Reimbursement of Mileage Expense

The company can reimburse its employees for the expense of driving on company business, pursuant to the IRS rules regarding mileage reimbursement. We reimburse according to the published IRS mileage reimbursement rate (currently $.58 cents per mile) which is changed by the IRS annually (and sometimes more often in unusual circumstances).

The IRS allows for reimbursement for driving on company business from the store to other destinations and back, but it does not allow for reimbursement for driving from home to work and back.

New estate buyers are not reimbursed for driving to any of our buy offices when they are assigned to work there, whether for a day or multiple days, because it is part of the training portion of the job to rotate between locations and they are not yet permanently assigned to any location.

Other estate buyers who are permanently posted in one location and drive to another location during the workday can be reimbursed for that mileage. However, if you are asked to work in a different location for the day and you drive straight to that location from home, and it is further away from your home than the location where you are permanently posted, you may request reimbursement only for the difference in mileage from home to your permanent location and from home to the different location.

Similarly, if you go straight home from the different location, you can only be reimbursed for the difference in mileage from your permanent location to home and from the different location to home.

When estate buyers are rotated through the Old Town office for training as a normal part of their schedule, mileage cannot be reimbursed.

If estate buyers are asked to work in Old Town to cover for another buyer who is out sick or on PTO, and it is further away from your home than the location where you are permanently posted, you may request reimbursement only for the difference in mileage from home to your permanent location and from home to Old Town.

We have determined the mileage between our locations and we will reimburse these flat rates for those trips between locations:

Solana Beach

• 19.37 mi OT to SB
• 19.37 mi SB to OT
• Round trip = 38.74 mi

Rancho Bernardo

• 23.13 mi OT to RB
• 22.21 mi RB to OT
• Round trip = 45.34 mi

La Mesa

• 14.9 mi OT to LM
• 13.8 mi LM to OT
• Round trip = 28.7 mi

Oceanside

• 35.13 mi OT to OS
• 34.16 mi OS to OT
• Round trip = 69.29

Mileage is an expense for the company and is deductible from taxes. In order to deduct it, we have to have accurate records of mileage. If we are audited and don’t have records, we will have to pay back-taxes and penalties on all of the mileage reimbursements, and they will become taxable income to the recipients as well.

Therefore, all employees desiring to be reimbursed for mileage must submit a mileage log with their request for reimbursement. It must include date, beginning odometer reading, ending odometer reading, total miles driven, destination, and business purpose of the trip.

The Accounting Department has a mileage log form that you can use to keep track of all the info you will need for reimbursement. There is a paper form to use or an electronic form that will calculate the math for you. The electronic form must be printed out and signed; it cannot be submitted by email.

When you have mileage to be reimbursed, turn in your completed mileage form to your supervisor for approval. If approved, the supervisor forwards to the Accounts Payable Department in Accounting. AP will reimburse mileage through payroll unless otherwise requested. No taxes are taken out of the reimbursement even though it goes through payroll. Mileage reimbursement requests must be submitted by the end of the month in which the mileage was driven.

If you choose to use your personal car for company errands be aware that your insurance company will be covering any accidents as the primary insurer, and our insurance will cover only as a secondary insurer.

Employees are not allowed to use other employees’ cars for company errands. If you don’t have your own transportation, then you can’t go.

If you drive a company-owned vehicle for approved errands, the company pays for the fuel for the vehicle but does not reimburse the driver for any mileage expense. Fuel is purchased using a company gas card or petty cash.

You must be listed with our insurance company in order to drive the company vehicle. Please see the HR Director (Neil) if you need to drive the vehicle. HR Dir is the keeper of the company car keys.