Have You Recorded Your Vehicle's Odometer Reading Yet?

The beginning of each new year means it's time for family child care providers to record the odometer readings for each car, truck or van you use in your business.

Record your odometer reading as of December 31st for each year. File this information with your tax records. Next, record the odometer readings as of January 1st for the upcoming year and file this with your next year tax records.

You want to record odometer readings at the beginning and end of each year so you can calculate the total number of miles you drove your vehicle in the year. This will be used to help determine the percentage of miles you drove for business purposes each year. If you use the standard mileage method of claiming vehicle expenses you can deduct this business percentage of your vehicle loan interest and vehicle property tax (if your state has this tax).

If you use actual mileage method of claiming vehicle expenses you can deduct the business percentage of all your vehicle expenses (gas, oil, repairs, insurance, vehicle depreciation, loan interest, and so on).

If you didn't record the odometer reading of your vehicle on January 1st, try to estimate it. If you serviced your vehicle close to this date, look on the work invoice where the odometer reading may be recorded. You can always take the total number of miles you have driven the vehicle since you owned it and divide it by the number of months you've owned it. Multiply this average monthly mileage by 12 to estimate your mileage for the year.

I always enjoy talking about deducting vehicle expenses with family child care providers because nearly everyone can save money on their taxes by keeping accurate odometer readings each year.

For details, see my Family Child Care Tax Workbook and Organizer.

Tom Copeland - www.tomcopelandblog.com

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/greggjerdingen/6697106333