Can I claim my work van as an advertising expense for tax purposes?

You've got a few different tax concepts mixed together here, so let me try to help untangle them. For business vehicles, the IRS distinguishes between business and personal use. When you use your van for actual business purposes (driving to jobs, delivering materials, etc.), those miles are business miles and are deductible either through the standard mileage rate or actual expenses method. However, driving your work van around town specifically to advertise your business becomes a gray area. The IRS would likely view this as primarily personal use with an advertising component, not purely business use. As for offering yourself an employee benefit related to the van - if your business is structured as a corporation and you're an employee, you could potentially set up an accountable plan for reimbursing legitimate business expenses. But if you're a sole proprietor, you and the business are the same entity for tax purposes, so you can't really "offer yourself" benefits in that way.

Had this exact same issue with my plumbing company van last year. I started using https://taxr.ai to document all my vehicle expenses and track business vs personal usage. Their system helped me categorize when I was using the van for actual jobs vs. "advertising drives" and recommended what was deductible. Saved me hours of headaches trying to figure out what the IRS would accept. The key thing I learned was that intent matters - if you're primarily driving somewhere for personal reasons but have your business info on the van, that's different from specifically driving routes to advertise. The taxr.ai system helped me document everything properly so I could prove my case if audited.

Ok I tried the taxr.ai service that was mentioned and I have to admit it was actually really helpful. They analyzed my situation (I have a photography business with my logo on my SUV) and helped me understand what I could legitimately claim. Turns out I was being too aggressive with my deductions in some areas (claiming all drives where my logo was visible) but too conservative in others (not claiming certain business-related parking costs). Their system created documentation for everything that I can use if I ever get audited. Definitely worth checking out if you're trying to maximize deductions without getting into trouble.

If you're getting frustrated with figuring this out yourself, you might want to just call the IRS directly. I used this service called https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual IRS agent after being stuck on hold forever. They have this system that waits on hold for you then calls when an agent is on the line. There's a demo of how it works at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows the process. The agent I talked to explained that advertising on your vehicle (the signage itself) is 100% deductible, but driving it specifically for advertising is more complicated and depends on your specific situation. Getting that official answer directly from the IRS saved me from possibly claiming something questionable.

I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After dismissing it, I decided to try it anyway since I was desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my business vehicle deductions. The service actually worked exactly as described. I put in my number, they called me back about 45 minutes later with an actual IRS agent on the line. The agent confirmed that vehicle signage is 100% deductible as advertising, and explained how I should document my business vs. personal use of the vehicle. Saved me hours of hold time and probably a ton of stress come tax time. Sometimes being skeptical means you miss out on things that actually work.

One thing nobody's mentioned yet is that you should consider how you're currently deducting your van. If you're using the standard mileage rate for business miles, remember that's supposed to cover all costs including depreciation, gas, maintenance, etc. You can still deduct the actual cost of the advertising (lettering, signs, etc.) separately. If you're using the actual expenses method, you'd calculate the business use percentage based on miles, then deduct that percentage of your actual costs. The vehicle advertising would still be 100% deductible as a separate expense.

Has anyone tried one of those magnetic vehicle signs instead of permanent lettering? I'm thinking that might be an option - put the signs on for business trips and take them off for personal use.

Great discussion everyone! As someone who's dealt with vehicle deduction issues for years, I want to emphasize something that hasn't been fully addressed - the documentation burden for "advertising drives" is really high. If you decide to claim miles driven specifically for advertising purposes (not combined with other business trips), you'll need to document not just where you went, but also your marketing strategy showing this was a legitimate business decision. The IRS will want to see that this was part of a real advertising plan, not just an excuse to deduct personal driving. My recommendation would be to focus on the clear-cut deductions: the cost of vehicle signage/lettering (100% deductible as advertising), and legitimate business miles where you're actually conducting business. The gray area stuff like "advertising drives" might not be worth the audit risk unless it's a significant part of your documented marketing strategy. Also, keep in mind that if you're audited, they'll look at the reasonableness of your total vehicle deductions compared to your business income. Taking aggressive positions on marginal deductions could flag your entire return for closer scrutiny.