What Tracking Mileage Can Do for Your Business

Whether you work in a home office or are out and about all day long, chances are that you’ll need to get in the car and drive for your business at some point this year. Networking events, business-related errands, lunch with clients, working in clients’ offices, etc. are all things that get me out of my home office on a regular basis.

And because mileage is a deductible expense, I rely heavily on MileIQ, my go-to mileage tracker for both personal and business.

Tracking your mileage is a no-brainer for reducing your overall tax liability for the year. It will save you money and give you a clearer picture of the amount of time you spend driving to client offices and for other business-related tasks. And this can help you analyze your pricing structure so you’re getting more out of that client time.

To deduct your mileage as a business expense, you need to track every mile in your car—both personal and business-related. Back in the day, I used to keep a notebook (like this one) in my glove box and I’d write down every mile I drove. At the end of each month and then again at the end of the year, I’d add up the business miles so I could report them. It was time-consuming and a huge pain!

Luckily, we live in the world of automation and apps today, making it much easier to track those miles. There’s really no reason not to with the number of apps available to us.

MileIQ automatically captures mileage every time I drive and classifies it to personal or business by swiping left or right. It’s also customizable so I can add vehicles, set work hours and get notifications. Plus, everything is stored on the cloud so it doesn’t bog down my phone with data.

Of course, there are rules when it comes to tax deductions (thank you, IRS) so it pays to educate yourself before you label something as a business or personal expense. For example, while you can deduct mileage for driving to and from a client’s office, you cannot deduct commuting miles if you have an office outside your home.

You can deduct some of your personal miles too, for things like doctor’s visits and cross-country moves. Be sure to talk to your accountant about those!

Of course, there are a number of mileage tracker apps out there, but MileIQ is my go-to. I’ve tried a number of them, and it’s by far my favorite!