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Taxes


HOW TO KEEP TRACK OF MILEAGE FOR TAXES

Marin Perez

April 22, 2019

If you use a personal car for business purposes, you could be in for a large
write-off with the mileage deduction at the end of the year. The mileage
deduction can put thousands of dollars back in your pocket but be sure you know
how to keep track of mileage for taxes.


HOW TO KEEP TRACK OF MILEAGE FOR TAXES: WHAT'S REQUIRED

The IRS has a few audit red flags for tax returns. The mileage deduction does
receive some scrutiny because many people like to abuse it. If you ever have to
face an IRS audit, you'll want to have a mileage log that meets the IRS'
requirements.  The IRS says your mileage log must include:

 * Your mileage
 * Dates of your business trips
 * Places you drove for business, and
 * The business purpose for your trips


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The IRS also requires you to record the odometer readings only at the beginning
or end of the year. Note: you don't have to include an odometer reading for
every single trip. The IRS will also want to know all your business, commuting
and personal drives.  

The best way to keep track of mileage for taxes is to have a contemporaneous
mileage log. That means the records are created each day you drive or soon
after. Recreating a mileage log once you learn you're being audited won't fly
with the IRS.  

For many years, a paper mileage log was how to keep track of mileage for taxes.
Remembering to log your trips required a lot of discipline because you'd have to
write down every start and stop of your journey, as well as all the other needed
information.  

The problem is that, well, people are human beings. You always start with good
intentions and log miles, but then life gets in the way. It's tough to remember
to write down miles if you're running late, if you've just come off a fight with
a loved one or even if there's a great song playing as you're parking.


OLD FASHION LOG BOOKS ARE SO YESTERDAY

A paper mileage log doesn't offer much security either. If you lose that log,
your miles are gone.  As computers and GPS technology emerged, tracking mileage
for taxes became a little easier. An Excel spreadsheet with all the required
information - as long as it's generated contemporaneously - is generally
considered acceptable.  But this also represents problems. Most using these
methods wind up logging their miles twice: writing in the paper log and then
inputting in a computer later. That's a lot of time devoted to busy work instead
of to growing your business or enjoying your life.


THERE'S A BETTER WAY

A mileage tracking app like MileIQ is an easy answer for how to keep track of
mileage for taxes. It creates an automatic and contemporaneous mileage log for
all of your drives.  It saves those records securely in the cloud, so you never
have to worry about losing it. Additionally, those records can be pulled up or
printed out years later if you ever have to face an IRS audit.

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