# Can you expense anthing else in addition to the milage deduction?



## Sal29 (Jul 27, 2014)

Could I get the standars dedication and still expense a GPS, cassette adaptor, windshield and vent mounts, floor mats, etc?


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Sal29 said:


> Could I get the standars dedication and still expense a GPS, cassette adaptor, windshield and vent mounts, floor mats, etc?


Cassette adaptor? Seriously?


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## Sal29 (Jul 27, 2014)

It's a 2006 Camry XLE with JBL Audio 6 Disc CD Changer AM/FM Cassette. no bluetooth or aux port.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Sal29 said:


> It's a 2006 Camry XLE with JBL Audio 6 Disc CD Changer AM/FM Cassette. no bluetooth or aux port.


Wow. My previous car was a Ford focus 2005 with a 6 cd changer but no cassette. Didn't think they put them in as late as 2006. Funnily enough my 2015 kia soul doesn't even have a cd player. Even those are on the way out apparently.

So they sell adaptors from the cassette player to aux?

The gps for sure is deductible. I would imagine anything that allows you to charge the phone would be deductible and the mounts since it us necessary for the business. Not entirely sure about the floor mats. Maybe someone else will know for sure. Thst seems to be part of the car to me and MAY be covered under mileage as part of the maintenance. I've never bought a car without mats or replaced them although I am thinking of getting weathertec ones for my car.

You need to do a schedule C for business. Also self employment tax I think it's called form SE actually. The standard deduction is a whole separate thing. So if you had big medical bills or mortgage interest and taxes on your home that is more than the standard yes you can itemize those and its separate from the business. You don't put the business expenses on schedule a which is where those things go.

A lot of tax software doesn't seem to deal with all this apparently so bear that in mind.

I have to keep track of my pizza delivery miles on one form because I'm an employee and my Uber separately as a contractor. I think a lot of folks are trying to put the mileage and expenses where it would go gor sn employee and thats throwing everything off. (Form 2106? Don't quote me on that! ) But I've been doing this sort of thing for a while. If you print out a paper copy of the 1040 and go line by line and look up the forms mentioned that will make it pretty clear. If you bounce around trying to figure it out in pieces it's more confusing.

Best advice: keep very good records of mileage. If it's more detailed than necessary great. The mileage can be high for uber and a red flag for an audit. If the mileage is disallowed a $20 car adaptor deduction is not going to help you.


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## Tristan Zier (Nov 25, 2014)

Sal29 said:


> Could I get the standars dedication and still expense a GPS, cassette adaptor, windshield and vent mounts, floor mats, etc?


Check out our guide to ridesharing taxes here, which will take you through expenses you can write off: *******************/guides/ridesharing


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## Markbrla (Oct 16, 2014)

I'm not a tax man, but my understanding is you can't expense auto accessories unless they are pertinent to your business. For example, you could write off an XM Radio subscription (it's for your customers enjoyment). I would not write-off $3,000 rims. But, you could expense the GPS. You just have to use your own judgment here as there are no black and white rules on the matter. The IRS trusts that you will do what is ethical. From my experience, I would suggest not to expense anything that might raise a red flag .


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## CJ ASLAN (Sep 13, 2014)

I reported car washes, gas, cell phone bill, waters & snacks..


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## Tristan Zier (Nov 25, 2014)

CJ ASLAN said:


> I reported car washes, gas, cell phone bill, waters & snacks..


Gas is already included in the Standard Mileage Rate, so you should check that you didn't double-count the expense. The Standard Mileage Rate is usually far favorable to rideshare drivers over the Actual Costs Method (where you count up all individual costs like gas, depreciation, etc).

Car washes are technically included in the Standard Mileage Rate, but rideshare drivers have a good argument for saying they get an above average number of car washes in order to keep their customers happy, so you can probably write that off as an additional expense.

For cell phone bills or any other split business/personal expenses, make sure you're only writing off the business portion.


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## yeti (Sep 16, 2014)

If I take standard deduction can I still deduct interest on my car loan?


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## Tristan Zier (Nov 25, 2014)

yeti said:


> If I take standard deduction can I still deduct interest on my car loan?


Yes - you can deduct the interest portion of your car as an expense separate from the Standard Mileage Rate. You would put it under "Interest (Other)" category. Note that you can only write off the business portion - so if your interest was $100 and you used your car 60% business, you could only write off $60.


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