Round Trip Mileage Deduction Rules for Work Travel with Overnight Stays

Yes, you can definitely deduct round trip mileage in both scenarios! Since your office is in your home, this makes your home your principal place of business. When you travel away from your principal place of business for work purposes, whether you stay overnight or return the same day, you can deduct the entire round trip mileage. The key factor is that you're traveling from your principal place of business (your home office) to a temporary work location. The IRS allows deduction of transportation expenses between your home and temporary work locations regardless of distance or whether you stay overnight. Make sure you keep a detailed mileage log with dates, business purpose, starting location, destination, and total miles driven. I recommend using a mileage tracking app to make this easier - they often let you categorize trips and generate reports for tax time.

I was in this exact situation last year and was so confused about what I could deduct. I found this awesome AI tool that analyzed my receipts and mileage logs and gave me clear guidance. It's called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it literally saved me hours of research. I uploaded my mileage log and some trip receipts, and it immediately identified that since my home office was my principal place of business, all my round-trip business travel was deductible. It even flagged some trips I hadn't considered deductible that actually were! The tool explained everything in plain English and cited the specific IRS rules.

Just wanted to update everyone! I tried that taxr.ai site after posting my question and I'm honestly impressed. I uploaded photos of my messy mileage notebook (my handwriting is terrible lol) and it actually read everything correctly! It identified all my deductible round trips and separated out the non-deductible personal miles I had mixed in. The site explained that since my home office is my principal place of business, ALL my travel to temporary work locations is deductible as round trip mileage - even day trips. It even calculated my potential deduction amount based on the 2025 mileage rate and flagged a few business meals I had noted that could be partially deductible too. Definitely worth checking out if you're confused about mileage deductions like I was!

If you're spending hours trying to reach the IRS to confirm mileage deduction rules, try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was on hold with the IRS for literally 2+ hours trying to get clarification on some mileage deduction questions similar to yours, then I found this service. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of the hours I was wasting before. The agent confirmed that with a home office as your principal place of business, all your business travel mileage is deductible regardless of whether you stay overnight. They even sent me to a specialized agent who answered all my specific questions about mixed-use travel. You can see a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - honestly wish I'd known about this sooner because I've wasted days of my life on hold with the IRS over the years.

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After waiting on hold with the IRS for almost 3 hours yesterday and getting disconnected TWICE, I broke down and tried Claimyr. Within 20 minutes I was talking to an actual IRS agent who answered all my questions about mileage deductions for my situation. The agent confirmed that since my home office is my principal place of business, I can deduct all mileage for business travel whether it's same-day or overnight stays. She also clarified that I need to keep records that show the business purpose of each trip along with the mileage. I'm still amazed this actually worked. Just wanted to report back that it's legitimate and saved me hours of frustration. Sometimes it's worth paying a bit to avoid the headache of dealing with the IRS phone system.

Don't forget about the contemporaneous documentation requirement! The IRS is really strict about mileage logs being kept "contemporaneously" - meaning you should record your mileage at the time of travel, not months later when you're doing your taxes. I learned this the hard way when I got audited in 2023. I had claimed all my business mileage (which was legitimate) but I'd created my mileage log retroactively using my calendar and Google Maps. The auditor disallowed ALL my mileage deductions because I couldn't prove I'd tracked it in real-time. Now I use a simple app that logs my starting and ending odometer readings with timestamps. Takes 5 seconds before and after each trip.

Slightly off topic but related - if ur claiming the home office deduction make sure it's a space used EXCLUSIVELY for business. My friend got absolutely slammed in an audit because he had a treadmill in his "home office" and the IRS said that made it a mixed-use room. They disallowed his home office deduction AND then disallowed his mileage because without the home office, his home wasn't his principal place of business anymore!

Great discussion everyone! As someone who went through this exact confusion last year, I want to add that the IRS Publication 463 (Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses) is your friend here. It clearly states that transportation expenses between your principal place of business and temporary work locations are deductible. The key distinction is "temporary" vs "regular" work locations. If you're going to the same client site every day for months, it might be considered a regular work location and the rules change. But for occasional client meetings and project work, you're golden on the round trip deductions. Also, don't forget that if you're self-employed, you'll use Schedule C-EZ or Schedule C to claim these deductions, and the mileage goes on line 9 (car and truck expenses). Keep those records organized - the IRS loves to audit mileage deductions because they're often poorly documented!