Sep 22, 2016)

tevee123 said:


> Excuse my ignorance, but am I right in assuming that if we are claiming mileage, we are not able to claim oil changes, tires, brakes, etc?


Let's see if I can make this clear ......Last year you drove 20,000 miles driving TNC (uber/lyft/whatever). You put a total of 25,000 miles on your car (5,000 personal/non business use). Turbo Tax asks you total miles driven and total driven for business. It will tell you qualify for a standard deduction of $xxx.xx (20000 x the standard mileage rate) and ask you if you want to compare actual expenses? If you want to see if that will give you a better deduction you say yes and enter all of your actual expenses (gas, tires, maintenance, depreciation, car washes, inspections, property tax, seat covers, new floor mats...etc.) For the numbers I provided, Turbo Tax will allow you to deduct 80% of those actual expenses (your business percentage of use 20,000/25,000). It will tell you the deduction available for each method (standard or actual) and ask you which you wish to use.

So both methods need miles driven for the equation but actual expenses needs total miles as well. Hope that helps.


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