Mileage to a Second Workplace

Q: I am a part-time minister with a full-time secular job. Since my ministry position is not my fulltime job, can I get reimbursed for my mileage to the church?

A: Possibly, but it depends on whether you are traveling from your home or another place of employment.

According to IRS regulations, transportation expenses include:

• Getting from one workplace to another in the course of your business or profession.
• Visiting clients or customers.
• Going to a business meeting away from your regular workplace.
• Getting from your home to a temporary workplace when you have at least one regular
  place of work.

To determine if transportation expenses can be reimbursed by an employer, there are several factors to consider: The location of your workplace, where you are traveling from, whether your work location is temporary or permanent, and whether you are traveling away from your home.

Let’s discuss some of these factors.

If you have two different employers, or two different job sites for the same employer, you can deduct (or get reimbursed for) transportation costs of traveling from one workplace to another. However, IRS regulations state that commuting is not a deductible business expense, and therefore, cannot be reimbursed by the church. Commuting (whether by auto, bus, trolley, subway, or taxi) is defined in the regulation as traveling between your home and your normal place of business, no matter how far you have to travel.

Whether you are traveling from home to your primary job, or from your home to your part-time job, commuting is always a personal expense and should not be reimbursed by  our employer. Even if you work during your commute, you cannot deduct (or get reimbursed) for commuting expenses. If your primary place of work is at location A, but your employer wants you to work at location B for the next 5 days, the cost of traveling to location B is deductible (or reimbursable). This includes the cost of traveling from location A to location B, or from home to location B. Because location B is a temporary work location, the IRS allows a deduction for traveling from home to the work location. As defined by the IRS, a temporary work location must only last one year or less.

Chapter 4 in IRS Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses, has more detailed information on deductible transportation expenses.

Important note: This article only addresses travel within your local city or the general area of your workplace; the IRS refers to this as transportation expenses. Different rules apply if you are traveling away from your home overnight, which the IRS refers to as travel expenses.