Can I write off miles driving for work in my personal vehicle? Tax deduction tips needed

This is a common situation, and there's some important information you need to understand about vehicle expenses for work. Unfortunately, if you're a W-2 employee (which it sounds like you are), the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses after 2017. This means you cannot deduct your mileage on your federal tax return if you're an employee - even if you're putting a ton of miles on your personal vehicle for work purposes. The only people who can still deduct vehicle expenses are self-employed individuals, independent contractors, or those who have a side business where they use their vehicle. Your best option is to talk to your employer about setting up an accountable plan for mileage reimbursement. The standard IRS rate for 2025 is 67 cents per mile, and if your employer reimburses you at or below this rate through an accountable plan, the reimbursement is tax-free to you and deductible by your employer.

After dealing with a similar situation, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which helped me understand my options when my company wasn't reimbursing my work-related driving expenses. I uploaded my pay stubs and tax docs, and it showed me exactly how the gas payments on my company card affected my tax situation. The tool also pointed out that while I couldn't deduct mileage as a W-2 employee (like the expert mentioned above), there were other strategies worth considering. For example, taxr.ai helped me create a detailed report I could show my employer about the actual costs of using my personal vehicle (depreciation, wear and tear, insurance increases) versus what the IRS mileage rate would cover. This gave me concrete numbers to negotiate a better compensation package since I was essentially subsidizing my employer by using my personal vehicle so heavily.

I wanted to follow up and say I actually tried taxr.ai after my skeptical comment earlier. The difference is that it's much more personalized than general IRS info. It analyzed my specific driving patterns between multiple work locations and showed me that I could still claim these expenses on my state return, which I had no idea about. The tool created a custom report showing that while my employer was paying for gas (about 30% of actual vehicle costs), I was absorbing about $8,500 in depreciation and maintenance costs annually. I presented this to my manager last week with the detailed breakdown, and they've agreed to implement a partial mileage reimbursement starting next month. Wouldn't have had the specific numbers to make my case without this analysis.

If you're having trouble getting your employer to listen about mileage reimbursement, I was in the exact same situation last year. What finally worked for me was using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to actually speak with someone at the IRS about the rules. I was on hold forever trying to call myself, but they got me connected to an agent in under 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed everything said above but also explained exactly how my employer should be handling the reimbursement and gave me specific regulations to cite to my HR department. Once I had official information directly from the IRS (not just "my brother-in-law said"), my employer took the request much more seriously.

I need to apologize for my skeptical comment earlier. I was frustrated after spending hours trying to get through to the IRS myself about a similar issue. I finally broke down and tried Claimyr last week when I needed clarification about vehicle expense documentation. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back in about 15 minutes, and the IRS rep walked me through the specific requirements for vehicle expense documentation for business purposes. They explained the difference between the standard mileage rate and actual expenses method, plus gave me the exact publications I needed to reference. Armed with this official information, I had a much more productive conversation with my employer about my vehicle use for work travel. They're now implementing a proper accountable plan starting next quarter. Sometimes you need the exact IRS guidance to make progress with reluctant employers.

Have you considered calculating how much this job promotion is actually costing you? When I was in a similar situation, I did the math: - New car depreciation (accelerated by heavy work use) - Higher insurance premiums from more miles driven - More frequent maintenance (oil changes, tires, brakes) - Reduced resale value - Additional time spent driving (if not compensated) In my case, I realized my "promotion" was actually costing me about $7,200/year in vehicle expenses alone after accounting for the gas being covered. If your employer won't reimburse mileage properly, you might want to request a significant salary increase to offset these costs.

Check with your state tax department too! While you can't deduct mileage on your federal return as a W-2 employee anymore, some states still allow these deductions on state tax returns. I'm in New York, and we can still claim unreimbursed employee business expenses that exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income on the state return. Saved me about $400 last year on state taxes!

Just wanted to add another perspective here - document EVERYTHING right now, even if your employer isn't ready to implement an accountable plan immediately. I was in a similar situation and didn't start tracking my mileage properly until 6 months into heavy work travel, which meant I lost out on potential state tax deductions for that period. Since you're in Pennsylvania (based on your comment above), you definitely want to track your work mileage for state tax purposes. Even if your employer never implements proper reimbursement, you can still benefit from the PA state deduction as Steven mentioned. I'd recommend starting a simple spreadsheet or using a mileage tracking app immediately. Log every trip between work sites with the date, starting location, ending location, purpose, and miles. Don't include your drive from home to the first site or from the last site back home - just the business travel between locations during your workday. Also consider calculating your total additional vehicle costs (not just mileage) to present a comprehensive case to your employer. The IRS standard rate of 67 cents per mile exists because it covers ALL vehicle costs - gas, maintenance, depreciation, insurance increases, etc. Since your company only covers gas, they're getting a huge bargain while you absorb most of the real costs of using your personal vehicle for their business needs.

I'm dealing with a very similar situation - got promoted to a field service role last year and I'm putting about 25,000 miles annually on my personal vehicle visiting client sites. Like you, my company covers gas but nothing else. After reading through all these responses, I'm realizing I've been leaving money on the table. I had no idea about the state tax deduction possibilities! I'm in Ohio and now I need to research whether we allow unreimbursed employee business expenses on state returns. One thing that's helped me is using a GPS-based mileage tracker that automatically logs my trips. I set it to detect when I'm driving during work hours, and it creates a detailed log with addresses, times, and distances. This has been invaluable for building my case with management. The depreciation calculation someone mentioned earlier really opened my eyes. I looked up my 2022 Honda Civic on KBB - the difference in trade-in value between 12,000 miles (normal annual driving) and 25,000 miles is about $2,800. That's just depreciation, not including the accelerated maintenance schedule I'm now on. I'm planning to compile all these numbers and request a meeting with HR next month. Having concrete data about the true cost of using personal vehicles for business seems to be the key to getting employers to take these requests seriously.

I've been following this thread closely as someone who went through a similar situation with extensive work travel. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the potential insurance implications of using your personal vehicle so heavily for business purposes. When I was driving 20,000+ miles annually for work, I discovered that my personal auto insurance might not fully cover me during business travel if I got into an accident. I had to contact my insurance company to add business use coverage, which increased my premium by about $400 annually - another cost my employer wasn't covering. Also, regarding the state tax deductions people have mentioned - while states like PA, NY, CA, and OH do allow these deductions, the documentation requirements are strict. The IRS and state tax agencies expect contemporaneous records, meaning you need to log your mileage when the trips happen, not reconstruct them months later from memory or credit card receipts. I'd strongly recommend Connor start tracking immediately using one of the GPS apps mentioned, and also have a conversation with his insurance agent to make sure he's properly covered for business use. The last thing you want is to discover coverage gaps after an accident during a work trip. The combination of proper documentation, understanding your true costs (including insurance), and knowing your state tax options gives you much stronger negotiating position with your employer.