Tax Question

[scrounge]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

I believe you are incorrect unless you are employed by the school you're working at. Since officials are generally not - this is not "another place of employment" - it is a cost of doing business for an independent contractor.

No, it's correct. It's not actually a place of employment that's relevant here, it's that the school is a 'temporary work site'. That's the distinction, not the employee/contractor status. Trips from home to work - be it work as an employee, contractor, etc - are not deductible. That's just going to work, commuting, normal course of business stuff. But going from one work site to another, whether it's for business or for work as an official, is deductible. It's a departure from your normal work-to-home pattern and is being done for work reasons, so it's a deductible expense.

If you were to travel from your office to a plant and that's not something you routinely do, that mileage would also be deductible if unreimbursed. Same principle - unrelated to employee status.