The IRS recently announced standard mileage rates for 2014 – taxpayers can use these rates instead of recording all of your actual expenses (gas/fuel, repairs, insurance, etc.) for vehicles (cars, pickups, vans or panel trucks) used for business or medical purposes, or when volunteering for a charitable organization (individuals who work for charitable organizations use the business purposes rate).
These rates do not apply to truck drivers as they need to use the actual expenses, per statute.
For 2014, the standard rates per mile are:
- 56 cents for business purposes
- 23.5 cents for medical purposes
- 14 cents when working with a charitable organization
The charitable rate remains unchanged (it is set by statute and hasn’t been updated in a while) whereas the business & medical rates are down .5 (one-half) cent per mile. The IRS uses an annual study to calculate costs of operating an automobile and updates the business & medical rates annually.
I recommend you use a log to keep track of your mileage and expenses – here’s one you can use: Mileage and Expense Log
There are a few exceptions, such as you can’t write off mileage if you’ve fully depreciated your vehicle, or if you use more than four vehicles simultaneously (never had that happen!).
If you think your actual expenses may be more than your standard rate, you still have an option to use that method – never hurts to double-check.
If you’ve got any comments, thoughts or questions on this post, feel free to contact me!
Cheers!
Thomas C. Hodge, CPA
President
The Hodge Group
3040 N. Menard Avenue
Chicago, IL 60634
773.237.6369
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