Mileage guide
Home office to first client: document the facts before classifying
By FlatMile ·
General US federal recordkeeping information, not individual tax advice. Tax treatment depends on your circumstances; consult a qualified adviser for your claim.
At a glance
A trip from home to a first client needs more than a business label in an app. Whether the home qualifies as a principal place of business is an important fact in the IRS transportation rules. Prepare the home-office facts and the journey evidence before deciding how to treat those miles.
This worksheet is for a discussion with your tax preparer. It does not establish that your home office qualifies or that an individual home-to-client journey is deductible.
Describe how the home is actually used
IRS Topic 509 explains business use of a home, including regular and exclusive use and principal-place-of-business considerations. Publication 463 connects a qualifying principal place of business in the home with transportation to another work location in the same trade or business.
Write a factual description instead of a conclusion such as “I work from home, so all trips count.” Explain which space you use, what activities you perform there, how often you use it and where else you perform substantial business work. Keep distinct any activities belonging to another business or an employment role.
Opening email at the kitchen table before driving out does not, by itself, answer the principal-place-of-business question. Equally, a short travel distance does not resolve the issue. The underlying work arrangement needs to be assessed.
A fictional worksheet for the preparer
Sam is a self-employed equipment technician who starts a Tuesday at home, visits Client Q and later attends a workshop. Sam records facts without making a deduction claim:
| Question | Sam's factual note |
|---|---|
| Home work | Scheduling, invoicing and parts ordering in a specified room |
| Use of that space | Frequency and any personal use to be described honestly |
| Other regular location | Workshop used for repairs; schedule supplied separately |
| First journey | Home to Client Q, 14.2 miles, service appointment Q-81 |
| Later journey | Client Q to workshop, 6.8 miles, return equipment |
| Open question | How the home and workshop affect treatment of the first leg |
The two journeys total 21.0 recorded miles. Sam does not describe all 21.0 as deductible merely because both appear on a working day. The preparer can review each leg with the work-location facts rather than trying to infer them from a map.
Keep the journey evidence usable
Save the appointment or job reference, date, destination, distance and purpose. Record a personal stop separately if one occurred. If the route is uncertain, state the uncertainty and retain available evidence instead of reconstructing an exact-looking number from memory.
Do not erase an unresolved trip from the log. Put it in a review list so it remains part of the vehicle's total use. An unresolved classification and a missing journey are different problems; the former can be reviewed, while the latter obscures the overall record.
Revisit the assessment when the arrangement changes
Tell your preparer if you start using a rented office, change how the home space is used, or begin a second line of business. Keep the effective dates. A previous year's conclusion should not silently carry over to materially different facts.
After receiving advice, retain the explanation with the year's records and apply it consistently to comparable journeys. Ask about exceptions rather than assuming the same answer covers every site, job or temporary assignment.
The commuting versus business mileage guide provides the broader distinction. Use this page for the narrower evidence question: what must your preparer know about the home and the first client journey to evaluate it responsibly?