Are business toll expenses deductible when using personal EZ Tag for work drives?

You absolutely can deduct toll expenses separately from your standard mileage rate, and it's actually to your advantage to do so. The IRS standard mileage rate (currently 67 cents per mile) covers the basics like gas, insurance, and depreciation, but tolls and parking fees are considered separate business expenses. Just make sure you're only deducting business-related tolls, not personal ones. Keep those receipts from your EZ Tag account and maintain a log showing which tolls were for business purposes. A simple spreadsheet noting the date, client/purpose, and toll amount works great. This documentation is crucial if you ever get audited.

I was in the same boat last year driving between client sites in Houston. Was spending like $30-40 weekly just on tolls! I found this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that really helped me sort out my business expenses from personal ones. You can upload your EZ Tag statements and it automatically categorizes which tolls were business vs personal based on the locations and times. Saved me hours of manually going through each toll charge and trying to match it with my work schedule.

Just wanted to update after trying out taxr.ai that someone mentioned earlier. It actually worked pretty well for me! I uploaded my last 6 months of EZ Tag statements and it correctly identified most of my business tolls (had to manually fix a few weekend client visits it missed). The report it generated even breaks down your potential deduction amount based on the toll expenses. Really helpful since I'm doing my own taxes this year and was confused about how to handle all these small toll charges.

If you're having trouble getting detailed records from your toll tag provider, I highly recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to get through to customer service faster. I needed detailed statements from NTTA for the past year and was stuck on hold forever. Claimyr got me connected to a real person in under 10 minutes instead of the usual hour+ wait. Check out how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I know this sounds like an ad but seriously, waiting on hold with these agencies is the worst part of tax prep for me.

Ok I need to apologize to Profile 9 above - I tried Claimyr today to get through to EZ Tag customer service because I needed detailed statements going back to January for my accountant. Usually it's at least 45 minute wait but I got connected in about 7 minutes! Worth every penny not to sit through that awful hold music. Got all my toll receipts and now I can properly document which ones were for business travel. Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good lol.

Important thing to remember: if you're an employee (W-2) rather than self-employed, you can no longer deduct unreimbursed business expenses like tolls since the 2018 tax law changes. Make sure to submit these expenses to your employer for reimbursement instead! If you're self-employed or an independent contractor, then yes, toll expenses are deductible separately from the standard mileage rate.

When I drive for doordash I just note down the exits I take for deliveries and then go back and check how much each toll cost. Much easier than sorting through dozens of toll charges every month! But yeah you can absolutely claim these separately from the standard mileage rate.

Don't make the mistake I did last year - I thought tolls were included in the standard mileage rate so I didn't bother keeping separate records. My accountant told me too late that I could've deducted over $1,200 in business tolls separately! 😭 Definitely track those toll receipts and parking fees separately.

As a tax preparer, I see this confusion all the time! You're absolutely right to keep those detailed EZ Tag records. The key thing to remember is that tolls and parking are specifically excluded from what the standard mileage rate covers, so you can claim both the mileage deduction AND the actual toll costs. For Texas state taxes, you're in luck since there's no state income tax, so you only need to worry about federal deductions. Make sure your records show the business purpose for each toll - like "client meeting at XYZ Corp" or "site visit to ABC project." The IRS loves that level of detail. One tip: consider setting up a separate EZ Tag account just for business if the volume gets high enough. Makes the record-keeping much cleaner come tax time!