Discussion:Vehicle Mileage
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Discussion Forum Index --> Basic Tax Questions --> Vehicle Mileage
Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Vehicle Mileage
| 2 September 2009 | |
| Taxpayer owns a 18 wheeler truck that he use to haul gravel. He did not keep a daily log. He noted the odometer reading at the start and end of the year. Is this sufficient? He has a book that he uses to keep a track of the number trips not miles. It will take weeks to convert the trips to miles so that is really not an option. | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| Beginning and ending mileage alone is insufficient.
Can't he go on aaa.com or switchboard.com to enter beginning and ending location to track mileage distances? If he makes repeat stops to same customers, it shouldn't be difficult. | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| Would it be easier to figure out personal mileage in an 18 wheeler? Really not trying to be flippant.
Toyrme 20:28, 1 September 2009 (CDT) | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| If the truck is used only for business, which any reasonable person would conclude is the the case for a 18 wheeler, why is it required that the mileage be tracked on a daily basis. | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| Is there a mileage rate for semis? Can you even use the auto rate for a semi? I would think actual expenses would far exceed the auto mileage rate. If the odometer is all there is then I would use that since personal vs. business use should not be an issue. It records the beginning and ending business use for the year. | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| I need the mile to try and recreate the diesel expense since he does not have all fuel receipt. The Dept of Energy has a weekly cost of diesel on their website which I will use to calculate the amount spent on diesel.
The cost of diesel = total miles for year/miles per gallon that the truck get * average cost per gallon | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| Since you wil be using actual (albeit estimated) expenses, I would think the beginning and ending odometer readings will suffice. I am assuming he did not joyride or take the 18 wheeler to the supermarket. | |
Death&Taxes (talk|edits) said: | 2 September 2009 |
| Is this for an audit, or to complete his return? An auditor would take his beginning and ending odometer readings, compare them to readings listed on repair bills to ascertain reliability, and often use an average cost for the year to determine if the amount shown for fuel was reasonable. Only then would he try to eliminate personal miles, which with an 18-wheeler would be de minimis. | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| I agree - there is no personal use of this vehicle. 100% of the cost is business use. | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| I do remember an episode of "To Catch A Predator" though in which the pedophile drove his tractor to meet the young girl. Gosh, I hope it is not the same guy. | |
Death&Taxes (talk|edits) said: | 2 September 2009 |
| Anyone remember before the passage of Sec. 262(b) and the lovely arguments we would have regarding the cost of a telephone for being 'on call.' Usually the deduction would be the basis cost of putting one telephone in the house, back in those pre-cellphone days.
I recall one examiner telling me that her husband was a fireman and she did not deduct 'telephone on call.' "Everyone has a telephone; how can you deduct the cost of something everyone has?" What fallacious reasoning! "No they don't; Joey Coyle didn't have a telephone." You could google Joey; he was the gentleman who saw a bag of money drop from an armored truck and picked it up, only to be caught later. In the accounts of the story, it was always brought out that Coyle had no telephone and had to go to the deli downstairs to get his calls. The late Mr. Coyle, a South Philly lowlife, was the butt of that line: "How many seconds elapsed after the money bag hit the ground before Joey picked it up?" "What makes you think it hit the ground?" | |
| 2 September 2009 | |
| IRSfixer, that was business mileage also. He was hoping to make a delivery. | |
| 3 September 2009 | |
| I don't know what I was thinking!! Of course there isn't a mileage rate for an 18 wheeler (that I know of). MPG calculation that you showed is used here for off road tax refund on diesel fuel at the state level. | |
