HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC RES 04-074RESOLUTION NO. 04-74
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT,
CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT FOR CITY
EMPLOYEES AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL.
WHEREAS, the City Council and City Employees are encouraged, and sometimes even
required, to attend social functions, political activities and various types of meetings throughout
the Coachella Valley and the various parts of the State of California;
WHEREAS, the City Council has decided to reimburse City Council members and City
Employees for their attendance and participation in the various activities they may attend as a
representative of the City;
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California, does
RESOLVE as follows:
SECTION 1. City Council members and City Employees shall be reimburse for mileage
driven for City events, meetings, etc. at the current I.R.S. rate in each calendar year.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 24th day of June, 2004, at a duly noticed
meeting of the Palm Desert City Council, by the following vote, to wit:
AYES; BENSON, CRITES, FERGUSON, KELLY, SPIEGEL
NOES: NONE
ABSTAIN: NONE
ABSENT: NONE
ROBERT A. SPIEGEL
ATTEST:
RAC LEHEL D. KLASSEN, CLTY CLERK
City of Palm Desert, California
2004 Standard Mileage Rates Set — 800,000 More Businesses Eligible Page 1 of 2
RESOLUTION NO. 04-74
Internal Revenue Service IRS.gov
The Newsroom
2004 Standard Mileage Rates Set — 800,000 More Businesses Eligible
IR-2003-121, Oct. 15, 2003
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today released the optional standard
mileage rates to use for 2004 in computing the deductible costs of operating an automobile
for business, charitable, medical or moving expense purposes.
To reduce a recordkeeping burden, the IRS also announced that taxpayers who use no more
than four vehicles at the same time for business purposes may use the standard mileage
rate, starting in 2004. Currently, those using more than one vehicle at a time cannot use the
standard rate at all, leaving them to track the actual expenses for each vehicle.
"With this change, more than 800,000 businesses will become eligible to use the standard
mileage rate," said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. "This reflects our ongoing interest in
reducing the burden for businesses to comply with the tax laws."
Although many taxpayers may still claim actual vehicle expenses for various reasons, the IRS
estimates that small businesses will save 8-10 million hours a year in recordkeeping with this
expansion of the standard rate option.
A taxpayer may not use the standard mileage rate for a vehicle after using any depreciation
method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS), after claiming a
Section 179 deduction for that vehicle, or for any vehicle used for hire.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2004, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans,
pickups, or panel trucks) will be:
• 37.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven, up from 36 cents a mile in 2003;
• 14 cents a mile when computing deductible medical or moving expenses, up from 12
cents a mile in 2003; and
• 14 cents a mile when giving services to a charitable organization.
Members of Congress welcomed the change.
Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and
Entrepreneurship, said, "I applaud the IRS for adopting this simplification measure for small
businesses. This change will allow certain small businesses to put a stop to the time-
consuming, costly and inconvenient practice of maintaining detailed paper records and,
instead, use a simpler, standard mileage rate for business travel expenses when preparing
their taxes. The IRS is providing the kind of relief that small business owners critically need:
relief that allows them to cut the time spent complying with tax laws while expanding the time
left over to do what they do best, namely running their businesses and creating critical jobs
for this economy."
Rep. Don Manzullo of Illinois, chairman of the House Small Business Committee, said,
"These changes by the Internal Revenue Service will provide additional needed tax relief to
our struggling small businesses so they can once again lead us to recovery. More than
800,000 small businesses will benefit from these changes. In addition to the tax reductions,
they will save eight to 10 million hours a year in record -keeping burdens so that they can now
focus on their businesses. I congratulate IRS Commissioner Everson for his leadership in
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0„id=114320,00.html 6/15/2004