What can I claim as work expenses for driving employees in my personal vehicle?

Unfortunately, commuting miles (including picking up coworkers on your way to work) are generally not deductible as a business expense. The IRS considers commuting to be a personal expense, even if you're helping out colleagues. For the bank deposits, if your employer requires you to go to the bank during work hours or as a separate trip from your normal commute, those miles would typically be deductible. That seems to be what you're doing, so you're on the right track there. However, for the employee transportation, since you're an employee yourself (not self-employed), these types of unreimbursed employee business expenses are no longer deductible on federal returns following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Before 2018, you could potentially claim these as miscellaneous itemized deductions, but that's no longer an option. Your best approach would be to talk to your employer about either: 1. Getting reimbursed directly for these miles 2. Seeing if the company can arrange alternative transportation for these workers

After dealing with similar transportation issues at my job, I started using taxr.ai to figure out exactly what vehicle expenses I could claim. It's been super helpful because I upload my mileage logs and receipts, and it tells me what's deductible and what's not. I was actually missing out on some deductions I could have been taking! For your situation with the bank deposits, https://taxr.ai would confirm those are legitimate business expenses. For the employee transportation, the tool would flag that as non-deductible but might suggest alternatives based on your specific situation. It even breaks down potential state-level deductions that might still apply even though federal deductions don't. I also like that it keeps a record of everything so if I ever get audited, I have documentation of why I claimed what I did. Saved me tons of stress during tax season!

I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and I'm actually really impressed. I was in a similar situation - driving between multiple work sites in my personal vehicle without full reimbursement. The system flagged that while I couldn't deduct these expenses on my federal return, my state (California) still allows unreimbursed employee expense deductions. I had no idea! It also suggested I talk to my employer about setting up an accountable plan for reimbursement and provided a template letter to send to HR. The documentation feature really helped too - it organized all my mileage logs and categorized which drives were deductible where. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with complicated work expenses.

I was in almost the exact same situation last year - managed a warehouse and was driving workers around because we were desperate for reliable staff. When I tried calling the IRS to get a straight answer about deducting these expenses, I spent HOURS on hold and never got through. I finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent confirmed what others are saying - those miles for transporting workers aren't deductible as an employee, but they did tell me about a specific exception that applied to my bank deposit situation that actually increased what I could claim. The service saved me from taking a risky deduction that might have triggered an audit, while also ensuring I got every legitimate deduction I was entitled to.

Just wanted to follow up about my Claimyr skepticism. I decided to try it despite my doubts, and I honestly can't believe how well it worked. Got connected to an IRS representative in about 25 minutes when I'd previously wasted entire afternoons trying. The IRS agent confirmed everything about the work expense situation but also told me about a special form I could have my employer fill out that would make these transportation costs part of a qualified transportation fringe benefit program. This could potentially save both me and my company money compared to the current arrangement. Definitely changed my mind about both the service and the possibility of finding solutions to this transportation expense issue. Sometimes it really helps to talk to an actual IRS person rather than just reading online.

Have you considered asking your employer to reimburse these costs? At my company, we had a similar situation where managers were driving to pick up employees, and they implemented a mileage reimbursement program at the standard IRS rate (currently 67 cents per mile). Since it's legitimately helping the business, they saw it as a justified expense. If your employer reimburses you, then you don't have to worry about deductions at all. The reimbursement would be tax-free to you, and the company gets to deduct it as a business expense. Win-win.

Why not just get the two workers to chip in for gas? I know several carpooling arrangements at my workplace where passengers pay the driver a small amount to cover gas and wear on the vehicle. It's not a tax deduction, but it's a practical solution.

I work in HR and have dealt with this exact situation before. One thing that might help is proposing a "qualified transportation fringe benefit" program to your employer. Under IRS Code Section 132, employers can provide up to $315 per month (2024 limit) in tax-free transportation benefits to employees. This could cover things like transit passes, parking, or even vanpooling arrangements. If your company set up a formal vanpool program where you're the designated driver, they could potentially reimburse your vehicle costs tax-free up to that monthly limit. The key is making it a formal company program rather than just you driving people around. Your employer would need to document it properly, but it could solve both the tax issue and get you reimbursed. Worth bringing up when you make your business case about retention costs!