I am employed by a tech. contracting company(A) and travel to another business(B), where I work as a contractor (employed by A).
I commute everyday to B. Can I claim my travel to B as an expense?
The short answer is yes you can, but you have to make sure you do it correctly.
If you are employed by a tech company that does contract work at a separate location and you don't get reimbursed by your employer for travel expenses, you can claim the mileage between your home and location B as a business expense, but there's a catch - you have to subtract the mileage between your home and location A (your employer). So if it's 20 miles from your house to your employer (location A), and 30 miles from your house to the business you're contracting at (location B), you can only claim 10 miles each way (so 20 miles total). Obviously if the distance to location B is closer than your employer (location A), you're out of luck. You will have to itemize to take this deduction, by filling out a Schedule A for itemized deductions and Form 2106 to calculate how much of a deduction for travel expenses you can take. Google "should i itemize", if you're unsure whether to take the Standard Deduction or Itemize.
Sources:
- Business Travel Expenses http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc511.html
- Travel Expenses, Page 9 of http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf
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What if my contracting company (A) is actually further from me than the company I contract at (B)? For example (actual miles)the distance from my home to (B) is 40 miles - however, (A) is actually out of state and is 70 miles to (B) and it's 110 miles from me to (A). So I'm assuming I can claim the full distance (40 miles to and from?)? – Jason Jan 3 '12 at 6:17
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Sorry but you cannot claim the 40 miles from home to B. The theory behind it is that if you were to travel to and from your "regular" place of work (A), you would be going the 110 miles anyway. The IRS will only help you out if your employer requires you to travel further than that. Since B is closer to your home than A, you're actually saving on miles traveled so the IRS won't help you out. – Daniel Jan 3 '12 at 14:42
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[I had to split this up] ... The only way you can claim travel to location B, is if you stop by location A first, then go to location B in the same day. So if you traveled 110 miles to stop by location A, then went 70 miles to location B, you can claim 70 miles each way. – Daniel Jan 3 '12 at 14:43
