How to Track Mileage for Taxes as a Gig Worker
Good mileage tracking is the difference between maximizing your deduction and leaving money on the table -- or worse, facing IRS penalties.
Tracking Methods Compared
Manual Log
Pen-and-paper or spreadsheet. Record each trip with date, destination, purpose, and miles.
Risk: easy to forget trips, hard to maintain consistently
Odometer Method
Record starting and ending odometer readings each day. Calculate business percentage.
Risk: misses individual trip details the IRS wants
GPS App (Recommended)
Automatic trip detection, GPS routes, and IRS-compliant reports generated instantly.
Best: most accurate, audit-proof, no effort required
What Makes a Log Audit-Proof
The IRS requires contemporaneous records. Each entry should include: the date of the trip, where you went, the business purpose, and the number of miles driven. GPS-based tracking apps capture all of this automatically, eliminating the risk of incomplete or estimated logs.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- 1. Waiting until year-end to estimate total mileage
- 2. Including personal miles in business totals
- 3. Not recording odometer at start and end of year
- 4. Rounding up trip distances
- 5. Failing to separate business and personal trips on shared routes
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