Mileage - Expense from Profession on Sched J

[wingnut]

Hello -

I am a delivery driver. My employer does NOT reimburse us for mileage / etc., we only get an hourly wage.

For IRS purposes, 58.5 cents per mile can now be written off as an expense.

For Schedule J, would I use the average of my monthly expenses, like gas, oil, maintenance, etc. (depreciation?)?

OR would I use the 58.5 cents per mile?

Thanks,

WINGNUT

[wingnut]

Any ideas?

should I be safe and go with actual rather than mileage?

Thanks!

[Phillymanhere]

hey,

You can do a search and find earlier threads that answered this question in great detail. There was a thread on this within the last 4 weeks or so.

[soleprop]

i dunno wingnut, i did a search for 'mileage' and didn't pull up any well-titled threads that seem to apply. Phillyman, can you link us up? I think I would benefit from the facts on this one as well.

bump for wingnut!

[Frogge]

Try this one.... I need to read it myself. LOL

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=26705

[soleprop]

ok...in that thread i think only this is really relevant as it is a cut/paste of some legalese:

http://www.bkforum.com/showpost.php?p=180853&postcount=16

and in that post, this is what caught my eye:

Directly from the IRS site. I have included the whole section. Here is the direct link: http://www.irs.gov/irm/part5/ch08s05.html#d0e90428

5.8.5.5.2 (09-01-2005)
Treatment of Non-Business Transportation Expenses
Transportation expenses are considered necessary when they are used by taxpayers and their families to provide for their health and welfare and/or the production of income. Employees investigating offers in compromise are expected to exercise appropriate judgment in determining whether claimed transportation expenses meet these standards. Expenses that appear to be excessive should be questioned and, in appropriate situations, disallowed.

Operating Expenses — Allow the full operating costs portion of the local transportation standard, or the amount actually claimed by the taxpayer, whichever is less .

Note:
Substantiation for this allowance is not required.

now, this is not specific to mileage, which is what i was hoping this thread would address in a concrete, factual way. i drive 2000 miles/month, i'd like to be able to deduct 58.5 cents per mile if that's an option. i didn't see anything in this thread that really addressed the question to my satisfaction -- it seemed more to be an older vehicle maintenance allowance of $200/mo. also i filed pro se and don't have a lawyer i can ask this kind of thing....

i'll keep an eye out but so far i think this is still up in the air?