Track your business mileage the easy way

What to log

• The date of the trip.
• The miles driven.
• Where you went.
• The business purpose: a client meeting, a supply run, a showing.

What usually doesn't count

Driving from home to your regular office or shop is commuting. Trips from that workplace to a client, or between job sites, usually do count. If you work from a home office, the rules can be different; your accountant can tell you how they apply.

Let an app do it

Mileage apps run in the background on your phone and let you swipe each trip as business or personal. At the end of the year you export the log for your accountant. Most cost less than a tank of gas a year.

Standard rate or actual costs?

There are two ways to claim car costs: a per-mile rate set by the IRS each year, or a share of actual costs like fuel, repairs and insurance. Your accountant picks the better one. Either way, the log is what makes it work.