Originally Posted by
tonyrocks922
I don't see how. If a company is reimbursing mileage for a road trip it's not their business if the employee buys, leases, or rents the car they use.
Mileage reimbursement is to reimburse you for the estimated cost of driving your own car for a business purpose, which is depreciation+maintenance+fuel. If you rent a car, you only pay for the rental and fuel, so your reimbursement should be for the rental and fuel. An expense report where you claim expenses that are without a doubt higher than reality is fraudulent (a "side gig" to put it nicely).
It's no different than if you needed to fly there, so you submit an expense report for full fare Y but in reality buy a cheap ticket -- fraud.
Would you consider it fraud if the employee was driving a car they got as a gift?
No, because driving the car on a business trip (as opposed to sitting in your driveway going nowhere) depreciates its value, uses fuel, and increases maintenance costs. Your gifted car is now worth less because of the business trip, thus perfectly fine to claim mileage on that.
Of course, if the car was gifted to you by your employer, that is a different story.
