Use of State Vehicles (Personal, Work/Commuter Miles)

Policy Approve By
Dr. Dean O. Stenehjem, Superintendent
Policy Date (original policy date)
Revised (date text was last updated)
Policy Category
Personnel

POLICY & PROCEDURE: 
SUBJECT: Use of State Vehicles (Personal, Work/Commuter Miles)

POLICY: 

Establish use of State vehicles with a clear and concise procedure to assist each person assigned a vehicle in determining work and commuter related miles.

A. PERSONAL USE

There is to be no personal use of a State owned vehicle except as outlined in section B (1–4).

B. COMMUTER MILES 

1. Based out of WSSB or a regional/school office: Commuter miles are all miles to and from your home to WSSB or the regional/school office each workday:

  • Daily commute miles need to be written into your daily mileage log and submitted each month to the Business Office. This mileage is computed at the current state rate per mile, and is considered income.

2. Home based itinerant staff:

  • Itinerant staff that are stationed out of their home do not have to claim commuter miles when their home is also their office. 

3. Beginning work day:

  • If you operate from a home based office, your work day begins when you leave your home.
  • If WSSB/regional/school district based office, your work day begins at your regularly scheduled/assigned time.

4. Service delivery area:

  • Outreach staff hired or assigned to a location after April 30, 2006 will be requested to live within the greatest concentration of service delivery area. If a decision is made to live outside of this area a determination as to commuter miles will be made in consultation with the Director of Outreach Services.

5. Cars assigned to home or picked up daily at WSSB: 

  • If a person’s first work site is not typically between their home and the school, then the employee needs to pick up a car at WSSB. Their work day begins when they arrive at WSSB each day and ends when they return to WSSB each day.

The IRS has provisions for calculating personal use of a State/company owned vehicle. There are three IRS methods for calculating the value of personal use (commuter miles) which must be reported through the payroll process as ordinary taxable income.

  1. General Valuation Rule
  2. Cents-per-mile Rule
  3. Commuting Rule