What is an IRS Compliant Mileage Log?

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Read this article to learn what the IRS requires you to log to keep a tax deductible IRS compliant mileage log.

What is an IRS compliant mileage log?
Read on to learn what is included in an IRS compliant mileage log.

Self-employed taxpayers that drive for work, such as a delivery driver, realtor, independent contract, etc., should take advantage of the mileage writeoff. To take this tax deduction you need to understand what the IRS requires of you when logging your mileage deductions. Keep reading to learn.

What’s included in an IRS compliant mileage log?

The IRS specifies that the following needs to be included in your mileage report:

  • the miles you drove for business (ie your mileage) 
  • the places you drove for business 
  • the business purpose of your trip
  • the date of your trip

You can keep a written mileage log, or type one into an excel spreadsheet. Yet, both of these methods are prone to error/misplacement. Worse, they’re time-consuming.
Or, use a mileage tracker app like Falcon Expenses. Falcon Expenses automatically tracks your mileage expenses and does the calculations for you. In addition, securely save all your business mileage expenses until it’s time to prepare your mileage report for your taxes.

What does an IRS compliant mileage log look like?

What does an IRS compliant mileage log look like?
This is what an IRS compliant mileage log looks like. This is the spreadsheet mileage log export from Falcon Expenses.

What else should I know about tracking my mileage in an IRS compliant way?

The IRS offers two ways for taxpayers to write off vehicle expenses:

  1. The Standard Mileage Rate Method
  2. The Actual Car Expense Method

The standard mileage rate method is the method the requires your to keep a mileage log. Yet, you could also opt to write off your work-related car expenses using the actual car expense method.

Check out this article to learn about both of these methods to determine which one is best for you, The Standard Mileage Rate Method vs The Actual Car Expense Method.

About Falcon Expenses

Falcon Expenses is a top-rated expense and mileage tracker app for self-employed and small businesses to track expenses and tax deductions. Falcon customers record $6,600, on average, in annual tax deductions. Get started today. The longer you wait, the more tax deductions you miss.

Automatically track mileage expenses and expenses, keep an odometer log, receipt vault and log billable hours. Quickly organize expenses by time period, project, or client. Easily create expense reports and mileage logs with your expense data for email to anyone in PDF or spreadsheet formats, all from your phone. Falcon’s expense report template is IRS compliant. Use for keeping track of tax deductions, reimbursements, taxes, record keeping, and more. Falcon Expenses is great for self-employed, freelancers, realtors, delivery drivers, couriers, business travelers, truckers, and more.

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