Will saving receipts from gas station be enough to get that expense deducted when I file taxes?
I have two cars. One I use for personal use, the other I use for work. I pay for the gas so I’m wondering what I need to do to have those expenses deducted. Do I show my tax preparer my receipts? Is it enough with these or do I need to do something else?
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Filed under Gas Conservation FAQ by on May 12th, 2011. Comment.
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Comments on Will saving receipts from gas station be enough to get that expense deducted when I file taxes?
Together with a (detailed) log book, of where you went when and why.
Peace.
bro they gonna give you the minimum rebate if you dont have the log book and just the fuel receipts but if you got both then your gonna make some $ back
If you’re going from your home to work and back, fuel is not deductible. If you are driving around on business then yes, you can get by with just the receipts so long as you have some other form of proof that you were actually traveling for business. Say a list of clients from your employer that you have to go and see. This would show each location you had to go to. Your receipts show the location of your fill up and a google map would easily show the route you had to take to get there along with the mileage, backing up your reason for filling up in say Palm Springs while on your way to Arizona from Los Angeles. This is a whole lot of leg work when preparing for an audit though. Just buy a 2 dollar log book and start using it.
No just the receipts will not get the job done correctly for you and just the receipts would not make the job of preparing your income tax return correctly very easy.
First you will really need to establish the reason that you would have that would allow you to qualify to be able to deduct these vehicle expenses as a qualified business expense on your correctly completed 1040 federal income tax return and then determine where on the 1040 income tax return this would have to be done after you determine that you do have any qualified deductible vehicle work related business expenses.
Using your good detailed written records of your daily personal and qualified business travel log records to help in determining the actual amount of qualified business use of the vehicle.
Table 1-1. Travel Expenses You Can Deduct
This chart summarizes expenses you can deduct when you travel away from home for business purposes.
Operating and maintaining your car when traveling away from home on business. You can deduct actual expenses or the standard mileage rate, as well as business-related tolls and parking. If you rent a car while away from home on business, you can deduct only the business-use portion of the expenses.
You should keep adequate records to prove your expenses or have sufficient evidence that will support your own statement. You must generally prepare a written record for it to be considered adequate. This is because written evidence is more reliable than oral evidence alone. However, if you prepare a record on a computer, it is considered an adequate record.
What Are Adequate Records?
You should keep the proof you need in an account book, diary, log, statement of expense, trip sheets, or similar record. You should also keep documentary evidence that, together with your record, will support each element of an expense.
Go to the http://www.irs.gov website and use the search box for Publication 463 and go to chapter 5 and 6 for the record keeping requirements.
Hope that you find the above enclosed information useful and good luck with this matter.
No. For the car you use only for business, you’d need a mileage log showing the miles you drove and what they were for. And if you use that car to go from home to an office and back, then use it during the day for business use, the home to office to home miles are called commuting miles and aren’t deductible.
In addition to the mileage log, there are other requirements that depend on whether you’re an employee or self-employed and you don’t say that in your question.
no
to claim the mileage for your business, you need to keep log books of the mileage you incur