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Job-Related Milage Reinbursement

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by TonyPSchaefer, May 15, 2004.

  1. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    My job occasionally requires that I drive from one building to another. Here in the Chicagoland area, the distances can range from a 10 mile jaunt to more than 60 miles from extreme Northside to extreme Southside.

    Every week or so, I log the total number of miles and submit a reimbursement statement. The IRS law indicates that companies are to reimburse their employees $0.32 for every mile. This is to cover wear-and-tear and milage.

    So the question is: with the improved milage of the Prius, has anyone received kick-back from their employers about being reimbursed too much? Now, before you start typing "that would never happen" you need to understand that I used to work for an evil empire run by Initech executives who were dislocated when their building burned down. (Office Space reference). I could very easily see one of them wanting to reduce the amount of reimbursement (trivial though it would be) just because, "Uh yeahhh, we need to, uh, better reflect reality, ok? Great."
     
    #1 TonyPSchaefer, May 15, 2004
  2. Wolfman

    Wolfman New Member

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    Nope, they cannot override IRS law.
     
    #2 Wolfman, May 15, 2004
  3. notforyou23

    notforyou23 New Member

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    I drive 38-42 miles a day on my company, which luckily pays .375 cents a mile!
    I love it because I get to drive the greatest car ever, and, I make money on the deal. Especially since I've been getting 52 MPG's!
    I must say this played a part in my decision to get the Prius.
    I would welcome any debate from my employer about not paying me as much as the other employees who drive gas guzzlers around...
     
    #3 notforyou23, May 15, 2004
  4. cybele

    cybele New Member

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    Also remember that fuel is only one part of the cost per mile equation.

    I recently figured out my "cost per mile" on the Prius for an eight year ownership and compared it to my previous car (Subaru) and found that they were about equal ... because I paid more for the Prius (about 9K more) and it takes a long ownership to work that off.

    But what's good about that finding is that I'm in a much better car. It's safer, it's more efficient and it's got more room. All at about the same price. I basically traded a cheaper car with poorer mileage for a better car with better mileage and it all worked out as a wash!

    Obviously this little math exercise doesn't work for everyone - but I found it rather illuminating and if your boss brings it up, you might want to have some figures ready that include the cost of the car, yearly registration and insurance as well as fuel.
     
    #4 cybele, May 15, 2004
  5. aja2460

    aja2460 Junior Member

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    I wouldn't worry about it... I see and approve a lot of mileage expense reports. If someone wanted to reimburse less for a high mileage car, I doubt that they would want to pay more for a Hummer...
     
    #5 aja2460, May 15, 2004
  6. cmympg

    cmympg Who knows? Who cares?

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    I've been doing taxes for 10 years now and would like to add something to this discussion on taxes and car expenses. IRS does not set the rate at which your employer reimburses you. They do set the standard milage rate that you can use to claim business miles on your tax return. For 2003, the standard milage rate was $.36 a mile. If your employer reimburses you at less than this rate, you can claim the difference if you qualify . Business milage is part of employee business expenses and falls on Schedule A on the lines that must exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income before you can claim any of them.

    You have the option of claiming actual expenses which means, not only do you have to keep up with your milage but, you also have to keep up with gas, oil, maintenance, insurance, etc. expenses. I doubt very many Prius owners find this to be worthwhile.
     
    #6 cmympg, May 15, 2004
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