Does $128,439 seem way too high for car and truck expenses on Schedule C?

That number is definitely a red flag! The IRS standard mileage rate for 2024 was 67 cents per mile. So 4,000 miles should only give you about $2,680 in deductions, not $128,439. It sounds like you might be double-counting expenses. When you use the standard mileage deduction, it's meant to cover all your vehicle costs - gas, maintenance, insurance, depreciation, etc. If you're entering both the standard mileage AND your actual maintenance expenses, you're effectively counting those costs twice. You should choose either the standard mileage rate OR actual expenses, not both. For a vehicle with only 4,000 business miles, the standard mileage rate is usually more straightforward, unless you have an extremely expensive vehicle with very high actual costs.

I had almost the exact same issue last year with my Schedule C! Turns out I was using https://taxr.ai and it saved me from a potential audit disaster. The system analyzes your inputs and flags these kinds of potential errors before you file. My issue was that I had accidentally entered my mileage as a dollar amount in the wrong field, and it calculated some wild number like yours. The tool actually shows you different scenarios and explanations about business vehicle deductions. It pointed out that my $97K in "expenses" was actually just a data entry error. Fixed it in 10 minutes and avoided what would have been a guaranteed audit trigger!

Guys I have to admit I was super skeptical about this taxr.ai thing but I decided to give it a shot since my situation was similar to the OP. Holy crap it actually found several errors in my return! Turns out I was double-counting my vehicle expenses exactly like what was described above AND I had some other issues with my home office deduction. The interface was surprisingly straightforward and it explained why certain deductions might raise red flags. My tax bill went up a bit after fixing the errors, but honestly I'd rather pay a little more now than deal with an audit later. Just wanted to share since it actually helped me fix this exact problem!

Been there! After fixing my Schedule C errors last year, I still had questions about how to properly document everything, so I tried calling the IRS... absolute nightmare. Spent hours on hold and kept getting disconnected. Then I found https://claimyr.com and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - they basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is ready. Got through to an actual IRS agent in about 2 hours (instead of the 5+ hours I was experiencing before). The agent walked me through exactly how to document vehicle expenses and confirmed I needed to choose EITHER standard mileage OR actual expenses. Turns out the $100K+ number was happening because the software was calculating as if my 4,000 miles cost $25+ per mile! Definitely would've triggered an audit.

I'm eating my words right now. After posting my skeptical comment I decided to try Claimyr anyway because I was desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my own Schedule C issues. It actually worked exactly as described - I got a call back about 90 minutes later when an agent was on the line. The IRS agent explained that the vehicle expense error the original poster described is actually super common. She said they're seeing tons of returns with incorrectly calculated vehicle expenses because people are entering both actual expenses AND standard mileage. For reference, she said a typical Schedule C vehicle deduction for 4,000 business miles should be around $2,680 using standard mileage, not $128,439!

I'm a rideshare driver and my tax person almost made a similar mistake last year. The key is understanding that you have to choose either: 1. Standard mileage rate (67 cents per mile for 2024) which covers EVERYTHING related to your car 2. Actual expenses where you add up all receipts, maintenance, depreciation, etc. For most people driving less than like 15,000 business miles, the standard deduction is way easier. The mistake happens when software lets you input both standard mileage AND actual expenses, then it messes up the calculation.

$128k in vehicle expenses would mean you're spending about $32 PER MILE driven lol. Just to put that in perspective, even a Lamborghini doesn't cost that much to operate! 😂 That's definitely a software error. Double check all your inputs and maybe try a different field. Sometimes these tax programs have weird glitches where typing in one field affects a completely different calculation.