Tax Return

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

We'll be waiting.

With bated breath.

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by Andy

First of all, I would highly recommend contacting a tax professional for the absolute best information on this subject.

Some of the things that I track are:

- mileage to and from assignments (minus anything you are reimbursed for)
- cost of uniforms and supplies
- cleaning of uniforms
- any dues/assignor fees that you pay
- any officiating related subscriptions (ie Referee Magazine)
- any camp fees
- lodging you pay for while attending camps
- cost of any officiating related insurance that you purchase
- meals eaten to or from assignments (this gets tricky as to what qualifies)
- If you do any contests for free (ie Special Olympics), that could be
considered a charitable donation

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

You can deduct mileage even when reimbursed, just be sure to include the reimbursement in your income.
Note that not every area reimburses the full rate or even all the miles.

Here, we're given an extra $2 per trip within town, and you can be sure I'm not going to skip deducting a 15 mile trip in return for a $2 stipend.

Originally Posted by Welpe

This is how my tax pro does it as well. She adds any mileage reimbursement as part of my officiating income and I then deduct all mileage.

I don't personally bother deducting things like meals (unless for an overnight clinic, camp), cell phone, internet or even basic laundry costs. I like to keep things simple.

I will deduct:

-Local/State Dues
-NASO Membership fees (listed as insurance on the Schedule C)
-Assigner's fees
-Mileage-Uniforms / equipment
-Tailoring expenses
-Clinic fees and related lodging and meals
-Any volunteer assignments such as Special Olympics

As a friendly reminder, be sure to claim all officiating income, not just what you receiver a 1099 for.

I've been deducting mileage to and from games for all these years, but, an article in the Oct magazine has me a thinkin:

The article, written by "An enrolled agent licensed by the IRS and Official", he writes, "If you do not go to work at your regular work location, but go from home to the game, those miles are not deductible. Ouch! Your trip home is also not deductible. Another ouch!"

He states if you go from work to a game, "Only the miles from your office or place of employment are counted as business miles."

"It is a Saturday (a day off from your regular job) and you head to the game, none of these miles are business miles."

He further states, that if officiating is your only job, you can count all the mileage to and from games.

While it may not amount to much really, according to this article, I may have been doing it wrong for all these yrs.....

PS - I'm a changin my name.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by grunewar

I've been deducting mileage to and from games for all these years, but, an article in the October magazine has me a thinking: The article, written by "An enrolled agent licensed by the IRS and Official", he writes, "If you do not go to work at your regular work location, but go from home to the game, those miles are not deductible. Ouch! Your trip home is also not deductible. Another ouch!" He states if you go from work to a game, "Only the miles from your office or place of employment are counted as business miles.""It is a Saturday (a day off from your regular job) and you head to the game, none of these miles are business miles." He further states, that if officiating is your only job, you can count all the mileage to and from games. While it may not amount to much really, according to this article, I may have been doing it wrong for all these years.

I've heard the same thing.

For many, many years, I have given my round trip officiating miles to my accountant. I know that he uses those miles as a business expense, along with dues, uniform, etc. I also pay into Social Security on my tax return for my officiating income. I'm pretty sure that there are not too many officials who pay into Social Security, so grunewar's post is not going to make me feel guilty.

On the other hand, when a judge rules, "Guilty", then my accountant is going to be joining me "up the river", and we'll both be wearing horizontal stripes, which are not as slimming as the vertical stripes I wear as an official.

[dsqrddgd909]

Originally Posted by grunewar

I've been deducting mileage to and from games for all these years, but, an article in the Oct magazine has me a thinkin:

The article, written by "An enrolled agent licensed by the IRS and Official", he writes, "If you do not go to work at your regular work location, but go from home to the game, those miles are not deductible. Ouch! Your trip home is also not deductible. Another ouch!"

He states if you go from work to a game, "Only the miles from your office or place of employment are counted as business miles."

"It is a Saturday (a day off from your regular job) and you head to the game, none of these miles are business miles."

He further states, that if officiating is your only job, you can count all the mileage to and from games.

While it may not amount to much really, according to this article, I may have been doing it wrong for all these yrs.....

PS - I'm a changin my name.

Perhaps I'm oversimplifying, but aren't most of us independent contractors?
We're not employees.

"Two places of work. If you work at two places in one day, whether or not for the same employer, you can deduct the expense of getting from one workplace to the other. However, if for some personal reason you do not go directly from one location to the other, you cannot deduct more than the amount it would have cost you to go directly from the first location to the second.
Transportation expenses you have in going between home and a part-time job on a day off from your main job are commuting expenses. You cannot deduct them." http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463...blink100033930

I file Schedule C, Profit or Loss from Business, Sole Proprietorship.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by dsqrddgd909

"Two places of work. If you work at two places in one day, whether or not for the same employer, you can deduct the expense of getting from one workplace to the other. However, if for some personal reason you do not go directly from one location to the other, you cannot deduct more than the amount it would have cost you to go directly from the first location to the second. Transportation expenses you have in going between home and a part-time job on a day off from your main job are commuting expenses. You cannot deduct them."

Killjoy.

[Welpe]

Grune, I read that same article and ran it by my tax person. She is an enrolled agent also and also worked for the IRS and even trained their auditors. She disagrees with the article because the mileage under officiating is not for another job but is considered a business expense as an independent contractor.

I'm not changing anything, and once again, Referee magazine puts out incorrect information.

[grunewar]

Guess IRS Agents are just like Lawyers......if you don't like the answer you're hearing from one, keep asking others until you hear the answer you want.

[Camron Rust]

I think the point of this issue is that the miles in any given day driven to/from your home (to your workplace) are considered commuting miles and not a business expense....you're going to/from work like anyone else and such miles are not deductible. The miles driven during the work day...after you've started work until you've finished work, are what is deductible.

I think salesmen often make their first and last stops of the day near their home to maximize deductible mileage.

[Altor]

I didn't read the article. Is there a change to the tax code this year?

This is the logic I've always used to deduct mileage to/from game sites using the 2010 IRS publications:

Publication 463

Office in the home.
If you have an office in your home that qualifies as a principal place of business, you can deduct your daily transportation costs between your home and another work location in the same trade or business. (See Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home, for information on determining if your home office qualifies as a principal place of business.)

Publication 587

Your home office will qualify as your principal place of business if you meet the following requirements.
· You use it exclusively and regularly for administrative or management activities of your trade or business.
· You have no other fixed location where you conduct substantial administrative or management activities of your trade or business.

Also, Examples 1 and 2 that begin at the bottom of page 4 would seem to apply to officials.

[Drizzle]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I think the point of this issue is that the miles in any given day driven to/from your home (to your workplace) are considered commuting miles and not a business expense....you're going to/from work like anyone else and such miles are not deductible. The miles driven during the work day...after you've started work until you've finished work, are what is deductible.

I think salesmen often make their first and last stops of the day near their home to maximize deductible mileage.

This is how I do it. Being an independent contractor does not mean your commuting miles are deductible, so you do not include going to/from your home. However, people like myself with day jobs can take the mileage from my workplace to the game.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Drizzle

This is how I do it. Being an independent contractor does not mean your commuting miles are deductible, so you do not include going to/from your home. However, people like myself with day jobs can take the mileage from my workplace to the game.

My tax professional disagrees.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Altor

Also, Examples 1 and 2 that begin at the bottom of page 4 would seem to apply to officials.

There is one VERY important element in both of those examples...

She has an office in her home that she uses exclusively and regularly to...

It appears that fact that you do administrative task, phone calls, etc. at at home isn't enough to qualify for a home office. You must have an office space (room) that you use exclusively for job related work...nothing else....the same requirements needed for claiming a home office deduction.

[The_Rookie]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Grune, I read that same article and ran it by my tax person. She is an enrolled agent also and also worked for the IRS and even trained their auditors. She disagrees with the article because the mileage under officiating is not for another job but is considered a business expense as an independent contractor.
.

I am a CPA by trade and agree with this logic and understanding. The bottom line is that people can't deduct mileage when going from their home to their place of business but seeing that we are not employees and running our own biz as "Contractors", then its a Biz deduction...Just my POV

[The_Rookie]

Originally Posted by The_Rookie

I am a CPA by trade and agree with this logic and understanding. The bottom line is that people can't deduct mileage when going from their home to their place of business but seeing that we are not employees and running our own biz as "Contractors", then its a Biz deduction...Just my POV

One more thing..When driving to the gym..we are going to the client's location..not our place of biz or our office.

[Welpe]

Thanks for chiming in, Rookie. This disagreement between professionals in the field is one reason why I am pretty conservative overall with my deductions and do not deduct anything for phone, internet use or meals that don't involve overnight trips for officiating and things like that. I don't even deduct laundry. I figure there's no point in drawing any extra attention to myself.