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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Gas mileage
Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 10:35 PM on 02.25.11 |
| ->> for those of you getting reimbursed for gas, how much are you getting per mile? |
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 10:56 PM on 02.25.11 |
->> http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=232017,00.html
A simple "gas reimbursement" is not ok. My car requires more than gas to keep running, oil changes and other services are needed too. |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 11:11 PM on 02.25.11 |
| ->> So Patrick. How much does Mizzou give you per mile traveled when you're out on assignment? |
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Mike Ullery, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Piqua | OH | USA | Posted: 12:23 AM on 02.26.11 |
->> Debra,
Our paper pays $.24 per mile. |
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David Seelig, Photographer
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Hailey | ID | USA | Posted: 12:46 AM on 02.26.11 |
->> My paper pays 50 cents a mile .
Dvid |
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Max Gersh, Photographer
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Rockford | IL | USA | Posted: 12:48 AM on 02.26.11 |
| ->> Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I beleive you can deduct the difference from the IRS alloted ammount and what your paper actually reimburses when filing your taxes. So if you're being reimbursed $0.24 per mile, you can deduct another $0.27 cents per mile on your taxes. |
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Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 1:07 AM on 02.26.11 |
| ->> I was just wondering because I had a shoot and among other things, gas was being reimbursed since I had to drive 44 miles. Patrick, it was a one time shoot. |
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Brian Dowling, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 2:16 AM on 02.26.11 |
->> I thought if you were being reimbursed, that counts as income and you deduct the federal 51 cents. Not sure if I'm doing it wrong...
Also, I live in LA and me driving 20 miles in the city should count as 80 miles on my taxes. :) |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 2:20 AM on 02.26.11 |
->> Max,
On it's face your statement is true.
But, as the man says, you need to itemize your return. That will mean you need enough deductions to offset the "standard" deductions - things like mortgage interest, school and property taxes, and business expenses.
Mine go under Unreimbursed Business Expenses, and I take the difference between the .32 the company pays and whatever the IRS allows this year to reduce my taxable income.
Debra - I would offer that you should bill mileage as a line item, rather than take their offer. You need to cover the fixed costs as well as buy the gas.
Also - time to add the "consult someone that actually is qualified to offer an opinion" disclaimer |
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Andrew Fielding, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Denver | CO | USA | Posted: 3:06 AM on 02.26.11 |
| ->> Brian: Not an accountant but I believe that if something is an reimbursement it is not legally considered income. I may completely wrong here, I have an accountant do my taxes and let him just do his thing so I'm not 100% sure. |
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Doug Pizac, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | USA | Posted: 9:24 AM on 02.26.11 |
| ->> Line 21 on your tax form is for unreimbursed employee expenses -- according to an IRS webpage I just Google'd. |
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Michael Granse, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 10:54 AM on 02.26.11 |
| ->> If you intend to deduct the difference between your reimbursement and the federal rate, keep a DETAILED mileage log in case of an IRS audit. This will save you from having to write a check at the end of the process. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 12:16 PM on 02.26.11 |
| ->> we get $.35/mile. and I too am curious about Patrick's comment. are you saying the school pays for your repairs, oil changes, tires AND gas? if so that's something I have never heard of. maybe I should enroll in school...... |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 12:37 PM on 02.26.11 |
->> Doug -
You need to exercise a bit of caution when quoting IRS form details. Line 21 on which form?
On a standard 1040 it deals with income, on 2106 - the employee expense form it is a vehicle usage question, on Schedule C - profit of loss from a business it's a repair expense question, or is it possibly Schedule A - Itemized Deductions...
dp
(who still insists you consult someone who knows what they're talking about) |
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 2:26 PM on 02.26.11 |
->> I'm not an employee of the University of Missouri, Jim and Chuck. The school paper reimburses 20 cents per mile for travel outside of the county, nothing else.
Believe me I am not happy with the policy. Another paper I worked for paid 29 cents per mile. After a $1,000 repair bill that summer, I put in place some changes for how I handle funds received from milage reimbursements, etc.
As for other clients I work for, they pay me the IRS rate. What I don't spend from that "on gas" goes into a separate savings account I've set aside for car expenses and repairs. A month ago was $300 on tires, a week ago I spent $111 on services for my car - because I had put the money aside in advance, I didn't have to worry about how I would pay for the bill.
I keep a detailed milage datebook with all trips, noting personal vs. business, who the trip is for, etc.
If someone just wants to pay an "all in one rate" I'll deduct the mileage, SS taxes, etc. from that rate and put those parts aside as well. That way I know what I am really being paid for the gig.
Brian - You may want to look into calculating the actual costs of using your vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates, being in LA with rush-hour traffic and $4 a gallon gas, it is more work, but could be worth the extra hassle. |
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Michael Fischer, Photographer
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Spencer | Ia | USA | Posted: 10:44 AM on 02.27.11 |
->> 1) Consult a GOOD CPA.
2) Keep accurate records - it's sooooo important
3) Consult a GOOD CPA.
4) Learn which regulations apply to you - it's confusing.
5) Consult a GOOD CPA.
Did I say to get a good CPA?
All kidding aside, this is the wrong place to get Tax advice. |
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Jeff Stanton, Photographer
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Princeton | IN | USA | Posted: 1:19 PM on 02.27.11 |
->> We get 34 cents a mile and it most likely will be raised to 38 cents as gasoline prices continue to climb. Remember, you can deduct the difference between what you are paid and what the IRS allows.
Of course, if you file the long form and itemize and your itemized deductions do not exceed what the government allows in standard deductions, it's better to just take the standard deduction which will give you more money back, provided you have a refund coming. |
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 1:53 PM on 02.27.11 |
->> Deborah - for freelance assignments I always use the IRS rate for mileage. When building a contract or agreement, I state something like, "Mileage to and from the assignment location will be billed at the current IRS rate of $.XX" and then provide a link to the IRS website.
@Chuck - I think Patrick's point in saying "A simple 'gas reimbursement' is not ok" was that the per-mile reimbursement should also include a contributive cost to regular maintenance of and repairs to the vehicle. It doesn't actually cost $.51 to drive one mile (unless I'm driving my old '72 Bronco with a 302 V8). Rather, the extra reimbursement is a contribution to Patrick's mention of oil changes, new tires, rebuilt tranny, ect. |
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Bob Ford, Photographer
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Lehighton | Pa | USA | Posted: 2:03 PM on 02.27.11 |
| ->> 35 cents a mile. |
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Darren Whitley, Photographer
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Northwest Missouri | MO | USA | Posted: 2:22 PM on 02.27.11 |
| ->> Taking a deduction on your taxes means the government is subsidizing your newspaper. Maybe the newspaper should practice the same ethics they do when it comes to free meals for their employees! I won't hold my breath. But why should you have to take care of their business on your taxes? It's not the government nor the newspaper who is put at a financial disadvantage, it's you. |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 10:39 PM on 02.27.11 |
| ->> 0.35 / mile |
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Yamil Sued, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Peoria | AZ | USA | Posted: 11:25 PM on 02.27.11 |
->> I charge whatever the IRS Rate is at the time!!
Today I wrote an invoice for $.50 per mile, if it goes higher, I raise it.
Y |
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 12:17 AM on 02.28.11 |
->> Yamil,
Its now at $0.51 |
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Yamil Sued, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Peoria | AZ | USA | Posted: 12:48 AM on 02.28.11 |
->> Crap!!
OK, Not going to Change it for $.90, I'll do it for the next one then!
Thanks!!
Y |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 9:37 PM on 02.28.11 |
->> Story from back in the 80's, before digital transmission when film had to be flown places (something the young may not understand)...
Doing an important shoot for a major American news weekly on a Saturday morning (after the normal deadline). How important? THEY WERE GOING TO HOLD THE PRESSES FOR MY PICTURE... "The hole for your photo will be a horizontal 4:3 so shoot to that," said the photo editor, "don't, for f**k's sake, give me a vertical."
Get picked up at the curb outside the DC office of said news weekly by a car loaded with US Marshals who proceeded to blindfold me and drive me around the DC area for an hour in an attempt to disorient me. Arrived at the "site" to be escorted to a generic hotel room, curtains drawn, with one agent complaining about the weight of my flash gear.
Meet the subject, set up some lights, take two rolls of slide film (on two different cameras, just in case) and I'm done. Pack everything up, get blindfolded again and spend another hour in the car being driven around the DC area to make sure I don't know where the subject is being held.
Arrive back at the offices of said newsweekly to hand off the film to someone who proceeds to get driven at breakneck speed to the airport to HAND CARRY the film to New York. The film is delivered straight to the lab where the photo editor waits to choose the frame which is sent to the printing plant for the magazine due to hit the streets on Monday morning.
The cost of all this? Huge. Aside from my time , the editor's time, the airfare and processing, in those days holding one of the three news weeklies was thought to cost upwards of $100,000 an hour. So a conservative estimate (by me and others) is that this magazine paid something on the order of $300,000 plus to run my picture, maybe more.
Two weeks late I get a call from accounting telling me that my mileage rate, charged from my home to the magazine's office and back, was incorrect. I charged them 27 cents per mile when I should have charged them 25 cents per mile. "Don't worry," she said, "you don't have to re-invoice us, we'll just take the 56 cents off your bill."
True story. |
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Patrick Murphy-Racey, Photographer
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Powell | TN | USA | Posted: 9:06 AM on 03.01.11 |
->> When I do a big job that requires me taking a lot of lighting equipment, I charge .60 per mile. If you drive an SUV or full-size truck that is heavy like mine, you can actually bill a higher mileage rate if your vehicle is classified by the IRS as "heavy equipment." I love diesels and so drive a TDI Passat to assignments that don't require a ton of gear, but when I fire up the Dodge Cummins, it's all .60 per mile, all the time. I've only been challenged by one client one time on this and once I sent them the link to the IRS info, they paid it. BTW, I get around 44 mpg in the passat and can easily get 23 mpg in the truck. Diesels ROCK!
Any TDI bug, Jetta, or Golf made prior to 2005 is capable of 50 mpg's on the hwy, and the in city mpg's don't fall down like gassers so 37 mpg average for a tank is pretty normal.
I know some of this post is a little off topic, but fuel economy is another area that we can creatively control our costs as working shooters. The TDI Jetta station wagon is a near perfect newspaper photographer rig for papers that pay low or high mileage rates. |
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Ron Alvey, Photographer
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Dayton | OH | USA | Posted: 9:23 AM on 03.01.11 |
->> Jim C,
I wish there was a "pretty cool" box that I could check for your story. Since there is not, I'm going with informative. |
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Mike Burley, Photographer
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Dubuque | IA | USA | Posted: 10:47 AM on 03.01.11 |
| ->> .39 & gas costs 3.29/gal for E87 here. |
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D. Ross Cameron, Photographer
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Oakland | CA | USA | Posted: 8:35 PM on 03.02.11 |
| ->> 40 cents a mile out here in the most expensive market in the country (unleaded regular now $3.90). |
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Andrew Fielding, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Denver | CO | USA | Posted: 1:09 PM on 03.03.11 |
| ->> Ross, the Bay Area is not the most expensive...average is 3.81...Hawaii is 3.83. Also in Santa Monica where I used to work gas is now up to 3.83 at the CHEAPEST gas station rest of the prices are between 3.95 and 4.15...luckily in Denver things are still semi-reasonable. |
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Nic Coury, Photographer
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Monterey | CA | | Posted: 1:30 PM on 03.03.11 |
| ->> What if your employer, hypothetically-speaking, won't pay mileage in any form, but says they'll work something out like straight cash every month? |
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Angus Mordant, Student/Intern
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Sydney | NSW Australia | Australia | Posted: 9:42 PM on 03.03.11 |
| ->> WOW your gas is cheap. I pay on average $1.25-$1.36 per litre which ends up $4.70 - $5.10 per gallon. (1 Aussie Dollar currently = 1.01 US Dollars) |
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Max Gersh, Photographer
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Rockford | IL | USA | Posted: 9:53 PM on 03.03.11 |
| ->> Angus, we're spoiled. We have what is likely the cheapest fuel in the world yet we still complain about it. After all, we are Americans. We want free t-shirts, free food and free (or at least tax-deductible) fuel. |
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Angus Mordant, Student/Intern
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Sydney | NSW Australia | Australia | Posted: 10:03 PM on 03.03.11 |
| ->> Oh well we have national health care :P |
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Andrew Fielding, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Denver | CO | USA | Posted: 12:06 AM on 03.04.11 |
| ->> We complain because not only do we have the cheapest fuel but we use more than anyone else on a per person basis because as Americans we have three pastimes; baseball, football and consuming :P |
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Andrew Richardson, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Houston | TX | USA | Posted: 2:36 AM on 03.04.11 |
| ->> Mine pays .25 per mile. They will also reimburse toll charges if I turn in receipts, but I use an EZ Tag here in Houston and I haven't bothered to check how to address that yet. |
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Peter Tarry, Photographer
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croydon | Surrey | England | Posted: 7:22 AM on 03.04.11 |
| ->> over here diesel is £1.40 a liter and i get 24p a mile ! a lot of very unhappy drivers in the uk at the moment. |
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Robert Scheer, Photographer
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Indianapolis | IN | USA | Posted: 3:50 PM on 04.22.11 |
| ->> .26 per mile, not increasing. |
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Rob Edwards, Photographer
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Peru | IN | United States | Posted: 4:30 PM on 04.22.11 |
| ->> Here in Marion, .30 per mile, gas around here is $3.99 per gallon. |
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Robert Scheer, Photographer
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Indianapolis | IN | USA | Posted: 4:44 PM on 04.22.11 |
| ->> .30, right up the road, same chain? :-O Thanks for the info Rob, and I hope you're well. |
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Matthew Jonas, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Evergreen | CO | USA | Posted: 6:24 PM on 04.22.11 |
| ->> .37 per mile. I wish it was slightly more now that I am paying $3.50 per gallon. |
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Robert Scheer, Photographer
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Indianapolis | IN | USA | Posted: 7:16 PM on 04.22.11 |
| ->> Rob, that's right, you guys got sold a few years ago. |
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Michael Fischer, Photographer
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Spencer | Ia | USA | Posted: 7:58 PM on 04.22.11 |
->> I gotta tell ya, the Prius makes this almost a non issue...
Can't wait to see what the Chevy Volt is like... I bill .50 a mile but am very careful about billing. I've had discussions with my major client in the past. They don't pay their people anywhere near that much per mile. |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 11:07 PM on 04.22.11 |
->> Michael,
Freelancers are more expensive because, unlike employees, they have to cover their own overhead. The fact that your client is not paying "their people" as much as you're billing them is irrelevant and can serve as an education opportunity for the client.
They're already way ahead in the deal because by using you only when they need you, they don't have the larger expense of keeping a full time employee.
--Mark |
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Michael Fischer, Photographer
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Spencer | Ia | USA | Posted: 1:39 PM on 04.23.11 |
->> All true, Mark. My point was that more fuel efficient vehicles lessen the impact of higher fuel prices.
As for them being way ahead.. it depends which day you ask the publisher :P
Even at .50 mile, it's still unprofitable if you truly factor in all of the costs. My advice for anyone is to track every expense you can for your vehicle. Much of it will be deductible if you can document the costs. A good CPA is also a important investment. |
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Nick Adams, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Galesburg | IL | | Posted: 5:01 PM on 04.23.11 |
| ->> what's the best way to write off the mileage difference when doing taxes? |
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Stew Milne, Photographer
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Providence | RI | USA | Posted: 5:22 PM on 04.23.11 |
| ->> There are two ways to deduct car expenses. One method, you track ALL of your expenses for your vehicle (gas, repairs, etc) and the other you record your mileage for work. You have the option of taking whichever one is larger. Typically it's the mileage version. |
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Stew Milne, Photographer
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Providence | RI | USA | Posted: 5:24 PM on 04.23.11 |
| ->> Also, if you charge your clients for mileage, you cannot deduct that on your federal taxes. That would be double-dipping. |
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Al Goldis, Photographer
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East Lansing | MI | USA | Posted: 6:20 PM on 04.23.11 |
->> It's not double dipping. If you charge your clients for mileage then you are getting additional money that is not really income but expense reimbursement.
If you don't deduct it somehow then an *expense* would be increasing your gross income and your tax liability. That's not how it's supposed to work.
There are probably all sorts of creative ways to deduct it, but by far the easiest way is to just claim it as business mileage. That way any discrepancy between what you charge for reimbursement and the federally allowed mileage amount will be automatically rectified. |
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Clay Begrin, Photographer
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Petaluma | Ca | USA | Posted: 7:53 AM on 04.24.11 |
| ->> Debra here in Northern California it's .50 cents per mile |
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