Not sure how to keep your mileage log? We’ve got some useful pieces of information regarding the best mileage logging techniques and even a recommendation for the best mileage tracker app.
Who needs a mileage log?
To monitor the distance traveled for business purposes, individuals and organizations frequently use a mileage log for tax purposes. This is so that people and businesses can deduct from their taxes the expenditures associated with driving their personal or corporate automobiles for work-related activities, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
A mileage journal can be used to track these costs and provide documentation for tax purposes. A mileage log may also be used by various businesses or professions, including salesmen, real estate agents, and truck drivers, to keep track of their daily activities and business costs.
How to keep track of mileage for taxes
You can use a mileage log or an app that assists you in tracking the miles traveled for charity, medical, or commercial purposes to keep track of mileage for tax purposes. The steps of tracking mileage for taxes are as follows:
- Beginning with the first business-related journey, start tracking your miles.
- Record the date, the distance traveled between the beginning and ending points, and the reason for each business trip.
- Keep track of any parking or toll expenses you make while traveling (the standard mileage rate does not include these expenses, so you’ll need to add these to your mileage tax return claim if you wish to deduct these expenditures as well)
- Any vehicle-related costs, such as gas, repairs, or maintenance, should be documented with receipts.
- Any miles traveled for therapeutic or charity objectives should be tracked separately.
Keep all the documents and receipts in a secure location.
What features are the most essential in a mileage tracker app?
Depending on the user’s demands, the most crucial functions of a mileage tracker app might change, however some typical ones include:
- Automated Tracking: Using GPS or other location-based services, it is possible to track journeys and miles travelled automatically.
- User-Friendly Interface: A simple interface that makes it simple to record and classify trips.
- Trip Purpose Classification: The capability of classifying trips as philanthropic, business, or medical, and switching between them with ease (MileageWise does this automatically)
- Real-time mileage updates allow you to keep track of your progress toward a target and monitor your total mileage in real-time.
- Integration with Other Tools: To make the spending tracking process more efficient, integration with other tools like calendars, maps, or accounting software is highly use.
- Measures taken to protect the privacy and security of personal and financial data are known as data security.
- Reporting: The capacity to produce tax-related reports, particularly those that contain the IRS-mandated standard mileage rate.
- The ability to use the app on various devices and have data synchronized between them is known as multi-device compatibility.
- Customer support is available for users who need help using the app or have any other questions.
Editor’s Choice for mileage tracker app: MileageWise
MileageWise might just be the top mileage tracker as it’s fully capable of fulfilling the factors mentioned above. Its 3+1 automatic trip recording modes give you the opportunity to customize your trip recordings to your liking.
Furthermore, MileageWise is highly innovative among other mileage tracking solutions as the user is able to create 100% IRS-proof mileage logs retrospectively for past years as well.
Besides that, the user is also able to convert their trips recorded by Google Maps Timeline to an IRS-proof mileage log, complying with all IRS criteria.
On top of these, MileageWise has a Concierge Service, which rebuilds the user’s past mileage logs using AI-powered technology – none of its competitors is capable of doing that.
You can give MileageWise a try to see how you like it for 14 days for completely free – no credit card needed.