Ask Maxi · Deductions
Mileage or actual expenses — which should I use for my car?
Whichever produces the bigger deduction, but the choice you make in the first year the car is used for business limits your options later.
The standard mileage rate multiplies your business miles by the IRS rate for that year and covers gas, maintenance, insurance and depreciation in one number. You can still add business parking and tolls on top.
Actual expenses takes the business percentage of gas, repairs, insurance, registration, loan interest and depreciation. More records, and often a bigger number for an expensive vehicle or one with high running costs.
If you want the option to use the standard rate on a car you own, you generally have to use it in the first year that car is used for business. Start with actual expenses and you are usually stuck with actual expenses for that vehicle.
Either way, you need a mileage log with the date, where you went, why, and the miles. Written as you go. A log reconstructed in April is the first thing that falls apart under questioning.
Commuting from home to your regular workplace is never deductible.
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