I would MUCH rather take the deduction and have it eventually be disallowed and

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Feb 26, 2024
1:44:12pm

Skeptical Optimist Political Junky

pay a fine or back taxes than let the IRS goons scare me into never taking deductions that I'm legally entitled to.

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Skeptical Optimist

Previous username: workindev
Bio page: Skeptical Optimist
Joined: Aug 2, 2006
Last login: Jan 6, 2025
Total posts: 85,402 (4,534 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

I'm a little surprised how few people take the charitable mileage deduction for

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 11:53am

Giving more taxes is the least I can do. If anything, I want to pay more.

Sparkling Delirium

2/26/24 11:55am

RE: Giving more taxes is the least I can do. If anything, I want to pay more.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 11:58am

You live 25 miles from the church building? Dang. But good reminder.

garyfan

2/26/24 11:57am

even if people calculated it most won't exceed the standard deductions anyway

Mayor of Cougartown

2/26/24 11:57am

I would assume that most active LDS Members itemize their deductions because

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 11:59am

Seriously, I've never taken the standard deduction in 25+ years of filing taxes. Tithing, property tax, state tax, and

Colorado

2/26/24 12:14pm

That was me until we paid off the house and retired. Kids are gone. Deductions

O Gaucho

2/26/24 1:01pm

I remember when my parents took the standard deduction for the first time in many decades. It happens.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 1:04pm

lol wut? I haven’t taken the standard deduction in decades.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 11:59am

awesome, but you're an outlier.

Mayor of Cougartown

2/26/24 12:02pm

Itemizing your deductions doesn’t make you a target for an audit. It’s way more common than you think.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:06pm

I'd run that by a tax accountant. I've very much heard the opposite including

Mayor of Cougartown

2/26/24 12:13pm

The biggest factor in who gets audited is income. Higher incomes are more likely to itemize, but the data doesn’t really

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:18pm

Pfff not on this board

EQD2

2/26/24 12:14pm

In 2017 the standard deduction increased from $13K to $24K for Married FIling Jointly, and is currently at $27.7K, so

Clark Addison

2/26/24 12:08pm

I’m aware. It’s still around 15% of returns that itemize. Paying tithing gets you a good chunk of the way there.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:12pm

$10k for SALT taxes, mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and medical

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 12:14pm

Exactly.

Jeremy

2/26/24 12:33pm

The last time I tried to track this, I found I was wasting a lot of time trying to manage when/where/what.

Bob Vance

2/26/24 11:58am

I would feel very comfortable ball-parking this at the end of the year.

garyfan

2/26/24 12:00pm

As long as you have documentation to support it.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:05pm

Doesn’t seem that hard to count the trips to activities and special events. That will cover 90% of the miles it seems.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:01pm

Talked with an accountant about this. If you ever got audited, they likely will

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 12:01pm

It’s dumb to let the IRS scare you away from claiming deductions that you are entitled to.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:04pm

or a stupid accountant

Incentivize

2/26/24 2:38pm

I would fire that accountant.

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 12:11pm

What do you think is adequate documentation? A word file you made at the end of

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 12:15pm

The IRS tells us exactly what adequate documentation is.

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 12:55pm

Well, good luck to you (and I still question the 13,000 miles)

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 1:43pm

Husband and wife driving independently to various things- 13k seems reasonable

cheezedawg

2/26/24 2:03pm

No, I came up with half of that using the sum total of what he explicitly listed

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 2:14pm

Sunday's will usually have 1-2 trips to the church between stake meetings, ward

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 2:42pm

Again, if there is a personal benefit, you can't claim it. Mission prep? If you

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 2:47pm

And that's why I would fire that accountant

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 2:56pm

The “personal benefit” that this accountant seems to be referring to is that you are required to subtract the monetary

cheezedawg

2/26/24 3:25pm

It's absurd, but Aggie is right. If you are driving somewhere to do some

garyfan

2/26/24 4:03pm

This seems easy. Mileage to Sunday services is not deductible because, as you point out, that is not mileage for charity

cheezedawg

2/26/24 5:48pm

That accountant sucks.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 3:11pm

This - doesn’t seem worth the potential audit headache

Swish

2/26/24 1:35pm

Take the deduction. Itemizing deductions including this one doesn’t even make this list of top 12 things that increase

cheezedawg

2/26/24 1:40pm

I would MUCH rather take the deduction and have it eventually be disallowed and

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 1:44pm

Good call. Trek and girls camp alone for us was almost 800 miles in a two week

Mexicougazul

2/26/24 12:02pm

I have a ton of church meetings... but live only 1.6 miles from the church building. 🙁

brj8

2/26/24 12:02pm

That was a long walk to humble brag you are in a bishopric.

Longseason

2/26/24 12:03pm

I did this for my service missionary daughter.

BPintheCouv

2/26/24 12:04pm

Sometimes you make too much money to get deductions

2FarGone

2/26/24 12:22pm

There is no income limit to charitable deductions

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