Mileage reimbursement

[TONERINMYNOSE]

I have a question about mileage for gentleman (and ladies?), as is with most companies, our service guys get a mileage reimbursement for using their vehicles, they get 40 cents per mile, they log their miles to and from calls, we have 3 technicians, 2 of them live close to the office and start there day by reporting to the shop everyday at 8am when we open, from there they are dispatched to their calls. One of our techs live 25 miles west of the office where a high concentration of our clients are, as a result we dispatch him from his house to his first call, he logs the mileage between his home to his first call. The owner of our company removed 30 dollars from his reimbursement check this week stating that it is unfair to log the miles between his house and his first call because that is "just like driving to work". I disagree with this statement, as service manager i feel that by dispatching him from his house rather than have him drive 25 miles east to the office only to go west again, is a savings to the company in that if he left from the office it would cost the owner extra money. Am i in the wrong here?

[djdan73]

no i agree with you whole heartly however if i was the tech i would start reporting to the office everyday and let them dispatch me from there everyday and let them realizehow much more money it is costing the company. i bet after a while the owner would realize it was cheaper for the company to do what they was doing from the begining

[JSC]

All our engineers that run their own cars (including myself), have their homes classed as their "office" so we get paid mileage not only from home to our 1st call, but also get paid mileage from our last call back to home, and obviously all other calls inbetween. Our engineers live between 10 to 80miles form the company office and all engineers get treated the same.

[zed255]

We consider home to first call and last call to home as business. We don't report to the office and are dispatched to our calls directly via the BB's.

[nmfaxman]

I had a boss tell me the same thing, so I added a mile here and there over the pay period to compensate.
He never knew the differance.

[smostyn]

$30??? You have got to be kidding me? That $30 that your boss took, will now cost him 10x that in unhappy staff at least.

If I was the tech, I would be looking for work where I would be appreciated. but then, maybe that is what youe boss is trying to get your tech to do?

[Jules Winfield]

Believe me because I speak from experience, once the owner starts to nickel and dime the technicians for any ridiculous reason he can come up with, start looking for another job. Copier techs aren't usually paid that well in the first place, at least when compared to sales. If your company is actively looking for ways to pay you less, that means that they do not appreciate you and probably see your position in general as a necessary evil. This is just the beginning of a violent downward spiral....

[ddude]

I would guess that the reason was because of IRS, not because of the boss wanting $30.00-according to IRS acounting rules, mileage to/from first and last calls cannot be reimbursed as a business expense. This is common practice in most businesses, you should not be getting reimbursed by your company to or from first and last, if you are, and if the IRS audits, it could be uncomfortable for the technician, since it would be the technician that would be responsible for paying for this oversite. Most savvy companies find a work-around, a grey area that is satisfactory for all.

[KMnyafayce]

The owner of our company removed 30 dollars from his reimbursement check this week stating that it is unfair to log the miles between his house and his first call because that is "just like driving to work".

By Federal Law, If you are in the United States, You cannot claim commuting mileage on your taxes and therefore if you get mileage reimbursement you can't get reimbursed for the miles you drive to the center of your territory. What i suggest ALL compines to do is this:

1. Find out the center of the bulk of your clients for that technician.
2. Find out the mileage from the technicians home to that spot on the map.
3. Have the technician start counting the mileage from home and to home when he gets there.
4. Deduct a round trip everyday

Other noteworthy things is this:

If the tech goes to his/her territory everyday, (i.e. doesn't start first at the shop everyday) He legally should be able to claim his mileage to the office because it's NOT considered commuting. If he/she does it more than twice a week, be careful to do that because the IRS might consider it commuting. 40 cents is usually NOT the federal reimbursement rate, Have the tech take charge of his/hers own mileage log and advise them to claim the REST of the amount on their taxes. They of course can't claim ALL of it since the company reimburses them for mileage. BTW, 40 cpm for in-company mileage is HIGH! I get 35, Most companies Me and friends in the business have worked at is around 28 to 32 cpm, this being in Chattanooga and the surrounding area.

Hope this helps.

[krish]

Ask your engineer to make a claim that he is coming to office first and from office he is going to customer place. Your owner cannot reject engineers claim. Some companies are like that only. They won't see how much they are gaining by your service guy's act.

[Hemlock]

I was responsible for the first & last 15 miles of each day at my last dealership, everything else was business. Except for the paltry 33 cents per mile, it seemed to work out for the best.

But nmfaxman is right; the tech is going to find a way to even it out. Padding mileage reports, longer lunches, selling random parts/toner on ebay. It ain't right but, if you piss all over your techs, it happens.

[mo0651]

Always loved this topic at our old shop. Boss got slammed because he thought .35/mile was great. Mileage reimbursement is Federal standard Right now .51/mile. Big discrepancy on what your business owner pays and what he can right off! Hmmmm.......... Business expense gets full right off. If tech could claim on taxes, they have to be able to itemize. Then if they can they can only claim what is more than the 2% of adjusted gross income. .40/mile wont cover gas, maint, tires and insurance on that vehicle. I enjoy when they say that amount is very good.

[jonezy999]

I get reimbursed a flat rate each week, tax free on top of my standard wage, plus a tool allowance. Also here in Oz, if you drive a one-tonner, which i do, there is no requirement for a log book to record mileage for tax purposes, just need receipts for fuel, servicing, tyres ect.

[JR2ALTA]

Always loved this topic at our old shop. Boss got slammed because he thought .35/mile was great. Mileage reimbursement is Federal standard Right now .51/mile. Big discrepancy on what your business owner pays and what he can right off! Hmmmm.......... Business expense gets full right off. If tech could claim on taxes, they have to be able to itemize. Then if they can they can only claim what is more than the 2% of adjusted gross income. .40/mile wont cover gas, maint, tires and insurance on that vehicle. I enjoy when they say that amount is very good.

I got 35 cents, it was a lot more than what I paid for gas.

A 10 gallon tank at 3 bucks a gallon is 30 bucks a fill up.

.35 cents at 20 mpg is 70 bucks.

Plus, like you said, you can write off the difference. For me it was 17,000 miles x 16 cents. It helped quite a bit.

[sarah.ryan125]

Re: Mileage reimbursement

Hi all,

I think krish is right. One should be aware about all such factors to overcome from these conditions.
By using GPS Mileage Logger which identifies each trip destination address as well as complete mileage Log at the time of driving will helps a lot. Satlogix offers complete and accurate GPS Mileage Tracker with the simplest solution to track mileage log which makes mileage reimbursement easy.