Business miles not deductible? Tell me if I'm interpreting this correctly.
I read that business mileage on personal vehicles cannot be deducted (standard method) unless the vehicle incurred business miles during the first year that you own the vehicle. For example: suppose a married couple own two vehicles (his & hers) The wife is a personal trainer and does a lot of driving to meet with clients. She keeps a mileage log and deducts the expense through her itemized Schedule-C. Then, a few years go by and she decides to borrow her husband's vehicle to attend a convention 1000 miles away. The 2000 mile drive was 100% for business purposes, but... if I'm reading the rule correctly, since they already owned the vehicle for more than a year before she used it for a business purpose, none of the miles driven for business purposes can be deducted. Is this true?!
If that is the case, anybody who starts a new business and has vehicles that they have already owned for more than a year will not be able to deduct business mileage without buying another vehicle to use in the business.
The next question is: does this same rule apply to employees/officers of S-corporations? Can the officer be reimbursed for business miles driven on his/her personal vehicle that he/she has owned for more than a year that he/she did not log business miles on during the vehicle's first year of ownership? And, if it is allowed, would it be reimbursed at the full standard rate and entitle the corporation to write off the reimbursement expense at that rate? (Usual substantiation would be expected, of course.) |