Mileage reimbursement question

[Anonymous]

I've been with my nanny family for 2 years and they've always been great about reimbursing me for mileage. Yesterday my boss asked to drop her daughter off at my house on her way to work. We had never done this before and I assumed I'd get mileage for driving her back to her house. Then I wrote the mileage for the day in our log. This morning MB told me she didn't think it was fair that I charged her mileage for the trip to their house because I normally have to drive to their house anyway. In the past with families they've always paid me whenever their child was in my car. What do you all think is fair?

[Anonymous]

Did you make an additional trip to your employer's house as a result of the request? Or would you have made that trip anyway as your regular commute, and it just so happened that you had the child with you this time?

If the former (this required an EXTRA trip to and from your employer's house) then I would reimburse you. If the latter - you only had your regular commute, then I would not expect to reimburse you.

[Anonymous]

So you drove your normal commute one day, one way with the child whom the parent dropped at your house (presumably because they had an early hours work obligation ot child appointment) and you want to charge them a few bucks for your commute?

Tacky. You seem pretty unhappy with the family or job to be attempting that.

[Anonymous]

Stick to your guns, fight for that $1, and I hope your MB nickel and dimes the shit out of you from now on until you quit.

[Anonymous]

She already nickles and dimes me and ALWAYS takes advantage of any kindness I show her. It's not convenient for me to have her daughter at my house and the only reason she wants that is to save herself 30 minutes of paying me. This isn't a habit I want to encourage her with.

[Anonymous]

MB deserves a better nanny than you, why don't you just quit?

[Anonymous]

Legally, you cannot be reimbursed for your commute mileage tax free.

[Anonymous]

Actually legally you can. My husband gets reimbursed for his commute to a job site from our home all the time. They don't ask him to subtract the 14 miles he usually drives to work. In my opinion doing otherwise is nickle and diming. If a nanny wants her charges at her house it's for her benefit not the kids. For me there is no benefit. I guess I'll tell her from now on that she isn't allowed to drop her daughter off and she'll pay me more for the extra 30 minutes than the mileage I'd get anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually legally you can. My husband gets reimbursed for his commute to a job site from our home all the time. They don't ask him to subtract the 14 miles he usually drives to work. In my opinion doing otherwise is nickle and diming. If a nanny wants her charges at her house it's for her benefit not the kids. For me there is no benefit. I guess I'll tell her from now on that she isn't allowed to drop her daughter off and she'll pay me more for the extra 30 minutes than the mileage I'd get anyway.

:slowclap:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually legally you can. My husband gets reimbursed for his commute to a job site from our home all the time. They don't ask him to subtract the 14 miles he usually drives to work. In my opinion doing otherwise is nickle and diming. If a nanny wants her charges at her house it's for her benefit not the kids. For me there is no benefit. I guess I'll tell her from now on that she isn't allowed to drop her daughter off and she'll pay me more for the extra 30 minutes than the mileage I'd get anyway.

Stop being a nanny. Just stop. You sound craptasticly awful. Citing your husbands sales or driving in the field job mileage is irrelevant.

Just tell her you will arrive 15 or 30 mins early on days they so need that. Do you prefer that solution or have more complaints?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually legally you can. My husband gets reimbursed for his commute to a job site from our home all the time. They don't ask him to subtract the 14 miles he usually drives to work. In my opinion doing otherwise is nickle and diming. If a nanny wants her charges at her house it's for her benefit not the kids. For me there is no benefit. I guess I'll tell her from now on that she isn't allowed to drop her daughter off and she'll pay me more for the extra 30 minutes than the mileage I'd get anyway.

Then your husband is technically taking an illegal tax deduction unless he is paying income tax on the reimbursement for those 14 miles. Here's a link to the IRS publication: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch04.html

Note that commuting mileage is not deductible (either as a direct expense or as part of the standard mileage reimbursement) even, specifically, if you working during the commute.

[Anonymous]

Pp here. Just to correct myself, if your husband is driving to a temporary job site, it may in fact be allowed. But if it's his regular and only site, it is clearly not.

[Anonymous]

The bigger problem is that the employer is making you watch her kid for 30 minutes without paying you. Forget the mileage -- get paid for the time that you are watching the kid at your house. I think that's ridiculous. (But agree with the others that it's ridiculous of you to argue over the mileage for your regular commute.)

[Anonymous]

If you have an otherwise excellent relationship with this family, I wouldn't make too much of a big deal about this.

Sure, you did drive her own child back to her house even if you were going to drive there anyway on your own.

I would honestly let this go, it isn't worth risking a good working relationship for.

I know principle is very important but this is a little nit picky to me. It's not like you provided free labor or anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bigger problem is that the employer is making you watch her kid for 30 minutes without paying you. Forget the mileage -- get paid for the time that you are watching the kid at your house. I think that's ridiculous. (But agree with the others that it's ridiculous of you to argue over the mileage for your regular commute.)

I assume the minute the mom left the nanny was on the clock. Why assume otherwise?
We don't even know how often this happens or why. All we know is that OP want 56 cents a mile for that mornings commute.