I'm sitting here entering in all my receipts into Minute Menu (that I'm severely back up on!) and wondering.....can I claim milage if it's an item that is claimed as Time Space percent? If I go to the store for things that are shared with the daycare and my kids or home improvement things (like yard decorations, ect.)..things that I do not solely buy for the daycare but they use it as well or I can claim it as TSP, can I claim that mileage as well? HELP!

Reply

Now you got me wonder! Normally, I do not claim the taxes whenever I took the daycare kids for field trip a few times ever years. Now this year, I am starting to take my own daughter to school to dropped her off in Dallas that is where she goes to. I have to take the daycare kids with me everyday (with parents' permission). I drove to Dallas from my home and go back home 62 miles a day. Can I claim that mileage? I am saving the vehicle mileage log since August 25th.

Reply

I'm wondering how you are claiming mileage as t/s%. The only thing you can claim as time% (which helps get you your time/space%) is the time you spend at home doing DC related things during hours that there are no DC kids in your home. Mileage/car expenses are deducted seperately.

That being said you can claim mileage on your car by either using the standard rate or by keeping really good records and all of your receipts adding them up and then applying your time/space% to that total... meaning if your time/space% is 40% you add up your car expenses (gas, maintenance, oil etc) then 40% of that total is deductible. Is that what you mean?


No, you can't claim this as mileage because the primary purpose of the trip is not for daycare. If you were driving the 62 miles a day to take the DC kids to their school then yes you could have, but seeing as to how you are driving there to take your daughter there for her school and are only taking your DC kids because you have to (can't leave them by themselves) then it doesn't count.

Reply

No, I'm not saying I claim mileage as TSP....what I meant was if I drive to a store to buy PRODUCTS that are TSP (such as toilet paper, paper towels, ect.) can I claim the mileage it took to go to the store?

I use toilet paper/paper towels for my family as well so I would need to drive there because my family needs to use that stuff as well....however, I wouldn't be making as many trips had my daycare children not used those products as well...so this one has me stumped.

I drive to the store because I'm out of those products and my family needs them too, but if the daycare didn't use them up as well, I wouldn't be making that trip to the store to replace them. Make sense? So it seems as though I should be able to claim that mileage, but I want to make sure.

Reply

If I go to the store to get DC stuff and while I'm there, i see stuff I could use at home so I dont have to go out again in 2 days for personal stuff, I will pick up the family items at the same time. I believe that the reason for your trip has to be for DC. If I go to the store and the BIGGEST reason for me going is for DC, I will claim the milage.

Maybe Tom can help us out clairifying this one?

Reply

Oh ok, I see now. Then yes you can claim the mileage. You can do this however you want to but you have to keep a log somewhere. You can keep it in a notebook, or create a spread-sheet in a program like excel and just log all of your trips in there.

You can either write down the starting and ending mileage of your trip or you can just use your receipts (the name and address of the store should be right on the receipts) and map-quest or google-map the distance between your house and the store (round-trip) and just write down the number of miles. I always forget to write down the mileage and so I do the map-quest option and then make a cheat-sheet that has all of the regular places that I shop at and have the miles on there so when I actually log it in my mileage log the info is already on hand. If you do it this way then your logs should have the date, the place you went (Vons, Ralph's, Lakeshore etc.), the purpose (groceries, craft supplies etc.), number of miles and then keep an extra space at the end just in case you have any parking fees or tolls or whatever. For me this is the easier way, but you can also claim exact expenses but you have to keep EVERY SINGLE RECEIPT of everything that you spend on your car and then deduct the time/space% from the grand total.

Remember, as long as the primary reason that you are going on that trip is for daycare, then you can claim it as a business expense. If you go to the grocery store and buy $100 worth of groceries for your family and spend $20 for your daycare food then it wouldn't count. If half or more of your shopping items will be used by DC kids then yes you can claim it. Just keep your receipts (all of them) in case you are audited so that you can show that "Hey look, there are some things on here that are for my family but more than half this stuff is for Daycare use also"

Reply

But 50% of what? I may go and spend $60 on 3 family items, but spent $40 on 15 DC items...so do they go by the $ amount of the quanity for the 50%??

I always went by the quanity of items..

Reply

If I take my son and a DCk to preschool, they are in the same class, can I deduct 100% of the milage since she is enrolled and I'd have to take her anyway, or is it just a portion since I'm taking my own son too?

Reply

You can claim a trip as a business trip if the primary purpose of the trip is for your business. Primary purpose means that more than 50% of the reason you went on the trip was because of the business. If you spent more money on business items than personal items, or you bought more business items than personal items you could claim this as a business trip. Many providers are always spending more money on business food than personal food when they go grocery shopping. If this is the case, don't claim every food store trip as a business trip (you have to have some personal trips!).

"That being said you can claim mileage on your car by either using the standard rate or by keeping really good records and all of your receipts adding them up and then applying your time/space% to that total... meaning if your time/space% is 40% you add up your car expenses (gas, maintenance, oil etc) then 40% of that total is deductible. Is that what you mean?"

If you are using the actual expenses method of claiming car expenses this allows you to deduct the business portion of all the expenses associated with the car (gas, oil, repairs, etc.). However, don't use your time-space percentage as your business portion. Instead, divide the business miles by your total miles to determine your business portion and use this percent against all the car expenses. So, if you drove 1,000 business miles and 10,000 total miles you could deduct 10% of all your car expenses.

Reply

Thank you, that makes perfect sense. I just always take the standard gas milage rate. I use Minute Menu and just enter in the store I went to and how many miles and what it was for (shopping trip for toilet paper/dish soap, ect.)....minute menu already has the standard rate in there so at the end of the year I just print off the report and it's already calculated for me.

Reply

Oh ok I get it now, I knew there was a reason why I claim the standard rate lol. Also, I was just thinking about this and the whole "primary purpose of the trip is for business use" thing, isn't it also true that if you spend a majority of your time shopping for DC things that it makes it count as a business related trip? For example if I buy 8 items at the grocery store for my family for $20 and this takes me 10 minutes but I buy only 6 items for my DC that total $15 but it takes me 20 minutes because I have to look at labels and nutritional facts etc.? Would this make it count? I find that sometimes it takes me longer to shop for DC than it does for personal things since I have to check labels on food, safety on toys etc.

Reply

Yes, taking more time to shop for business stuff than personal stuff can make the trip a business trip. But to use this argument you would need to record how much time it took you for the business and personal purchases and to write this down on the receipt or somewhere else. Remember, don't claim 100% of all trips to grocery stores.

Reply

tom do you claim the mileage while you are buying stuff when u r preparing for children so before you have your lisence? so i went to store to buy fire extinguisher etc.. but I wasnt lisenced yet but waiting to be had mailed paper work in.. and do u claim the mileage for when I drove to my orientation? cpr class? or does it have to be after you had your lisence?

Reply

OMG!! This is bizarre! I just wrote almost the same question!! I didn't have time to read the other threads, as I am entering all my info into MMK tonight too!!

Reply

I couldnt find the answer in Toms book either...

Reply

tom do you claim the mileage while you are buying stuff when u r preparing for children so before you have your lisence? so i went to store to buy fire extinguisher etc.. but I wasnt lisenced yet but waiting to be had mailed paper work in.. and do u claim the mileage for when I drove to my orientation? cpr class? or does it have to be after you had your lisence?


im wondering if it was bought before lisence but for business if i can do milage??

Reply

Yes, you can claim mileage for business trips you made before you are licensed.


Next Monday join me for my webinar "How to Reduce Your Taxes for 2010 and 2011 sponsored by daycare.com. For more info:
https://www.daycare.com/news/taxes/t...d-webinar.html

Reply