Add a row for each trip — date, where from, where to, the business purpose, and either odometer readings or the miles driven — and tick round trip when you drove there and back. The log totals the miles and multiplies them by the per-mile rate you enter, for a tax deduction or an employer reimbursement claim. Trips stay saved in this browser, and you can download the log as a spreadsheet or a PDF to attach to an expense claim.
IRS Publication 463 asks for records showing the miles for each business use, the date, the destination and the business purpose, plus the total miles you drove the vehicle in the year. The records should be made at or near the time of the trip — a log rebuilt from memory at tax time is much weaker if questioned.
Odometer readings at the start and end of each trip are the most convincing evidence. Also note the odometer on January 1 and December 31 so you can show total annual mileage, which is how the business-use share of the vehicle is worked out.
The IRS sets a standard mileage rate for business driving every year — 70 cents a mile for 2025. Enter the rate for the year you are logging; the figure is published on IRS.gov, usually in December for the year ahead. The rate is used instead of actual vehicle costs, though parking and tolls for business trips can be claimed on top.
If you own the vehicle and want the option of the standard rate, the IRS generally requires you to use it in the first year the car is used for business. You can switch to actual expenses in a later year, but not always back again. An accountant can tell you which works out better for your vehicle.
Driving between your regular workplace and home is commuting, and commuting miles are not deductible. Driving from your workplace to a client, between job sites, to pick up supplies, or to a temporary work location usually is. If you have a qualifying home office as your principal place of business, trips from home to clients can count.
Write a purpose that would make sense to someone else a year from now: "Site visit, 14 Oak St kitchen remodel" rather than "work". For more on what self-employed people can claim, see our tax deductions guide.
Employers often reimburse mileage at the IRS rate. Under an accountable plan — the employee documents the trips and returns any excess — reimbursement at or below the IRS rate is generally not taxed as wages. This log gives the documentation side of that: dates, places, purposes and miles.
Keep receipts for parking and tolls alongside the log; the expense tracker or the expense receipt tracker holds them, and how to track business expenses covers a weekly routine that keeps it painless. To claim the miles and other trip costs from an employer, the expense report generator adds them up with any cash advance; for the car itself, a vehicle maintenance log tracks services and when the next one is due.
For each business trip: the date, the destination, the business purpose and the miles. Also record the vehicle's total miles for the year. Keep records made at or near the time of each trip.
The business standard mileage rate was 70 cents a mile for 2025. The IRS announces each year's rate, usually in December; enter the rate for the year you are logging.
Odometer readings are the strongest evidence. If you didn't note them, enter the miles from a map route; the log uses odometer readings when both are filled in.
No. Driving between home and your regular place of work is personal commuting. Trips from work to clients, between sites or to temporary work locations usually count as business.
In this browser on this device. Download the CSV regularly as a backup — clearing browser data deletes the log.
These templates do the same job as an editable document you can fill in again and again.
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