Using your own car for work

Hello June,

Thanks for the great and informative sites.

My question--I work as an investigator for a company that investigates accidents involving City government "department" vehicles.

The job requires the use of my own vehicle to travel to accident scenes, and I am required to drive to work so that my vehicle is available for me to respond to the scenes of accidents. I also respond to emergencies after hours as required. I am required to type up notes and report, which I can do from home.

I read that the IRS does not allow the deduction of expenses/mileage for traveling to an office, unless I am traveling from home office to office office. So the crux of the question is: Can I deduct traveling to the office, since I am required to bring my vehicle? Is my home considered an office because I am often times required to respond from home to accident sites, or if I can write a few sentences before work everyday will that suffice?

Thanks for the help.
Michael from Los Angeles, CA


Hello Michael,

So glad my sites are providing useful information. Thanks for letting me know.

On deducting transportation: The IRS says you may deduct the transportation costs of going from one work location to another, not from one office to another. So you may deduct the costs of getting from one accident scene to another, or from the office at work to accident sites.

You may not deduct your commute from home to the office and back home even though your are required to use you car once at work. The reasoning. You would need to drive to work anyway.

You talk of your "job" so I assume you are an employee rather than an indie. In which case I would use the following example from the IRS Publication 463 to allow for the costs of going from your home to an accident site after hours.

You regularly work in an office in the city where you live. Your employer sends you to a one-week training session at a different office in the same city. You travel directly from your home to the training location and return each day. You can deduct the cost of your daily round-trip transportation between your home and the training location.

There are several posts on this blog and my website explaining what and when working at home means legitimate home office. Take a look at them here. Writing "a few sentences before work everyday will" not suffice.

Best,
June