I told my boss that employees cannot include mileage between home and business on their travel expense forms. For example, if they drive to the airport, they have to deduct the number of miles they would have normally driven to and from work that day. I'm quite sure that it's a federal regulation, but she wants proof, and I'm having difficulty finding it. Thanks for your help.
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"§301-10.306 What will I be reimbursed if authorized to use a POV instead of a taxi between my residence and office to a common carrier terminal, or from my residence directly to a common carrier terminal on travel requiring an overnight stay?
If determined advantageous to the Government, you will be reimbursed on a mileage basis plus other allowable costs for round-trip travel on the beginning and/or ending of travel between the points involved. " I would interpret this as you do not subtract the normal distance traveled to work from the distance of work related travel before reimbursing. Please quote the exact source if you've found something specific that contradicts this. I've not found anything contradictory at any of the linked sources, but there's so much information at each link it's hard to dig through it.
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Cheryl Stavis on
3/5/2010 11:52:33 AM
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The guidelines for travel cost/reimbursements are list in the FTR - accessed via the GSA.gov site link:
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/channelView.do?specialContentType=FTR&file=FTR/FTRTOC.html&pageTypeId=17113&channelPage=%2Fep%2Fchannel%2FgsaOverview.jsp&channelId=-24565
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 8:07:53 AM
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I checked with my controller who tells me that, yes, IRS regulations require that travelers deduct from their trip to the airport/train station, the miles that they would have normally driven to work.
For instance, Joe normally drives 50 miles from home to work. He attends a conference just 20 miles from his home and drives directly to the conference. He won't receive any reimbursement because he saved money by going to the conference instead of going to work.
If Joe who normally drives 50 miles from home to work attended a conference 100 miles away from his home, he could request reimbursement for the 50 miles only.
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LKW on
3/5/2010 7:15:35 AM
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The guidelines for travel cost/reimbursements are list in the FTR - accessed via the GSA.gov site link:
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/channelView.do?specialContentType=FTR&file=FTR/FTRTOC.html&pageTypeId=17113&channelPage=%2Fep%2Fchannel%2FgsaOverview.jsp&channelId=-24565
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 6:56:36 AM
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You are correct, it cannot be reimbursed. I believe some of the other responders have already given you the IRS documentation that supports this.
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 6:36:33 AM
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This may be helpful:
Access to the Federal Travel Regulation and other GSA resources:
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/channelView.do?pageTypeId=17114&channelId=-26355
Under the per diem rules, official travel starts when the traveler leaves his or her residence, office, or other official departure point.
However, the IRS has already did the digging and interpreting and condensing the findings:
http://www.irs.gov/irm/part1/irm_01-032-001.html
1.32.1.1.16 (09-01-2006), Privately-Owned Vehicle (POV), sections 16-18.
Who is going to question the IRS?
Bottom line is that for federal employees, official travel starting and ending at the domicile is authorized UNLESS the traveler visits the office enroute, in which case the travel starts at the office (or ends at the office if the visit is on the return leg). If a stop at the office occurs, then the distance between the residence and the office is not reimbursable since that leg would then be considered a normal commute. Normal commuting travel is never reimbursable under any circumstances.
For commercial enterprises, the ruling depends upon company policy.
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Anonymous on
3/5/2010 6:12:59 AM
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I don't think the Federal Government would or should be involved in something this small. I think this is borderline micro-managing. I would consider it a bonus for traveling and being away from your family.
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zion on
3/5/2010 5:04:54 AM
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In my opinion, this is an ethics issue - more of an "unwritten" rule. Personally, I would never ask to be reimbursed for mileage to the airport, especially when the distance I'm driving is shorter than it would be if I came to work. Some people, however, see it differently.
If you ever find written federal regulations addressing this issue, I would love to see it, as the same thing has been happening in my office for years. My guess is that unless specifically addressed via company policy and enforced by management, this practice will continue.
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Lisa Tallent on
3/5/2010 5:01:00 AM
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I've read thru this and read thru it and can't find where it specifies that miles you normally would drive to work must be subtracted from what you've driven to determine amount to be reimbursed. http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch04.html
When our people travel, they get mileage from starting point (home or office) to the business destination and from the business destination to home (or office). If they run errands along the way, we hope they're honest enough to subtract those from the reported mileage.
I have a chart with mileage and tolls for each employee showing how far from the office to the airport and from their homes to the airport since this is the most frequent thing being reimbursed. I don't subtract what they would normally drive to the office from their reimbursement if they leave from home and not the office.
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Cheryl Stavis on
3/4/2010 4:12:22 PM
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Hi Susan, I believe you are correct. You may find it somewhere on one of these three IRS sites:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch04.html#en_US_publink100033949
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-09-54.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=216048,00.html
Regards,
Kim
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Kimberly Kissel on
3/4/2010 2:21:33 PM
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I would say that if they need to stop at the office, calculate from office to airport, but if they're going directly to the airport from home, calculate from the home to airport. There are always other circumstances and scenarios, but that's been my general rule because we don't have it that detailed in our policy manual.
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Elizabeth Erskine on
3/4/2010 2:05:16 PM
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I am not aware of any federal regulation. This is generally left up to the policy set in an office. My last employer handled mileage as you suggest and my current employer pays the mileage from the employee's home to destination (such as airport) not taking into account their regular commute to the office.
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Kathi Robinson on
3/4/2010 2:04:45 PM
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Another thing: This applies to not just business miles driven for travel, but also during a normal workday (between office locations, to see a vendor, etc.). Our mileage reimbursement policy requires that we deduct our normal commuting miles before we even get reimbursed.
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JB on
3/4/2010 2:04:37 PM
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Got it! My Director of Finance helped me find the specific IRS publication (463) that addresses this rule about personal communting miles. See the link below:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch04.html
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JB on
3/4/2010 2:02:48 PM
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I work in the finance department of my company. In our travel and expense policy it states: Non-reimbursable expenses - In addtion to expenses which have been defined as non-reimbursable elsewhere in this Policy, travelers will not be reimbursed for: * Expenses for travel between an employee's home and primary work location (except where explicitly authorized for reimbursement). I do not know if this is a federal regulation or not. Check your company policy manual to see if there is something specific to travel and expenses. Hope this helps!
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Anonymous on
3/4/2010 1:40:56 PM
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