Hi folks, I do home based part-time consulting in addition to my full time job. While doing my taxes I realized that I can deduct the mileage spent going to Bank, Post Office, Client’s Office and Hardware Store. I didn’t not log my miles every time I got in and out of the car but my bank deposit proves my travel to the bank, my credit card purchases prove my travel to hardware store and my PO BOX proves that I had to go to post office to pickup the mail.
Is that enough proof to deduct my 700 miles for business errands for past year ?
My total number of miles for the year is about 9500 miles which out of that 3500 is for commuting to my full time job office.
I keep reading that IRS scrutinizes mileage deductions and it’s a well known red flag. Is it even worth taking the 0 deduction here, especially that I didn’t keep a detailed daily log and my only proofs are what I listed above?
I understand that each trip needs to be logged and proved. Can this log be created at the end of the year using the transaction information from Credit Card, Bank Account and online map to see the miles traveled ? Or does it HAVE to be logged on the same day of the trip.

I own two rental properties & want to form an LLC. Is this enough homes to do this? They’re not worth but about 50k each. Is the IRS extremely picky when it comes to deducting part of your home to "manage" your business (in this case, an LLC)? I have a friend that works in sales, like me, and this friend does it every year (although, from a moral perspective, I think it’s wrong… they have a lot of personal belongings in their "office.") Any help is appreciated.

By what percentage will forming an LLC reduce my tax rate?

I know nothing about taxes, as my wife is an accountant (she thinks the idea of setting an area of our house as "office space" is a red flag to IRS).

I have had a direct sales business/hobby for the past 5 years. The first year I had it, I claimed the income and expenses as a business on a schedule C and claimed a loss (I was expecting to run it as a business). The next year, I realized I was spending more money than I was making and claimed it on my personal taxes as misc income (not for profit) and equal amount losses (IRSmaximum) as deductions and have now done this for the past 3 years. This past year, I have been working harder at making it a more "for-profit" buisness. I feel I should be doing a Schedule C, but will this be a red flag for the IRS? My husband also has a hobby on the side that we also listed as misc income with equal losses on our 1040 but he is making more money as well (he received a 1099-misc with income in box 7). How will this look to the IRS, if we now have 2 schedule C’s for businesses we were only claiming as hobbies for the past 3 years?

Thank you in advance for your advice!
Yes, looking at things now, I probably should have keeped a schedule C (I didn’t realized I could extend the loss to profit years), unfortunately it is too late . No, I do not keep an inventory for my direct sales.

This is like the first time I’ve done my own taxes. I just started a small business earlier this year. So do I just leave line 41 in the negative on the 1040 individual income tax return? Is this going to cause a red flag to go up in the irs office? I’ve got proof to back my figures so I guess I shouldn’t worry………..right? (biting lip)