Dell complaints

[saravalentino5]

do you claim your Qualxserv driving miles on your yearly taxes? If so how much do you normally get? sorry just started looking for the ball park figures to see what am in for.

[100pcob]

Without a doubt, you can deduct un-reimbursed employee mileage expenses (and you will have a lot of them, since Qualxserv is uber-cheap and doesn't reimburse anything below 35 miles between calls). You can be reimbursed the standard mileage rate by using IRS form 2106 or 2106-EZ, then itemizing your taxes on 1040 Schedule A.

From home to FedEx is not reimbursable; FedEx is considered your "permanent office", since you must always go there to pick up parts. However, all other mileage is deductible off of form 2106.

If you start your own business and start performing personal-client work on the side, deduct that mileage off of 1040 Schedule C. Keep the two separate. Start a spreadsheet and keep account of mileage between sites.

[diashto]

Not exactly true... if you do work at home (print your calls, make your appointments, map your route), then go to the "office" to do work, you can deduct that milage too.. at least, that's how it was explained to me.

[100pcob]

Publication 463 at irs.gov will cover all of this. This is the most valuable item for figuring out common and valuable business and employee deductions. Most mileage questions are answered on page 14.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

The FedEx hub is Qualxserv's regional office. The employee's personal home isn't the address on the parts boxes; it is the FedEx hub. That means an employee's house is not the "main office" for his employee expenses (including mileage). Commuting to the FedEx "office" is a 100% non-deductible commuting expense, but is frequently misinterpreted and abused by field techs (if every employee in America could deduct their commuting expense, then the IRS would never see a dime of money).

Printing out work orders at home means you can deduct the costs of paper, toner, ink, new printer, etc. as a non-reimbursed employee expense (keep the receipts)...but you are still doing it from home, not an official Qualxserv office space.

The situation could be a lot worse. If Dell shipped the parts directly to the EU's and you had no permanent QXS (fedex hub) office, then none of the driving during the day would be deductible . Page 14 again:

[saravalentino5]

ok 100pcob
i did what you told me to do an i researched the 2106 form and i got this http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2106.pdf is that the one you use for just yearly millage reimbursement or do you use this one http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2106ez.pdf thanks alot for all you informative help.The proses seems fairly easy after receiving your tips and i wana say that i also would of added my miles to the FEDEX and to home from the last call of the day as part of my mileage thanks for the heads up about not being allowed to do that.

[diashto]

couldn't you call it a home office, then deduct the milage going to your "main office" from the "Home office"?

[100pcob]

Saying "it's complicated" is an understatement.

However, if someone creates a business, creates a physical home office, and does personal client work "on the side", then yes, he can deduct mileage from his "home office" to a temporary work location (or to his main employee job, aka fedex).

The big rule is that he must have a physical office at his house....basically his "commute" consists of walking down a few flights of stairs, or outside to a modified barn or shed (this is a common situation and many people take advantage of this rule. My lawyer has a modified two-story barn in his backyard with heating, electricity, etc. and he uses this as his home office, complete with secretary...he even has an onsite notary public officer during the day). All investments to the structure like electrical, contractor, etc would be deductible off of 1040 Schedule C.

The biggest rule of all: The home office must be dedicated EXCLUSIVELY to the business; putting a pool table, sofa and flat screen TV in the same basement room/office is extremely frowned upon by the IRS. Setting up an office can be as simple as two cubicle dividers along a corner of the basement, with a table and laser printer. Physically isolating it from the rest of the house is a good idea.

So to conclude, if he creates his own business, creates a home office, starts filing 1040 schedule C along with his 2106, and 'commutes' (walks) to his home office every day before going to FedEx, all of his mileage should be deductible. But if he stays an employee, and doesn't file schedule C, he is only an employee, and his home-to-fedex drive is not deductible.

Remember that the IRS doesn't care about ratting you out to your employer (Qualxserv); they just want to make sure you're following their rules (and paying them what they want)