You can only deduct gas and maintenance expenses if you don’t deduct your mileage! These expenses along with oil changes, repairs, tires, insurance, registration fees, licenses, and depreciation fall under the category of 'actual expenses.'
We don't have a category in the Stride app for these expenses for a few reasons! These expenses fall under the 'actual car expenses' category, which cannot be claimed alongside the standard mileage deduction. Overall we have found that drivers get more with the standard mileage!
For people who drive for work, here is a breakdown of the two options you can take when deducting expenses:
1) The actual expense method: the cost of actual car expenses (such as gas, maintenance, car payments, oil changes, and a few others).
You won't be able to track your actual car expenses (like gas, maintenance, or car insurance) with Stride. However, you can still track your non-vehicle expenses, and you should definitely still track your mileage!
When you use the actual expense method, you need to know the exact business percentage use of your car. The business percentage use of your car is the percentage that your car is used for work.
For example, if you put 10,000 miles on your car in a given year, and 6,000 of those miles were for work, then your business percentage use of the car is 60%. This means you can deduct 60% of your car payments, gas expenses, and other vehicle expenses.
You need to track your business mileage in order to know your business percentage use of your car, so we recommend tracking your mileage with Stride and tracking your vehicle expenses separately from the app.
OR
2) The standard mileage method: deducting a standard amount for every business mile driven. The standard mileage rate for 2023 was 65.5 cents per mile. For 2024, the standard mileage rate is 67 cents per mile.
Stride will automatically calculate your mileage deduction for you based on the year in which you're driving. If you're manually adding mileage in 2024 for 2023, then the Stride app will apply the rate for the date of the expense 65.5. The same process will occur for the previous years.
If you deduct both your mileage and your gas and maintenance expenses, you’d be double-deducting the same expense (since the mileage rate includes the cost of gas and maintenance already)—which the IRS doesn't like!
Not sure which method is best for you? No problem. The mileage deduction typically gives the highest deduction, especially if you drive a lot for work.
- There are a few exceptions, such as if you're driving a gas-inefficient vehicle or if you had to do a ton of repair work on the car. To read more about the distinction click here.
That being said, you might as well track both your mileage and your actual car expenses. Then you can determine at the end of the year which expense method is best for you.
The Stride app can help you record your work-related mileage and business expenses. It will put all the data you enter into an IRS-ready tax report format and you can then use this report when you file your taxes in order to claim your business expenses.
Comments
3 comments
...more great tips!
Cheers!
Rich
Glad to hear this was helpful, Rich!
-Tade @ Stride
This is great thank you!
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