Personal Mileage Reimbursement Form Traveler'S Name: Purpose: Fill & Download for Free

The following is all from memory, and I haven't looked up the rules for several years, so take this as a general discussion and verify anything you need to know.Q1: Yes, your company can reimburse your past expenses, whereupon the allowable business expenses become tax deductions for the business (adding, likely, to its negative income or capitalized pre-launch expenses), and they are tax-neutral to you. Every time you record any transaction in the books it has tax and bookkeeping implications, so I'm not sure what you mean by asking. There are no undue negative ones from a company's reimbursing a founder's deductible startup costs, so long as investors are okay with it, if that's what you mean. It might help to learn what sort of things are deductible (mileage, personal property contributed to the business) versus which are not (personal meals, travel to work, your own time, value of stuff you make, etc.)Q2: There are plenty of guides put out by the IRS and on websites describing home office deductions. However, to be deductible as far as I know you need a separate room, outbuilding, or other expense that is specifically for the home business, it has to be the primary place of business, and a few other requirements. Once you pass that threshold you can deduct a portion of rent and utilities (but not shared phone). If you use different parts of the same room for both personal and business use, you can't claim a deduction, but at least you may be able to deduct the cost of the desk, lamp, supplies, and so on. However, this only applies with respect to the business itself, not with respect to your personal income working as an unreimbursed owner or employee of the business. To claim a deduction for unreimbursed business expenses you would have to itemize your tax deductions, have a written agreement with the company requiring you to incur unreimbursed expenses, and there's a minimum threshold. So basically, no. Better to have the business reimburse you for the expenses, and if it's a home office useful to the business, have the business rent the space from you for cash (and perhaps reduce your salary accordingly).Q3: You have to file personal income tax every year at the federal and likely state level, and if the business is a corporate entity you have to file taxes for the business. If not incorporated, you can either file as a partnership with your investor or potentially as a Schedule C on your personal taxes. There is no tax form for expenses, but expenses are described in the business tax return as a deduction to arrive at your taxable income or loss.

You must consider each potential income stream separately, and if you are self-employed, you’ll likely be entering these numbers onto Schedule E of your individual (or joint/married — doesn’t matter) tax return.So, let’s say you have three jobs:A: You cut grass for people.B: You market websites for people.C: You work as an employee for a law firm.—Whatever mileage you have for A is to be deducted from any income you make from A.Whatever mileage you have for B is to be deducted from any income you make from B.Now, let’s assume you’re a W-2 employee for C. You cannot deduct mileage related to the commute from your house to there and back. — But, if they task you with, e.g., taking a bank bag to be deposited in the local bank each day, and they don’t reimburse you for the use of your own car, then you can deduct the mileage for that. — But, you can only deduct the mileage related to C from the income you receive from C (which is on a different form).Obviously, you can continue this for as many jobs you have, but they need to be separated by entity or purpose. — You can’t just add up all the mileage you have unreimbursed; figure out how much it’s worth according to the standard mileage IRS publication; and, then deduct it from whatever activities you do. — Obviously, favoring the ones that need the deduction the most.Now, that said — no one says you have to make up a new business entity for each self-employment task you do.So, you could just have MY BUSINESS and MY W-2 INCOME. — If you set it up that way, then you could deduct any business mileage from the same business (like: A); and, if and only if you have unreimbursed employer-related mileage deductions, then you’d deduct that on a different form.*** If you have a different FEIN (Federal Employer ID #) for each business, then you can’t aggregate your mileage into one “MY BUSINESS”. But, if you’re just using your social security number, or just one FEIN, then sure you can.Main point: unreimbursed employer-related mileage would be deducted from your earned income (from your W-2).Business income is reduced by mileage on Schedule E (or whatever other relevant form is used due to the way you started your business; what type of entity it is (e.g., partnership, LLC, etc.).

Hi Gillian,Thank you for your question, sorry for the delay in my response, but as the holiday’s came storming in, I got pretty busy.The answer to your question is YES. However, you should also check your state laws. Some states like California and Illinois have reimbursement requirements while some don’t. So, start there.There is no federal law requiring a company to provide reimbursements to employees. The reality is that everything does not have to be equal, but it should be fair and consistent. It’s a nightmare for an HR team to have to juggle a large number of employees on different benefit packages creating standard policies is quite helpful. I’ll give you a personal example.My company’s sales team is spread out throughout the U.S. Most of them in the South and up through the Midwest. I offer them 3 options regarding their travel; they can opt for a company vehicle. Most take this option as what’s the best kind of vehicle? A free one, right? It also eliminates unwanted ware and tear on their personal vehicle. Second option, they can get mileage for their own personal vehicle at .38 cents a mile. Third option, they can get a vehicle stipend of $600 a month, but they are responsible for their own maintenance and gas. The only time we offer a gas reimbursement is if an employee outside of the sales team such as, myself who is not eligible for those things, but happens to travel a couple times a year from the office to attend a conference or attend a meeting and I take my own vehicle. It’s a one time expense and it’s not something I’m doing on a routine basis. I do have the option to take a company vehicle if there is one available, but it’s not always there. I am also reimbursed for travel and lodging expenses when needed. However, my company has some corporate lodging deal and the card I use is the company card, so I don’t get that back.Benefits and salaries are negotiated all the time. It’s in the best interest of any organization to set consistent, fair, and worthwhile salaries/benefits for everyone. It is illegal to set salaries and benefits packages based on race or gender, etc. So, it’s a pretty good idea to set some standards for everyone, both exempt and non-exempt employees alike.Depending on how often an employee drives, if you do not offer to reimburse your employee, they are now providing company “kickbacks”. This just means that anything an employee purchases for the benefit of the company and is not reimbursed for it, it’s called a kickback. The problem you can run into if the employee drives/travels often and is not reimbursed is minimum wage laws. It is mandatory for every employer to pay their employees a set minimum wage. Be it the federal rate or the state mandated rate, whichever is higher. If an employee who is not reimbursed gas or has to use their personal vehicle and is not paid for it, their kickbacks could run their earnings below the minimum wage scale and that could get a company in trouble.Some organizations offer off-setting benefits or equalization benefits. Meaning, if I offer benefit A to this special group, I’m going to offer benefit B to this other group to make if fair. For instance, I pay a gas stipend to all employees who commute to work over 25 miles each day. (this is just an example by the way) I will create an off-setting benefit to make it fair to employees who do not commute 25 miles or more every day and pay for their oil changes every 5000 miles, etc... Again, just an example, but I’m trying to make it fair for everyone. I don’t have to do that, but I personally would try. But that could get costly too. I might just create remote work for employees who can do it and require them to come in 1 day a week which would eliminate the gas stipend since they’re working from home 4 outta 5 days and then give the office employees a flex schedule X amount of days a week. Anyways, that’s beside the point.Yes, your company can give certain perks to one person and not another. Not encouraged, but it happens often. I suggest that the company create a well thought out policy that outlines the allowable items reimbursed or stipend. Another way to pitch not giving a stipend is to itemize and deduct business expenses on your taxes. It may not always pay off as they might not exceed the standard deduction, but it’s worth a look if you believe you’ve spent more than $5000 dollars on business expenses. The IRS mileage rate is higher than most employers pay. If you’re reimbursed for mileage or for gas, you cannot legally write them off. If you’re not, save your receipts for gas, food, travel, office supplies, or anything else you purchase for the benefit of you performing work for your company and itemize that come tax time. I suggest you get an accountant/CPA to help you maximize your deductions as for many who have a single source income without many assets will use the standard IRS deductions and they come out getting a higher return, but if you’re a frequent traveler and your company doesn’t reimburse you for anything really, then try to itemize as those deductions will decrease your taxable income. In other words you’ll get your reimbursement in the form of not having a higher taxable income and you could get a higher return. If you are audited by the IRS, you’ll need to show proof that your company does not reimburse you for those items or had not reimbursed you nor gave you any type of advance for those purchases and you should always have your receipts handy. Keep them with your filing form in an accordion file for up to 5 years. O, I forgot to mention, I believe they passed a Tax Reform Bill of sorts which I can’t think of that eliminated a lot of deductions this year and I think they just increased the standard deduction. I’ll have to look, but I still think mileage, travel expenses are still deductible items, but it might not make a difference if the total doesn’t surpass the new standard deductions. Check with your CPA or whoever does your taxes, they should have the most up to date info on that.If your company doesn’t have a policy covering reimbursements, try leading the way to create one. It only helps when a standard is created that benefits everyone.Sorry for the lengthy explanation, hope this helps and thank you for the question!