# Tax write-off question (car insurence) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-write-off-question-car-insurence/499130 "2009-06-08T19:08:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![satoridt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@satoridt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/satoridt)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-write-off-question-car-insurence/499130/1 "2009-06-08T19:08:18Z")
I currently have pretty basic car insurance (because I’m poor), but my job sometimes requires me to drive participants in my personal vehicle. There is a certain, minimum level of insurance required. $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and property damage coverage in amounts not less than $25,000. Because this is a work required expense, can I write off my car insurance on my taxes? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-write-off-question-car-insurence/499130/2 "2009-06-08T19:16:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Can I deduct the cost of my auto insurance premiums from my income taxes? > > You cannot deduct your automobile insurance premiums if your car is only for personal use. > > However, if you use your car for business, you may be able to deduct the business portion of your annual premiums. > > You also may be able to deduct some of the cost if your employer requires you to use your own car on the job and does not reimburse you. [http://moneycentral.msn.com/quickref/quickref.asp?cat=10&qamode=2&reftype=0&selcat=8&sub=1&topic=2](http://moneycentral.msn.com/quickref/quickref.asp?cat=10&qamode=2&reftype=0&selcat=8&sub=1&topic=2) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-write-off-question-car-insurence/499130/3 "2009-06-08T19:23:36Z")
> [@satoridt](#): > > I currently have pretty basic car insurance (because I’m poor), but my job sometimes requires me to drive participants in my personal vehicle. There is a certain, minimum level of insurance required. $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and property damage coverage in amounts not less than $25,000. Because this is a work required expense, can I write off my car insurance on my taxes? I don’t know about auto insurance in specific - but unreimbursed business-related expenses in general _can_ be deducted. However, they have to exceed a certain percentage of your income. 2%, according to **[http://www.bankrate.com/finance/money-guides/business-expenses-that-benefit-you.aspx](http://www.bankrate.com/finance/money-guides/business-expenses-that-benefit-you.aspx)**. So if you earn 50,000 a year, the expense would have to exceed 1000 a year. And it’s apparently only useful if you itemize (the link didn’t mention whether there was any provision for such expenses for folks who don’t itemize). If you do wind up doing this, keep good documentation of what your premium would be with and without the required liability figures, and a hard copy of the work policy that states you have to have that limit. That said: 30,000 etc. are not especially high limits (my own job requires 300,000 in coverage); do they really exceed whatever state-mandated liability insurance you must carry? And, it’s possible the IRS, on audit, would disallow most of the deduction using the argument that, say, 90% of your driving was done for personal reasons, so only 10% of that premium difference would really apply as a business expense. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-write-off-question-car-insurence/499130/4 "2009-06-08T20:55:37Z")
Business use of a personal vehicle is potentially deductible. You have a choice of deducting actual expenses (including insurance) multiplied by business miles divided by total miles (i.e. a pretty small percentage for most people) or the standard mileage rates (55 cents/mile currently). As an employee, these are limited to the amount over 2% of AGI and listed with other itemized deductions. For most people, there’s no real deduction. I do not see that an extra insurance rider would change the default situation. The extra rider would just be added to your actual expenses. My recommendation is to request that your company reimburse you either for the insurance cost or based on the mileage rate. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tax-write-off-question-car-insurence/499130/5 "2009-06-08T21:05:21Z")
Ditto everything that Dracoi said.