Have you guys ever claimed your miles( for taxes) while on call during fellowship?

[tartesos]

Is this doable?
My accountant is being iffy about it and if this is ok to do I've lost a lot of money.
I live 12 miles away and we do home call, sometimes we have to do several trips in a night.

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[Hernandez]

If you're only on W2 income then yeah probably can't. If you have some moonlighting on 1099 or self employed those those of deductions are easier.

If you have to go in multiple times a night of call. I'd rather stay at the hospital personally.

 

[chessknt]

In addition how many miles are you actually taking about? Even if you drove 2000 miles, which is about 7 round trips per month, you are still only looking at a deduction of about ~$1000 to your income which saves you about $200 ish on taxes at the expense of having to have mileage records of every single trip (ie odometer reading, date, and time). Not worth it IMO, even if you could figure out a way to swing it on a W2.

 

[Captopril]

One of the senior fellows at my program lives about 15 mi from campus...he basically said that if he gets even one call to come in during home call, he stays at the hospital just to avoid multiple trips however unlikely it would be. You might wanna consider doing the same going forward.

 

[gutonc]

Is this doable?
My accountant is being iffy about it and if this is ok to do I've lost a lot of money.
I live 12 miles away and we do home call, sometimes we have to do several trips in a night.

You cannot deduct mileage to and from your home and primary place(s) of employment. This counts for going in when you're on call, going to one of the various hospitals you rotate at, etc.

You can deduct mileage going from one work site to another though. So if you are on service at hospital A, and have to got to hospital B for clinic or a consult, that's a legit deduction. But, as pointed out above, way more trouble to document than it's worth.

I get reimbursed for mileage while on weekend call (we cover 7 hospitals in a ~500 square mile area) but the documentation is enough of a hassle that I only do it about half the time. There's no way in hell I'd bother to do it for just a tax deduction.

 

[tartesos]

I usually stay if I get called after 11 and depending on how the Er board looks, and I ask the residents if they had a sign out of a sick one( this is not reliable most of the times....).
I do have some 1099 job that I claim miles from though, was just wondering if anyone here has done it for fellowship...

 

[gutonc]

I usually stay if I get called after 11 and depending on how the Er board looks, and I ask the residents if they had a sign out of a sick one( this is not reliable most of the times....).
I do have some 1099 job that I claim miles from though, was just wondering if anyone here has done it for fellowship...

If anybody has, they've committed tax fraud.

Never compromise your integrity for < $1 million. Tax fraud to save a couple hundred bucks is just stupid.

 

[redy]

If anybody has, they've committed tax fraud.

Never compromise your integrity for < $1 million. Tax fraud to save a couple hundred bucks is just stupid.

Ha ha ha...funny how you set a price on integrity. Probably true for many people.

 

[gutonc]

Ha ha ha...funny how you set a price on integrity. Probably true for many people.

I learned it from a guy I worked for when I was in high school. I've adjusted for inflation.

$1M is in no way F*** You money. But it's enough to decamp to a sweet pad in Costa Rica until the Statute of Limitations expires.

 

[tartesos]

I learned it from a guy I worked for when I was in high school. I've adjusted for inflation.

$1M is in no way F*** You money. But it's enough to decamp to a sweet pad in Costa Rica until the Statute of Limitations expires.

Awesome!!
I'm going to use that one.

I only claim my 1099 miles. It's an hr away( 110 miles 2way).

Thanks for you all your help guys, and the good laugh.