C230 Sport Coup

Peydidy

I feel you on that. I would always have the same argument that cars are for driving when my dad would always rent cars when we would take trips when I was younger because he didnt want to put miles on his car. I always though it was so stupid, now I am basically doing the same thing . But after seeing so many high mileage m271s going strong I think I might choose that to put the majority of miles on and the coupe every now and then too. I need to do some servicing on the sedan now though. I haven't done a transmission flush or brake flush or anything other then oil changes at the dealer since I bought the car with the exception of when I got new brakes and rotters last year.


Good to see these cars going strong with so many miles Thanks for your impute.

Actually one of the other guys at my work who is driving just as much as me bought a geo metro last week so he didn't have to put so many miles on his bmw m3

I read somewhere that I can claim $0.55 a mile on my taxes do you know if thats correct?

LILBENZ230

Now if you don't service the sedan correctly you won't be able to expect the same sort of service that I, polar, and buklae get from ours. If you look at my threads you'll see the extensive servicing my car has always received.

But I'm sure you already know this.

Peydidy

oh ya I know that, the reason I haven't done any services yet is because I bought my car from the MB dealer and they had just done a transmission flush, brake flush service B and a ton of other things right before I bought it. It still has a coupe thousand miles to go before a transmission flush but I think its time for a brake flush pretty soon and oil change is due in August so I will probably do it at the end of this month so I can use my coupon before it expires.

kirax2

change the front brakes (pads and rotors) on the coupe too, i have hawk HPS street on it and some ebay rotors on it and its been on there for a few years now and they brake *****ty, o well, i dont drive the coupe much so i didn't really bother with it, just a heads up

C230 Sport Coup

I'm not a tax guy, so as I understand it, it works like this, but all of this may have changed since I last looked at it. The mileage rate fluctuates.
Is it really only 55 cents a mile with gas only just recently at 4.50 a gallon?

If you are being paid less than what the government allows and you are an employee not independant 1099, than you you can claim (ONLY) the difference as an unreimbursed employee expense. So if they pay 44 cents a mile, and the gov pays 55, then you can write off 11 cents a mile.
If you are paid what gov allows by mile, but your actual total is higher
with gas, maint, tires etc. and you save all the receipts,again you can claim the difference as an unreimbursed employee expense.

If you are independent ie 1099. you can write off everything including the depreciation of the vehicle, or the cost of the lease.

If you are on a "temporary" job you can write off mileage traveled outside your "metropolitan area" even if you are an employee. The temporary part has changed at times originally it was 6 months, and then it was 1.5 years?
In any case, I have no idea exactly what the laws are these days, but I've used all of the above at various times depending on circumstances. I keep the pages from the IRS manuals with my returns and my notes so I can make sense of what I did year later..anyway, any tax person is only as good as the info you provide them. All that driving, maint. and gas is gonna make you broke my friend.
Maybe rent a car by the month or the week, with unlimited mileage, something that gets good mileage.
I think you could write that off perhaps. Talk to a tax guy.

C230 Sport Coup

Hawk pads suck asssss. A buddy put them on his Audi V8 S4 and they were just scary.
I told him about Porterfield FTW!

tommy

I believe that's correct. Generally, the IRS changes the rate at the beginning of every year, but if there's enough evidence of rising prices, they will change the mileage rate more frequently, like they did a couple of years ago.

If you work for a corporation, your corporation will probably reimburse you the legally allowed amount, as that reduces their potential audit issues on their end.

Don't forget that the mileage allowances are supposed to take care of all maintenance, so legally, if you're being reimbursed for the 55 cent rate, you're done; no further vehicle-related expenses can be taken on your return (because they'e already been reimbursed by your employer, so you'd be double-deducting them in effect).
As SC said, it's best to talk to a tax guy if you have detailed questions, but there should be a publication you can read up on at irs.gov.

LILBENZ230

Well if I were paid $.55 per mile for every mile I drove last year, I'd end up with about $16,500. This would more than cover the fuel and maintenance expenses on my C230.

tommy

That's why I like driving to meetings/conferences for work, it always means a little extra in pin money.

C230 Sport Coup

I think Vehicle expenses can be factored in 2 ways...
1. flat rate mileage and
2. Actual expenses.
Actual is much harder, you have to keep track of your expenses and mileage and determine the percentage of use for work vs. personal. If you only drive one car, it would be easier.
If the actual expenses exceed the mileage rate, you can deduct the difference as unreimbursed employee expense. OR as a straight biz deduction if you are self eemployed.
And of course if you DIY then you have less to write off. But thats gonna be a lot of DIY time!!
Again, I am not qualified to give advise, so consult someone who is.

Seriously though, that many miles, I'd look at renting a car with unlimited miles. That way no breakdowns, tires, maint. nada. Especially on those trips to Irvine. Ha hit me up, we'll take Newport and Laguna Beach by storm!
But 800 miles at 55 cents is over $400. Rent a newer car that gets 40 MPG and use only 20 gallons of fuel.

Sometimes you see these special deals like 100-200 a week.
I think it would pay for itself in your situation.

There's a whole IRS booklet on expenses.
The 'outside' the metropolitan area thing is cool.
I took a temp job in SF for 6 months or so,
commuted from near Santa Cruz, and wrote off all my mileage
even though I was an employee. It really helped! Especially since I was
getting paid squat. These days I keep getting paid less not more...arrgh.