Tag Archives: IRS standard mileage rate

The IRS 2011 Mileage Rate: Medical Miles

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You may think the IRS 2011 mileage rate doesn’t apply to you because you don’t drive your car for your company.  There are a few intricacies of the tax rules that aren’t widely known, so it’s worth finding out what they are in case you can save money on your 2011 taxes.  Here are a few things hardly anyone knows about the IRS mileaage rate:

If You Drive Anywhere For Medical Care, its’ Deductible

Let’s say you drive a few times a week for dialysis.  Well those miles are deductible at the IRS 2011 mileage rate, which is 19 cents per mile.  So if you drive round trip thirty miles twice a week, that’s 60 miles per week.

60 miles = $11.40

$11.40 x 52 weeks = $592.80

You can deduct $592.80 off your tax income and it has nothing to do with work.  How may people out there are driving themselves or a dependent to medical care every week and don’t know about the IRS 2011 mileage rate?  What’s nice about it also is that the IRS 201o mileage rate was only $16.5 per mile.  The increase for 2011 was a pretty big jump.

On top of that, you can also deduct the tolls and parking for those trips.

 

The IRS Mileage Rate for 2012

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The IRS mileage rate for 2012 will stay at the raised rate of 55.5 cents per mile.  The business mileage rate was raised in the middle of 2011 and will stay at that elevated rate, according to the IRS.

Raising the IRS mileage rate in the middle of a tax year is unusual, but 2011′s higher gas prices prompted the IRS to bump it up a few cents.  For the first half of 2011, the IRS business mileage rate was 51 cents per mile.

People who drive for a business can deduct the cost when it comes time to do taxes.  If the driving was for business related activities, then the IRS mileage rate will be important in calculating those deductions.

Other IRS Mileage Rates

Other IRS mileage rates are set for medical driving and also driving for moving purposes.  These rates are much lower.  These IRS mileage rates actually went down by 5 cents.  The business mileage rates for moving or medical purposes is now 23 cents per mile.

There is another business-related driving deduction allowed by the IRS, and that’s for charitable purposes.  A business that has people doing driving related to charitable work, the IRS mileage rate is 14 cents per mile.  That figure is unchanged from 2011.

2011 IRS Mileage Rate

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If you are doing your taxes right now for the year 2011, you may be using the standard mileage rate if you operated a vehicle for business, charity, or for medical or moving purposes.  Use the rate for 2011, even though it’s 2012 when you may be figuring your taxes.

The 2011 IRS mileage rate actually changed mid year:

  1. for business miles driven January 1 to June 20, 2011 it’s $.51
  2. for business miles driven July 1 to December 31 2011 it’s $.555

For medical or moving driving expenses the rates were:

  1. January 1 to June 20, 2011 it’s $.23
  2. July 1 to December 31 2011 it’s $.19

For miles driven for a charity there was no change:

  1. January 1 to June 20, 2011 it’s $.14
  2. July 1 to December 31 2011 it’s $.14

In fact, the 2011 IRS mileage rate for charity driving is the same as has been for many years…unchanged in relation to the standard of living increase.

Rules for 2011 IRS Mileage Rate

You can deduct the mileage if you are an independent contractor or even if you have two jobs and have to drive directly from one to the other.  Bet you didn’t know that.  You can’t deduct the miles you drive from home to the first job but you can deduct the miles you drive between jobs.

Deductible business miles also include miles you drive while looking for a job.  Drive to an interview?  Deduct it.  Job fair?  Drive and deduct it.  The job you are seeking must be in the same field as the job you are leaving, that’s the only rule.  You would use the 2011 IRS mileage rate used for business miles.