I have a small business in my home. I recently purchased advertising on my vehicle. Can I claim a portion of my car payment as a tax deduction since it's being used as advertising?

Thanks

My thinking would be 'no', because you will have claimed the cost of the advertising itself. It would be hard to justify to the tax cops why you should get a further exemption for having it on your car.

I'm assuming you keep a little notebook in your glove compartment to keep track of business use, and then claim mileage as a business expense.

You can actually either write off a portion of the car expenses....or write off the mileage for trips related to your business.

If you use your car in your job or business and you use it only for that purpose, you may deduct its entire cost of operation. However, if you use the car for both business and personal purposes, you may deduct only the cost of its business use.

You can generally figure the amount of your deductible car expense using one of two methods: the standard mileage rate method or the actual expense method.

To use the standard mileage rate for a car you own, you must choose to use it in the first year the car is available for use in your business. Then, in later years, you can choose to use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses. However, for a car you lease, you must use the standard mileage rate method for the entire lease period.

To use the actual expense method, you must determine what it actually cost to operate the car for business purposes. Include gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration fees, licenses, and depreciation (or lease payments) attributable to business miles driven.

Other car expenses for parking fees, and tolls attributable to business use are separately deductible, whether you use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses.

Complete information can be found at
irs.gov/taxtopics