IRS Publication 334 — Tax Guide for Small Business (Schedule C)

• Visiting clients or customers.

• Going to a business meeting away from your regular workplace.

• Getting from your home to a temporary workplace when you have one or more regular places of work. These temporary workplaces can be either within the area of your tax home or outside that area. Local business transportation does not include expenses you have while traveling away from home overnight. Those expenses are deductible as travel expenses and are discussed later under Travel and Meals. However, if you use your car while traveling away from home overnight, use the rules in this section to figure your car expense deduction. Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work is located.

Example. You operate a printing business out of rented office space. You use your van to deliver completed jobs to your customers. You can deduct the cost of round-trip transportation between your customers and your print shop.

You can’t deduct the costs of driving your car or truck between your home and your main or regular workplace. These costs are personal commuting expenses. Office in the home. Your workplace can be your home if you have an office in your home that qualifies as your principal place of business. For more information, see Business Use of Your Home, later.

Example. You are a graphic designer. You operate your business out of your home. Your home qualifies as your principal place of business. You occasionally have to drive to your clients to deliver your completed work. You can deduct the cost of the round -trip transportation between your home and your clients. Methods for Deducting Car and Truck Expenses For local transportation or overnight travel by car or truck, you can generally use one of the following methods to figure your expenses.

• Standard mileage rate.

• Actual expenses.

Standard mileage rate. You may be able to use the standard mileage rate to figure the deductible costs of operating your car, van, pickup, or panel truck for business purposes. The business standard mileage rate for 2025 is 70 cents a mile.

CAUTION !

If you choose to use the standard mileage rate for a year, you can’t deduct your actual expenses for that year except for business -related parking fees and tolls. However, you may be able to take a deduction for interest paid on a car loan even if you use the standard mileage rate. See Vehicle interest, later. Choosing the standard mileage rate. If you want to use the standard mileage rate for a car or truck you own, you must choose to use it in the first year the car is available for use in your business. In later years, you can choose to use either the standard mileage rate or actual expenses. If you choose to use the standard mileage rate for a car you lease, you must use it for the entire lease period (including renewals). Standard mileage rate not allowed. You can’t use the standard mileage rate if you:

1. Operate five or more cars at the same time;

2. Claimed a depreciation deduction using any method other than straight line, for example, Accelerated Cost Recovery System (ACRS) or Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS);

3. Claimed a section 179 deduction on the car;

4. Claimed the special depreciation allowance on the car;

5. Claimed actual car expenses for a car you leased; or

6. Are a rural mail carrier who received a qualified reimbursement. Vehicle interest. You may be able to take a deduction for interest paid on a car loan even if you use the standard mileage rate. See Interest on car loans, later. Parking fees and tolls. In addition to using the standard mileage rate, you can deduct any business -related parking fees and tolls. (Parking fees you pay to park your car at your place of work are nondeductible commuting expenses.)

Actual expenses. If you do not choose to use the standard mileage rate, you may be able to deduct your actual car or truck expenses.

If you qualify to use both methods, figure your deduction both ways to see which gives you a larger deduction.

Actual car expenses include the costs of the following items.

Depreciation Lease payments Registration Garage rent Licenses Repairs Gas Oil Tires Insurance Parking fees Tolls If you use your vehicle for both business and personal purposes, you must divide your expenses between business and personal use. You can divide your expenses based on the miles driven for each purpose. CAUTION !

TIP Publication 334 (2025) Chapter 8 Business Expenses 35