<prompt> Human: Ive been tracking my on-the-clock mileage this year as I understand you can file it on your taxes and receive a reimbursement. How does that work? Does the govt just cut me a huge check for my miles x 0.54? Am I literally going to receive 0.54 in cashcheck for every work-related mile I drove in 2016? Second question: Out of curiosity, where does the money come from? Other taxpayers? Does it come out of the taxes my employer pays?Assistant: The mileage tax rebate works just like every other tax rebate. The government wont write you a check for .54mile what it will do is reduce your taxable income for the year. For example say you made 50K, and you have 5K in mileage write offs. You taxable income will now be reduced from 50K to 45K and you will get a rebate for the tax you paid on that 5k. As for where it comes from, it doesnt come from other tax payers it is just a reduction in the amount of tax withholding you paid in throughout the year. Human: Interesting. So just to clarify, heres a simple scenario:Employee drives personal vehicle for work-related purposes 1,000 miles during 2016. 1,000 x 0.54 is 540When filing taxes, employee ends up owing 1,000 in taxes.However, the 540 mileage reimbursement means that instead of owing the IRS 1,000, the employee will actually owe 460.Correct?EDIT: terrible mathThis is confusing  <response>: No that is not correct, first of all that math is wrong it would be 540. Second of all you dont directly deduct that amount from your tax bill, you deduct it from your gross income. It isnt a tax rebate, it is a deduction. Those are different, I would suggest you ask a local tax prep professional in your area for assistance with this because misfiling your taxes, even if it was an accident is a serious situation. 