Remember Mel Practess, the attorney you met last month who came out ahead by using his wife’s car for business?

Once Mel and Sharpe, his wife, started using both cars, they had 73.7 percent business use of each car.1 Before their agreement to switch cars every week, Mel drove one car and achieved 93.3 percent business use.

If you are single and have two or more vehicles, you likely come out ahead by using all vehicles for business. Why? Let’s look at an example.

Jim has three cars with the following basis for depreciation:

$50,000 for vehicle 1

$33,000 for vehicle 2

$27,000 for vehicle 3

If Jim drives only vehicle 1 for business, the most he could deduct for depreciation would be $50,000. But if he drives all three, the most he could deduct would be $110,000.

You get the idea.

Now, let’s get into some of the rules.

Depreciating the Former Personal Vehicle

When you convert a personal vehicle to business use, the law sees you as placing the vehicle in service in your business at that time. That means on that placed-in-service date, you can begin ... Log in to view full article.