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Mileage Tracking Guide

Everything you need to know about tracking business mileage for tax deductions.

2025 IRS Mileage Rate: $0.70/mile

For every business mile you drive, you can deduct $0.70 from your taxable income. If you drive 500 miles/month for business, that's $350/month ($4,200/year) in deductions.

Most freelancers don't track mileage and lose thousands in deductions every year.

What Counts as Business Mileage?

✅ Business miles (deductible):

  • Driving to meet clients
  • Going to the post office to ship client work
  • Picking up office supplies
  • Attending conferences or networking events
  • Traveling between multiple work locations in one day
  • Going to the bank for business transactions

❌ Personal miles (NOT deductible):

  • Commuting from home to your regular office
  • Personal errands unrelated to business
  • Driving to get lunch for yourself (not a client meeting)
  • Vacation travel

Note: If you work from home (no regular office), driving to meet clients IS deductible since you don't have a commute.

Automatic Mileage Tracking

Receipt.help uses your phone's GPS to automatically detect trips. You simply swipe to categorize each trip as business or personal.

Setup:

  1. Go to Settings → Mileage
  2. Toggle "Automatic Tracking" ON
  3. Grant location permissions ("Always" for background tracking)
  4. Receipt.help will now detect drives automatically

Daily workflow:

  1. At end of day, open Mileage tab
  2. Swipe right on business trips (turns green)
  3. Swipe left on personal trips (removed from log)
  4. Add optional notes ("Client meeting - TechCorp")

Battery impact: Minimal. Receipt.help uses efficient background location tracking. Most users see <2% additional battery drain per day.

Manual Mileage Entry

If you prefer not to use automatic tracking, you can log trips manually:

  1. Go to Mileage → Add Trip
  2. Enter start and end addresses (or just total miles)
  3. Select date and purpose
  4. Add optional notes

Tip: Check your car's odometer at the start and end of each business trip. Odometer readings provide the most accurate mileage.

IRS Requirements for Mileage Logs

The IRS requires mileage logs to include:

  • Date of the trip
  • Starting location and destination
  • Miles driven (total distance)
  • Business purpose (e.g., "Client meeting", "Office supplies")

Receipt.help automatically captures all of this when you use automatic tracking. Your exported mileage log is IRS-compliant and audit-ready.

Standard Mileage vs. Actual Expenses

The IRS offers two methods for deducting vehicle expenses:

1. Standard Mileage Rate (easiest):

Deduct $0.70 per business mile. No need to track gas, oil changes, repairs, insurance, etc. This is what most freelancers use and what Receipt.help is optimized for.

2. Actual Expenses (more complex):

Track all vehicle expenses (gas, repairs, insurance, registration, loan interest, depreciation) and deduct the business-use percentage. Requires more detailed record-keeping.

Recommendation: Use standard mileage rate unless you drive a very expensive vehicle. It's simpler and usually results in similar or higher deductions.

Quick Math: How Much Can You Save?

Example 1: Occasional business driving

100 miles/month × 12 months = 1,200 miles/year
1,200 miles × $0.70 = $840 deduction
Tax savings (at 25% rate): $210/year

Example 2: Regular client meetings

500 miles/month × 12 months = 6,000 miles/year
6,000 miles × $0.70 = $4,200 deduction
Tax savings (at 30% rate): $1,260/year

Example 3: Heavy business driving (real estate, rideshare)

2,000 miles/month × 12 months = 24,000 miles/year
24,000 miles × $0.70 = $16,800 deduction
Tax savings (at 30% rate): $5,040/year