Please note: the IRS has increased scrutiny of employee business expenses–specifically business miles. So to verify the business miles you drove during a tax year, it’s important you know how the IRS defines business miles for a professional athlete and how to document your legitimate business miles.
Here’s what the IRS considers to be legitimate, deductible business miles or an athlete:
• Any unreimbursed miles driven for training purposes (both off-season and during the season)
• Travel to and from a practice facility other than your game arena
• Travel to and from the airport for road trips and to training camp and back after the season
Keep track of your business miles in a mileage log to verify the legitimate purpose of each trip. It’s also a good idea to have your car professionally serviced at the beginning and end of each year to make sure you have documentation of the total miles you drove that year.
ALAN POGROSZEWSKI is an Assistant Professor of Sports Studies at St. John Fisher College and the President of his own tax consulting business whose clientele include professional athletes performing services on three separate continents. Prior to accepting his position at St. John Fisher College, Mr. Pogroszewski was the Vice President of Business Operations for Sports Consulting Group, a firm that specializes in the representation of professional hockey players. Mr. Pogroszewski received his M.B.A. from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1996 and his M.S. in Taxation from St. John Fisher in 2003