From:  Michelle
Date:  Thu, 25 Mar 2010
Subject:  Mileage

If you are an employee for a construction company and you are sent to different “temporary work location” job sites daily, can you deduct the mileage from your home to the work location? Does the “shop/office” qualify as a permanent work base even though you never actually report to the shop/office?

Is a 60-mile commute each way outside your “metrpolitan area”?

Answer

Date:  9 Apr 2010

Hello Michelle,

It sounds like you are referring to Publication 463, page 14, which is a good reference. (You can get it at the IRS web site, www.irs.gov.)

If you never go to the shop or office, I suggest that you don’t have a regular place of work. See the section on “no regular place of work.”

You can deduct the cost of transportation between your home and a temporary work site outside your metropolitan area.

The metropolitan area includes the area within the city limits and the suburbs that are considered part of that metropolitan area. That is a question of fact for different communities. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is much larger than that for Modesto. You might try asking the city offices for your city about the boundaries for its metropolitan area.

Good luck!

Mike Gray

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