Claiming mileage on taxes?

[honestabe]

Ok, so I've been doing a little research lately and it turns out that the driving I do for Domino's (I deliver) in my own car is eligable for federal mileage compensation. I get paid a flat $0.95/delivery, unless I'm taking 2 or more deliveries at the same time which means I would get paid $0.95 for the first delivery and $0.75 for the 2nd delivery. This money that I get paid is classified as maintenance since I don't get paid per mile and odometer readings are not taken by my store.

Since day 1 of working at my store I've logged my start and end odometer readings for each day when I arrive and leave the store for the day. Being as how I didn't start working until August the federal tax mileage rate for me is $0.55/mile. What I want to know is, would I get the full amount my mileage adds up to (meaning the say 4000 miles @ $0.55/mile=$2200) even if that means getting a refund larger than the amount I paid into my taxes?

Using hypothetical numbers, would I be correct in saying that if I over-paid my federal taxes by $2000 (meaning I get a $2000 refund), and I have 4,000 miles logged for work doing deliveries ($2200 at $0.55/mile), would I get a total refund of $4200? Or would I just get the $2000 back and nothing more? I've never dealt with anything like this before so I have no idea how anything like this works. I know there is atleast 1 person on here who's dealt with this before so any clarification would be much appreciated.

Thank you

 

[IBoughtASupra]

You do your own taxes? Call up a local accountant, they would definitely know.

We used to do our own taxes but since we got the shop/franchise, we have our accountant who deals with that stuff along with other major companies.

Don't fool around on taxes, it's not worth the hassel.

 

[honestabe]

Yes I do my own taxes. I usually use TurboTax online. Up until now I've only had to deal with 10-40EZ forms. If nobody knows for sure I'll ring up a local accountant to see what they say.

 

[suprahero]

Abe, that .55 cents a mile is only a deduction. You take that off of what you were paid, and apply that to your standard deduction. It'll tell you how much you should have been cut for taxes. If you overpaid then you'll get that back in a refund.


The online tax programs will figure it out for you if you know your mileage.

 

[honestabe]

Ah, I figured as much. I've never dealt with something like this before.

 

[Supracentral]

For further clarification. A deduction is simply that, a deduction off of your total tax liability.

If that were a tax credit you could get back more than you paid. Since it's only a deduction it will subtract from what you owe, down to $0 but not lower.

However, remember it is deducted from your total tax liability. So, for example, if you paid $4000 in taxes, but are due a $2000 refund, you could still get an additional $2000 in deductions to get down to $0 and you'd get a $4000 refund. You could not however, get more than $4000 unless you have tax credits on top of deductions.