how do you charge mileage?

I was just wondering what the standard practice is for mileage. Do you charge it only one direction, or round trip? Do you charge it from home, or from the studio?

example. going to do a senior portrait in a near by town. the school is 35 miles from home, but its 25 miles from the studio.

do you charge mileage on 25 miles, 35 miles, 50 miles or 70 miles?

As with most business, mileage are charge from where your make your HOMEBASE for business.

im not talking about taxes, im talking about what you charge the client. I should have mentioned that in the first post, sorry.

and im mostly interested if I charge the distance x 1 or x 2

I guess I never did for photo. I charged full day (900 or 1200 or 1800) or half day (600 or 900 or 1200), dependent on usage. (you cant do 2 half days in a day.) PR crap was cheapest, annual reports are highest, all others are the middle rate. whatever the usage, there's enough built in to include local travel.

long travel, like flights, are billed at half the day rate.

silly to bill someone $6 for driving across town. miles should be in your rate, like answering emails. tolls could be added as reimbursable expenses.

I include 50 'free' miles because I can't be bothered to nickle & dime the client. In your case it would be from the studio.

so for those that charged mileage instead of day rates, you would bill for the entire distance driven from the studio?

Thats understandable about the free 50 miles, Ill probably incorporate something like that.

I charge a flat $150 for out of town residents, covers meals too because we're usually there a day.

Town over is 300 kms away, and back again.
also covers an assistant

msfvirginia wrote in post #10499506
so for those that charged mileage instead of day rates, you would bill for the entire distance driven from the studio?

Thats understandable about the free 50 miles, Ill probably incorporate something like that.

Standard practice (when you charge miles) is to charge from point of origin (your studio, home, etc.; this location should not change) to the point of business. If you charge from studio to a park 20 miles away, you have to drive back too. 40 miles. GSA mileage rate is something like $0.55/mile right now. 40 miles x $0.55/mile = $22

PhotosGuy wrote in post #10499225
I include 50 'free' miles because I can't be bothered to nickle & dime the client. In your case it would be from the studio.

You still need to keep track of mileage for tax purposes.

Mark

Even better to have a car (of similar value to your personal ride) just for business. That way you can write off the lease payment (or depreciate the buy), all repairs, all gas, etc. Screw milage log hassles.

This is a stretch from the original post, but I used to lease a car for my biz, have the biz take great care of it (tires, detailing, etc.), then sell it to myself at the end of the lease, and lease another new one. Previous owner took great care of it!

You really should not be "charging" for mileage. It should be part of what you are offering in your price so that anything within 20 miles of your office is covered in your normal price, anything beyond up to XX miles away is $XX more.

It really can go many directions, but I think you got your answer. I use the same vehicle for business and personal use. But the personal use is so small (ie groceries, bank, church) that I can still use it's depreciated value on my taxes. I started off charging for all travel, then relaized how funny I felt telling the client "add $6.50 for gas." So now in town has a set rate, out of town has specific rates.

I think Ill set a certain amount for each town around me. This area is pretty rural, but there are a whole bunch of cities around us in all directions. Even got some major ones 5 hours away in a few directions.

So how did you come up with your flat rate to each town? Do you change it when gas prices have changed a fair bit?

I dont really want to charge $20 to go to a town thats 20 minutes from my studio. But thats using the math of 55 cents per mile, 20 miles in each direction - $22. But then again time is money. And if I were to go to one of those 5 hour away cities, the mileage would be 55 cents x 300 miles x 2 = $330 when the actual gas cost for me would be around $60, but I know the mileage covers depreciation. If I were to charge $330 to go to that city, then they would probably hire someone more local and I would loose out on the portrait sales.

Stuff to consider, fun.

I do this part time and we have 3 cars plus a motorcycle, I have to keep track of all the business miles used by each vehicle. I try and work travel costs into the package price, but if asked I go up to 60 miles with out charging. I mostly keep track of miles driven for tax reasons, it's write off for me. I can't justify the cost of a car dedicated to just photography yet.

Mark

snails wrote in post #10499969
Standard practice (when you charge miles) is to charge from point of origin (your studio, home, etc.; this location should not change) to the point of business. If you charge from studio to a park 20 miles away, you have to drive back too. 40 miles. GSA mileage rate is something like $0.55/mile right now. 40 miles x $0.55/mile = $22

It was 58.5 cents/mile in 2008. Went to 55 in 2009 and is now 50.