I was told if I take the standard mileage deduction one year that I have to stay with it and cant switch to the actual expense. Problem I'm having is the standard mileage is putting my business net in the negative (-55) and I'm not qualifying for the earned income and child tax credit because of it. Supposed to be (+400). Last time it was benificial but I lost contracts and business income went down. Mileage still didn't change a whole lot because the lost contracts are in the same area as my current contracts.