Ask Dr ElJay (or DeeDub?)

[feuervogel]

Car-related: I had an oil change done a few weeks ago, and they didn't charge me for synthetic oil, so I assume they used 'regular.' Despite the sticker on my engine that says "only use synthetic oil of this particular variety." Will this affect my car in a negative way? For those of you who don't know, my car is a 2005 Mini Cooper S (about to hit 50k miles).

Other:

Can I write my cell phone off as a work-related expense? It's not required for my job, but I use it as my primary telephone contact number, and I periodically send email from my phone (using my mobile data plan.) I don't know what the applicable tax law is, or if there's some sort of percentage-based guideline.

Comments

[luckykitty.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I don't imagine it'd be easy. I think if you were audited they could check your traffic records and etc, but in reality, lots of people write off stuff they technically shouldn't and get away with it all the time.

[thesmallwonder.livejournal.com]

For phones it's easier to enforce, since cell phones record what calls you make, and it'd be pretty easy to discover if you were making non-work related calls.

[feuervogel]

That there's a good point.