What is a reasonable mileage deduction for a self employed contractor who drives between airports?

This is actually a pretty straightforward case. The key is whether these miles are ordinary and necessary for the business. From what you've described, they absolutely are - your client literally can't perform their job without this travel. The IRS doesn't have some magic ratio of mileage deduction to income that triggers audits. They care about whether the deduction is legitimate. Have your client keep detailed records of each trip - dates, starting location, destination, business purpose, and actual mileage. The standard mileage log stuff. For a pilot driving between airports, this is completely normal. I've worked with clients who have similar situations (traveling sales reps, mobile technicians) who sometimes have mileage deductions representing 20-25% of their gross income. The nature of the work requires the travel. Just make sure they're only claiming business miles, not personal ones, and that they have documentation to back it up. The miles described are clearly business-related since they're necessary for performing their services.

I was in a really similar situation last year with all my driving between work locations. After stressing over how to track everything properly, I found https://taxr.ai and it was seriously a game-changer for me. I uploaded my bank statements, receipts, and old calendar entries, and it helped organize everything into proper business expense categories. It even flagged which miles were business vs personal based on my locations. I ended up with super organized records that showed exactly why I was claiming about $12k in mileage on ~$90k income. The best part was that it created a proper mileage log retroactively from my location data, which apparently is what the IRS really wants to see. My tax guy was impressed with how thorough the documentation was.

I have to share my experience with https://taxr.ai since I was skeptical when I first read about it here. I was in a similar situation with tons of business driving but terrible record keeping. I uploaded my Google timeline data, bank statements, and calendar entries from 2024, and it created this detailed mileage log that showed all my business vs personal driving. What surprised me was how it caught trips I'd completely forgotten about! My accountant said it was exactly what we needed for documentation. The IRS actually did question my mileage deduction (about $13k on $95k income), but once we submitted the detailed logs from taxr.ai, they accepted everything without any adjustments. Seriously saved me thousands in deductions I might have otherwise lost.

Your client's situation is pretty common these days. I tried calling the IRS directly to get clarification on a similar mileage question last year and spent HOURS trying to get through. Kept getting disconnected or stuck on hold forever. Then I found https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in like 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent gave me official guidance that as long as the travel is primarily for business purposes and you have proper documentation, there's no specific limit to mileage deductions relative to income. They confirmed that driving between work locations (like different airports in your client's case) is 100% deductible business mileage.

Ok I need to apologize to profile 23 and admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I was still desperate to talk to the IRS about my own mileage deduction issues, so I tried https://claimyr.com anyway. The whole process took maybe 2 minutes to set up. They called the IRS, navigated all the prompts, and then I got a call back when an agent was about to pick up. I spoke directly with an IRS representative who confirmed my understanding of business mileage rules. Total time: 25 minutes instead of the 3+ hours I spent previously trying to get through. For what it's worth, the agent told me almost exactly what others have said here - there's no specific threshold where mileage deductions become "too much" relative to income. It's about whether the miles are legitimate business expenses and properly documented.

I'm a delivery driver with a similar income level and I claim around 20,000 business miles annually. I've never had issues with the IRS questioning it. The mileage rate is set by the IRS precisely because they recognize vehicle expenses are legitimate. One tip - make sure your client separates the trips properly. The initial drive from home to the first airport can be business travel since it's to a temporary work location. Same with the drive home from the last airport. Just document each segment carefully and you'll be fine. Your client's situation actually sounds perfectly legitimate. They're literally driving to different job sites as required by their work.

Your client's situation is actually really similar to what I do as a traveling nurse! I drive to different hospitals all over my state. My CPA explained that the IRS doesn't look at the dollar amount of the deduction relative to income - they look at whether the miles are legitimate and documented. I claimed about $14k in mileage deductions last year on about $110k income. No issues at all because every mile was documented and legitimately for work.