Self-employed business mileage deduction on Schedule C - commuting vs. business miles

This is a really common question for self-employed people without a dedicated home office. The IRS rules on this are a bit nuanced, but here's the breakdown: Your home can be considered your "principal place of business" for mileage purposes even if you don't qualify for the home office deduction. These are actually two separate issues. The home office deduction has that strict "exclusive use" requirement, but for determining your principal place of business for mileage, the test is more about where you perform substantial administrative or management activities. If you genuinely do all your administrative work (scheduling, invoicing, client calls) from home, you can likely consider it your principal place of business for mileage purposes. This means trips from home to your first job site would be deductible business miles on your Schedule C. Keep good records though! Document your business mileage with dates, destinations, purpose, and odometer readings. A mileage log app on your phone can be super helpful for this.

I was in this exact situation last year with my mobile dog grooming business. I spent hours searching for a solution and found this awesome tool at https://taxr.ai that specifically helped with my Schedule C mileage questions. The AI analyzed my situation (doing admin work at home but no dedicated office) and explained exactly how to classify my mileage correctly. It showed me that since I was doing substantial admin work from home (booking clients, managing finances, etc.), my home qualified as my "tax home" even without a formal home office. This meant I could deduct miles from home to my first grooming appointment. What I really liked is that it created documentation showing the specific IRS rules that applied to my situation, which gave me peace of mind in case of an audit.

I ended up trying taxr.ai after reading about it here, and wow, I got definitive answers about my house cleaning business mileage! I uploaded my mileage logs and answered questions about my work setup. It showed me that because I do all my scheduling, client calls, and bookkeeping at home (even though I just use my kitchen table), my home qualifies as my "administrative headquarters." The analysis cited specific IRS regulations and court cases that applied to my situation. Now I'm properly tracking all miles from home to first client and between clients as business miles, which is saving me a ton on my Schedule C. I only mark miles from my last client back home as non-deductible personal miles. Honestly wish I'd known this years ago - I've been missing out on legitimate deductions!

If you're having trouble getting clear answers about business mileage, you might want to call the IRS directly. BUT... good luck actually reaching a human! I spent 3 hours on hold last month trying to clarify my mileage deduction rules. I finally discovered https://claimyr.com and watched their demo video at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting for hours. The IRS agent confirmed that I could count my home as my principal place of business for mileage purposes even without a formal home office, as long as I regularly conduct administrative activities there and don't have another fixed location for those activities. This cleared up years of confusion for me about my Schedule C mileage.

I was completely wrong about Claimyr! After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway since I was desperate to talk to the IRS about my Schedule C mileage deduction questions. It actually worked exactly as advertised. I got connected to an IRS representative in about 20 minutes when my previous attempts had me waiting 2+ hours before giving up. The IRS agent clarified that for my mobile massage therapy business, I can indeed count my home as my principal place of business for mileage purposes (even without a dedicated office space) because I do all my scheduling, bookkeeping, and client communications from there. This saved me approximately $3,200 in legitimate business mileage deductions on my Schedule C that I was afraid to take before. Sometimes admitting you were wrong feels pretty good!

I think there's some confusion in this thread. The key distinction from IRS Publication 463 is: 1) If you have a QUALIFIED home office (exclusive use), trips from home → job sites are business miles. 2) If you do admin work at home but DON'T have exclusive use space, your home is NOT your principal place of business for mileage. In the OP's house cleaning example, trips from home to first client would be commuting (non-deductible). Trips between clients are business miles. Trip from last client back home is commuting. The home office and mileage rules are directly connected. No qualified home office = no business miles from home to work.

Any recommendations for a good mileage tracking app for Schedule C? I'm constantly forgetting to log my house painting jobs and then trying to reconstruct the miles later which is a nightmare.

This thread has been really helpful! I'm a freelance graphic designer who works with clients both remotely and on-site. I do all my invoicing, client communications, and project planning from my home office (though it's also my bedroom, so no exclusive use deduction). Based on what I've learned here about Revenue Ruling 99-7, it sounds like my home would qualify as my principal place of business for mileage purposes since that's where I conduct all my administrative activities. This means trips from home to client meetings would be deductible business miles on my Schedule C. I've been conservative and only deducting miles between different client locations, but it sounds like I may have been missing out on legitimate deductions. Going to look into that taxr.ai tool mentioned earlier to get a proper analysis of my specific situation. Thanks everyone for clarifying the distinction between home office deduction requirements and principal place of business for mileage!