Commuting Costs

Today TaxMama hears from Robert in Virginia who wants to know, “I have a 74 mile commute to work everyday, can I deduct the miles, gas, tolls and car repairs, in my taxes? I use my personal car which is about 70% used for my commute to my job.”

Dear Robert,

In a word?

Nope.

And I learned that the hard way (a looooooooooong time ago) in the middle of an audit. The auditor proved to me that this wasn’t deductible. Talk about being embarrassed.

You’ve got some choices here:

1) Move closer to the job and stop cluttering up the roads.

2) Ask them if you can telecommute a few days a week?

3) Get a job closer to home. Even if you earn a little less, you will net more without the gas and vehicle costs. And you’ll be home more. Or you could pick up more hours and get paid overtime.

Here are some places to start looking: