Can I get employee mileage reimbursement from my home office commute?

What you're dealing with is actually a common misconception about home-based workplaces and mileage reimbursement. When your home officially becomes your work location (as in your remote work situation), the IRS generally considers travel from your home to other work locations as business travel, not commuting. The key distinction is that your employer has established your home as a legitimate work location. In this case, travel from your home to temporary work locations (like client sites) is typically considered business mileage that qualifies for reimbursement. The old rule about "first and last trips of the day" counting as personal commuting often doesn't apply when your home is an established work location. I'd suggest documenting all your trips carefully with dates, precise mileage, and business purposes. Present this information to your employer with a respectful explanation of how the IRS typically views these situations.

I was in literally the exact same situation last year! After going back and forth with my manager for months, I finally found this amazing service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me prove my case. They analyzed my work situation and provided a detailed report showing exactly how the IRS views travel from a home office to client sites. The documentation they provided clearly showed that when your home is your established place of business, travel to temporary work locations is considered business mileage, not commuting. I sent the report to my boss, and they finally agreed to reimburse me retroactively for all the mileage! It was like $2,400 in reimbursements that I would have missed out on. Might be worth checking out if your company is being stubborn about it.

Update on my situation - I decided to try taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here, and wow, it was exactly what I needed! The report they generated was incredibly detailed and specifically addressed my situation with working from home and traveling to client sites. It explained all the relevant IRS regulations about how when your home is an established work location (which mine is since I work there 3 days a week officially), travel to other work locations is business travel, not commuting. The document had all the citations to IRS publications and even referenced relevant tax court cases. I presented it to my manager and our accounting department, and they approved my mileage reimbursement request within 48 hours! I'm now getting reimbursed for about 280 miles per week that I was previously paying out of pocket. Seriously grateful for this recommendation.

If you're having trouble getting your employer to understand these reimbursement rules, another approach is to actually talk with someone at the IRS who can confirm how they interpret these situations. I spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS on my own about this exact issue and kept hitting dead ends. Then I found https://claimyr.com (you can see how it works at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes! I was honestly shocked because I'd been trying for days on my own. The agent confirmed that when your home is your designated workplace, travel to client sites is considered business mileage, not commuting. Having that direct confirmation from the IRS made all the difference with my stubborn HR department. They couldn't argue with the official source!

I need to eat my words and apologize. After dismissing that Claimyr recommendation, I was still desperate enough to try it yesterday when I needed to talk to the IRS about my mileage reimbursement situation. I'm completely shocked, but it actually worked exactly as described. I submitted my request around 9am, went to grab coffee, and got a call connecting me to an IRS agent before I even got back to my desk. The agent confirmed everything about home office mileage reimbursement that people have been saying here - when your home is an established work location, travel to other work sites is business mileage. I recorded the call (with the agent's permission) and sent the clip to my HR department. They're now updating our reimbursement policy company-wide. Seriously can't believe how easy this was after fighting this battle for months.

Just want to add another perspective here - I'm an employer who recently had to figure this out for my remote team. The key distinction we found is whether the employee's home is considered an "established" work location, which typically means: 1. The employer has officially designated it as a workplace 2. The employee performs substantial work duties there (not just checking email) 3. It's a regular and consistent workplace, not occasional If all these are true, then yes, travel from home to other work locations should be reimbursable business mileage. However, if the employee is just "working from home" without official designation, it gets trickier. We ended up updating our policy to specifically designate home offices as established workplaces for our hybrid employees, which made this whole mileage thing much clearer.

Has anyone successfully gotten reimbursed for mileage between multiple client sites on the same day? Like if I go from home to Site A (which may not be reimbursable depending on company policy), but then go from Site A to Site B to Site C before going home - are the miles between sites clearly reimbursable under IRS rules?

This is such a frustrating situation that so many remote workers are dealing with! I went through the same thing last year when my company suddenly decided that working from home 3 days a week meant I couldn't claim mileage for client visits anymore. What really helped me was putting together a clear timeline showing that my home office arrangement was officially established by my employer, not just something I decided on my own. I included emails where my manager confirmed my hybrid schedule, any home office equipment they provided, and documentation of the regular work I do from home. The IRS is pretty clear that if your employer has established your home as a regular work location (which yours has by officially allowing you to work remotely 3 days a week), then travel from there to temporary work locations like client sites is business mileage, not commuting. The key word is "temporary" - if you're visiting different client sites rather than going to the same location every day, that strengthens your case. I'd suggest creating a simple presentation for your boss showing: 1) Your official remote work arrangement, 2) The varying client locations you visit, 3) The relevant IRS guidance on home-based workplaces. Sometimes employers just need to see it laid out clearly to understand they're interpreting the rules incorrectly.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with the exact same issue where my employer is claiming that since I work from home, any travel to client sites is considered "commuting" and not reimbursable. One thing I wanted to add that might help others - I found that documenting the *business necessity* of each client visit really strengthened my case. I started keeping a log that included not just the mileage and destination, but also the specific business purpose (client meeting, project site visit, equipment delivery, etc.) and who requested/approved each visit. When I presented this to HR along with the IRS guidance that others have mentioned, it became much harder for them to argue that these were personal commuting expenses. The documentation showed that these weren't routine trips to a fixed workplace, but legitimate business travel to serve different clients at varying locations. I think the key is showing that your situation fits the IRS definition of travel between work locations rather than home-to-office commuting. The more specific you can be about the business nature of each trip, the stronger your case becomes.