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To ensure compliance with IRS requirements, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this website (including any attachments or directed links) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.
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Any advice in this communication is limited to the conclusions specifically set forth herein and is based on the completeness and accuracy of the stated facts, assumptions and/or representations included. In rendering our advice, we may consider tax authorities that are subject to change, retroactively and/or prospectively, and any such changes could affect the validity of our advice. We will not update our advice for subsequent changes or modifications to the law and regulations, or to the judicial and administrative interpretations thereof.
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No Rendering of Advice
The information contained within this website is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for obtaining accounting, tax, or financial advice from a professional accountant. Presentation of the information via the Internet is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, an accountant-client relationship. Internet subscribers, users and online readers are advised not to act upon this information without seeking the service of a professional accountant. Any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this website is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under U.S. federal tax law.
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Reminders & Updates
2024 Standard Mileage Rates
| Purpose | Rates per Mile |
| Business | 67 cents |
| Medical/Moving | 21 cents |
| Charitable | 14 cents |
2023 Standard Mileage Rates
| Purpose | Rates per Mile |
| Business | 65.5 cents |
| Medical/Moving | 22 cents |
| Charitable | 14 cents |
Check It Out!
Check out the article in PICPA CPA Now by Greg Kashella, published November 2021, Enhanced Financial Statement Disclosures for Small Businesses.
Check out the article in the Central Penn Business Journal, Women Who Lead, March 2019 article featuring our partner Jori Culp
Tax-Related Identity Theft
The IRS combats tax-related identity theft with aggressive strategies of prevention, detection and victim assistance. To find out more about tax-related identity theft call our office or visit https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-protection for information and guidance.
Remember that the IRS will never contact you by electronic means. This includes emails, phone calls, text messages, or social media channels. If you are ever in doubt whether contact by someone claiming to be from the IRS is legitimate, call our office first for verification.
Weekly Tax Brief
Understanding how to deduct transportation costs could significantly reduce the tax burden on your small business. You and your employees likely incur various local transportation expenses each year, and they have tax implications.
Let’s start by defining “local transportation.” It refers to travel when you aren’t away from your tax home long enough to require sleep or rest. Your tax home is the city or general area in which your main place of business is located. Different rules apply if you’re away from your tax home for significantly more than an ordinary workday and you need sleep or rest to do your work.
Your work location
The most important feature of the local transportation rules is that your commuting costs aren’t deductible. In other words, the fare you pay or the miles you drive to get to work and home again are personal and not for business purposes. Therefore, no deduction is available. This is the case even if you work during the commute (for example, via a cell phone or laptop, performing business-related tasks on the subway).
An exception applies for commuting to a temporary work location outside of the metropolitan area where you live and normally work. “Temporary,” for this purpose, means a location where your work is realistically expected to last (and does, in fact, last) for no more than a year.
Work location to other sites
On the other hand, once you get to your work location, the cost of any local trips you take for business purposes is a deductible business expense. So, for example, the cost of travel from your office to visit a customer or pick up supplies is deductible. Similarly, if you have two business locations, the cost of traveling between them is deductible.
Recordkeeping
If your deductible trip is by taxi or public transportation, save a receipt or note the expense in a logbook. Record the date, amount spent, destination and business purpose. If you use your own car, note the miles driven instead of the amount spent. Also, note any tolls paid or parking fees, and keep receipts.
You must allocate your automobile expenses between business and personal use based on miles driven during the year. Proper recordkeeping is crucial in the event the IRS challenges you.
Your deduction can be computed using:
- The standard mileage rate (for 2024, 67 cents per business mile) plus tolls and parking, or
- Actual expenses (including depreciation, subject to limitations) for the portion of car use allocable to the business. For this method, you’ll need to keep track of all costs for gas, repairs and maintenance, insurance, interest on a car loan, and any other car-related costs.
Employees vs. self-employed
From 2018–2025, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, employees can’t deduct unreimbursed local transportation costs. That’s because “miscellaneous itemized deductions” — including employee business expenses — are suspended (not allowed) for these years. (Self-employed taxpayers can deduct the expenses discussed in this article.) But beginning in 2026, business expenses (including unreimbursed employee auto expenses) of employees are scheduled to be deductible again, as long as the employee’s total miscellaneous itemized deductions exceed 2% of adjusted gross income. However, with Republican control in Washington, this unfavorable provision may be extended by Congress, and miscellaneous itemized deductions won’t be allowed.
Contact us with any questions or to discuss these issues further.
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