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You are here: Home / Tax / Mileage logs stink – try an app

September 3, 2015 By Drew

Mileage logs stink – try an app

2013 Ford Taurus SHO by That Hartford Guy, under Creative Commons license, on Flickr

Keeping mileage logs is an aggravating requirement in order to claim vehicle expenses for most small business owners. There are some exceptions to a log – hearses, ambulances and 18 wheel trucks come to mind – but most people have to keep a written contemporaneous record or there is no vehicle deduction. Written contemporaneous record is IRS code for a mileage log. You can read more about the requirements in this post.

This post is about a way to make keeping a log a bit less taxing (sorry, pun intended).

Smartphone Apps substitute for mileage logs

Here is one that is popular with accountants – MileIQ. It works on Android smartphones and iPhones. Sorry, BlackBerry and Windows users you need to look elsewhere. Since I have a Windows Phone, I do not have personal experience with this app so please try before you buy. The application eases mileage tracking by:

  • Logs every trip automatically
  • Calculating the mileage automatically
  • Syncs with the cloud so you have a backup in case you lose your phone. IRS does not forgive you for losing your paper log.
  • Swipe to tell the app whether the trip is business or personal
  • Saves location names for those frequent destinations
  • Space to enter the extra information IRS wants – e.g. purpose of trip
  • It adds up total business miles so no manually totaling hundreds of entries

Currently, the monthly fee is $5.99 or annually you pay $59.99. If you have 40 or fewer a month, MileIQ is free.

Related

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  • January 5, 2016
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  • Business mileage deduction vs. commuting
  • April 30, 2015
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  • February 5, 2014
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Filed Under: Tax Tagged With: business taxes, IRS, Tax deductions

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Edmundson CPA, PLLC

102 Commonwealth Court
Suite J,
Cary, NC 27511-4437
Phone: (919) 460-9966
Fax: (919) 380-0010
Email: info@nccpa.com

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Edmundson CPA, PLLC

102 Commonwealth Court
Suite J,
Cary, NC 27511-4437
Phone: (919) 460-9966
Email: info@nccpa.com

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