Mileage Reimbursement from Employer

[MixMasterTang]

We recently had a new policy concerning our mileage reimbursement for our On-Site network engineers at my company. Basically the new policy says that if you are dispatched to a customer site first thing in the morning you are not reimbursed for any mileage you drive to that customer site (even if the drive is longer than what your normal drive to the office would be), and also if you are at a customer until the end of the day, you are not reimbursed any mileage expenses for your drive home (again, even if you are 30 miles further away from home compared to the distance to your office). So basically the only mileage covered for reimbursement is mileage driven from one customer site to another if you visit multiple customer sites in one day.

For those of you in that are required to report to customer sites and/or drive your personal car for business use, what are your policies for reimbursement?

Thanks!

 

[kevnich2]

Can a company actually make you drive your own vehicle and NOT reimburse you for it? I would think there'd be some law somewhere for this?

 

[BornStar]

Our policy is that if the drive is more than 5 miles further than your normal drive to work, you get reimbursed for it. For example, my normal drive to work is about a mile so if I have to go somewhere from home that's more than 6 miles, I get reimbursed.

 

[Kelemvor]

Last company I worked at had two different polices for the two areas I worked in (1 after the other).

1) If we report to the home office first, we then get mileage for anywhere se drove from that point on until we got back to the home office before leaving for home. If we reported directly somewhere else, then we git mileage from when we left our house to when we got back home.

2) We were given a set number of 20 miles each way. We could claim any mileage we drove that was above that number. So if I drove 50 miles each way, I could claim 30 of that.

 

[BoomerD]

Wow...the few times I've been required to use my personal vehicle, I always was reimbursed at the Federal mileage allotment (currently $0.485/mile) for ALL miles driven. If I started at home, went to a site first, THEN to the office, I got paid for the miles from my house to the site, then back to my house.

 

[TheKub]

Simple, if you get a call for a site further than your normal commute go to the office first. If your onsite further from home than the office leave early enough to make it back by quitting time.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Actual mileage costs are expensed for me. I don't have a standard office to go to though so if I'm not driving or flying somewhere I'm commuting from one end of the hall to the other. Your companies new policy sucks. The obvious answer would be for you and your co-workers to drive into the office every morning even if where you need to go is in the opposite direction to make a point. It sounds like someone is trying to take the IRS policy and bastardize it into something beneficial for the company.

 

[FoBoT]

that is easy, just never check your email (or whatever method they use to dispatch you to a site other than your office) before going to the office

that way you don't know about having to go somewhere else until after you are at the office

 

[VTHodge]

If the site is within 20 miles of my office, the client contract is usually written with no travel expenses --> I don't get paid. If it is more than that, I get the federal rate for any additional miles, beyond my office commute. If a lot of driving is involved, I get the option of having a rental car, paid for at actual cost, but I would rather take the milage.

EDIT: For what it's worth, I rarely ever go to the office. <30 days out of 2 years.

 

[theknight571]

We're reimbursed for any miles driven over that of your normal commute.

So, for me, anything over 30 miles (about 15 each way) for the day is reimbursed.

This seems fair to me, since they wouldn't normally reimburse me for those miles... even if I wish they would.

 

[FoBoT]

if they did reimburse you for your "normal commute", then it has to be reported to the IRS as income, it isn't a business expense for people to come to work, ie normal commuting to work

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: kevnich2
Can a company actually make you drive your own vehicle and NOT reimburse you for it? I would think there'd be some law somewhere for this?

There is. That is HIGHLY shady.

OP - you can deduct that mileage from your taxes if they don't reimburse you. As long as you are not traveling to your normal place of business.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: kevnich2
Can a company actually make you drive your own vehicle and NOT reimburse you for it? I would think there'd be some law somewhere for this?

There is. That is HIGHLY shady.

OP - you can deduct that mileage from your taxes if they don't reimburse you. As long as you are not traveling to your normal place of business.

Yup, you claim it on form 2106, non-reimbursed business expense. Then goes on the Sch A subject to the 2%

Can't itemize? Too bad

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
if they did reimburse you for your "normal commute", then it has to be reported to the IRS as income, it isn't a business expense for people to come to work, ie normal commuting to work

True.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: kevnich2
Can a company actually make you drive your own vehicle and NOT reimburse you for it? I would think there'd be some law somewhere for this?

There is. That is HIGHLY shady.

OP - you can deduct that mileage from your taxes if they don't reimburse you. As long as you are not traveling to your normal place of business.

Yup, you claim it on form 2106, non-reimbursed business expense. Then goes on the Sch A subject to the 2%

Can't itemize? Too bad

And even if you did hit the % requirement you have to have documentation out of your ass.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah all of our engineers are upset with the new policy, we didn't really have a written policy before, but I was shocked to see them come up with this. They keep informing us that what the IRS says is deductible and what they reimburse are two different things. Luckily I do itemize my taxes so I can claim what they don't reimburse me for, but it makes it a HUGE pain.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
if they did reimburse you for your "normal commute", then it has to be reported to the IRS as income, it isn't a business expense for people to come to work, ie normal commuting to work

Out of curiosity, why isn't commuting to work deductible? IMO, it is an expense to get to work, at least compared to working from home.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: MixMasterTang
Thanks for the replies. Yeah all of our engineers are upset with the new policy, we didn't really have a written policy before, but I was shocked to see them come up with this. They keep informing us that what the IRS says is deductible and what they reimburse are two different things. Luckily I do itemize my taxes so I can claim what they don't reimburse me for, but it makes it a HUGE pain.

The IRS will not let you deduct miles to/from first or last worksite.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Originally posted by: FoBoT
if they did reimburse you for your "normal commute", then it has to be reported to the IRS as income, it isn't a business expense for people to come to work, ie normal commuting to work

Out of curiosity, why isn't commuting to work deductible? IMO, it is an expense to get to work, at least compared to working from home.

I think because that's how it's always been. Also, you choose where you live - most people commuting 10-20 miles each way could easily live closer, but don't so they can have the bigger house / better school / etc. That's a completely personal choice, and thre's no need to subsidize it.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: MixMasterTang
Thanks for the replies. Yeah all of our engineers are upset with the new policy, we didn't really have a written policy before, but I was shocked to see them come up with this. They keep informing us that what the IRS says is deductible and what they reimburse are two different things. Luckily I do itemize my taxes so I can claim what they don't reimburse me for, but it makes it a HUGE pain.

The IRS will not let you deduct miles to/from first or last worksite.

Can you show me where they say that? I did read something along those lines that applied if you worked out of a home office, but this isn't the case in my scenario. This is what I find on their website (not exact scenario's but the closest I could come up with):

Commuting expenses. You cannot deduct the costs of taking a bus, trolley, subway, or taxi, or of driving a car between your home and your main or regular place of work. These costs are personal commuting expenses. You cannot deduct commuting expenses no matter how far your home is from your regular place of work. You cannot deduct commuting expenses even if you work during the commuting trip.

You regularly work in an office in the city where you live. Your employer sends you to a one-week training session at a different office in the same city. You travel directly from your home to the training location and return each day. You can deduct the cost of your daily round-trip transportation between your home and the training location.

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: kevnich2
Can a company actually make you drive your own vehicle and NOT reimburse you for it? I would think there'd be some law somewhere for this?

Welcome to the REAL world.


Ausm

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: MixMasterTang

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: MixMasterTang
Thanks for the replies. Yeah all of our engineers are upset with the new policy, we didn't really have a written policy before, but I was shocked to see them come up with this. They keep informing us that what the IRS says is deductible and what they reimburse are two different things. Luckily I do itemize my taxes so I can claim what they don't reimburse me for, but it makes it a HUGE pain.

The IRS will not let you deduct miles to/from first or last worksite.

Can you show me where they say that? I did read something along those lines that applied if you worked out of a home office, but this isn't the case in my scenario. This is what I find on their website (not exact scenario's but the closest I could come up with):

You can take mileage to and from temporary work sites, as long as you expect to be on that work site for less than 1 year.

 

[VTHodge]

Originally posted by: MixMasterTang
Thanks for the replies. Yeah all of our engineers are upset with the new policy, we didn't really have a written policy before, but I was shocked to see them come up with this. They keep informing us that what the IRS says is deductible and what they reimburse are two different things. Luckily I do itemize my taxes so I can claim what they don't reimburse me for, but it makes it a HUGE pain.

Assuming this isn't some huge mega-corp, you might have a shot at getting the policy changed. Let your boss know and HR how you think this is unfair and ask your co-workers to do the same. (Don't be a jerk about it though.) My company has had similar policies changed due to employee protest.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Originally posted by: FoBoT
if they did reimburse you for your "normal commute", then it has to be reported to the IRS as income, it isn't a business expense for people to come to work, ie normal commuting to work

Out of curiosity, why isn't commuting to work deductible? IMO, it is an expense to get to work, at least compared to working from home.

Same reason you can't deduct things like dry cleaning.

 

[dummy2001]

Originally posted by: Ausm

Originally posted by: kevnich2
Can a company actually make you drive your own vehicle and NOT reimburse you for it? I would think there'd be some law somewhere for this?

Welcome to the REAL world.


Ausm

Yeah, this is not unusual at all. Besides, no one says you have to drive. Take a bus. By the way, you are tracking your miles and paying the higher rate to your auto insurer if more than half are business related, right?