- Why should businesses track mileage?
- IRS mileage log requirements
- Methods for claiming mileage deductions
- What mileage log formats does the IRS accept?
- How long should you keep business mileage records?
- What to do if you’re audited
- How Ramp simplifies IRS-compliant mileage tracking
Business travel can be a significant expense, whether you run a large company, a small business, or you’re self-employed. Fortunately, you can claim the bulk of these travel costs on your taxes so long as the expenses are strictly business-related trips.
If you use a personal vehicle, however, the IRS requires more than just a receipt: You’ll need a detailed mileage log for taxes. We break down why mileage tracking matters, IRS mileage log requirements, and how to create a compliant log.
Why should businesses track mileage?
Let’s say you need to visit a customer or supplier. Or maybe you’re picking up business supplies, moving equipment, or attending a meeting. If you use your personal vehicle for any of these business-related activities, you can deduct the travel costs from your income taxes.
The same applies if you reimburse employees for using their personal vehicles for work purposes. But to claim these valuable deductions, tracking mileage for taxes is essential to maintain accurate and IRS-compliant records.
IRS mileage log requirements
To claim tax deductions for business expenses, the IRS requires you to keep adequate records to prove the accuracy and business necessity of the expenses.
According to IRS Publication 463, this means keeping detailed and timely records that show the date, mileage, address, and purpose of each business trip, as well as odometer readings for the beginning and end of the year. An IRS-compliant mileage log should include:
- Total annual mileage: The total number of miles driven throughout the year for both business and personal use
- Annual business mileage: The total number of miles driven specifically for business purposes during the year
- Per-use business mileage: The number of miles driven for each individual business trip
- Date of use: The specific dates on which the vehicle was used for business travel
- Business destination: The location of each business-related trip (commuting between home and a regular worksite is not deductible)
- Purpose: A brief explanation of the business reason for each trip
Supporting evidence, like emails, meeting invites, or related expense receipts, isn’t required, but it can strengthen your case in the event of an IRS audit.
Should you track personal vs. business mileage separately?
The IRS requires you to separate personal from business mileage. Commuting to and from your regular workplace doesn’t count as business travel, and incorrectly including it could trigger a business tax audit.
To accurately track your mileage, always log the business purpose for each trip, avoid rounding or estimating mileage, and consider using a tracking app that distinguishes personal and business trips.
One common mistake is logging every drive as business-related without clear documentation. Avoid this by being diligent and specific with your entries.
Methods for claiming mileage deductions
The IRS offers two primary methods for calculating mileage expenses: the standard mileage rate and the actual expense method. Choosing the right method can help you maximize your deductions based on your specific situation.
Standard mileage rate method
The standard mileage rate is a fixed dollar amount set annually by the IRS that businesses can deduct from their taxable income for each business mile driven. For the 2025 tax year, the IRS standard mileage rate is 70 cents per business mile.
To claim a deduction using this method, you need to know the total number of business miles driven. For example, if you and your employees drove a total of 15,000 business miles during the year, you would multiply 15,000 by $0.70 to calculate your mileage deduction, which comes out to $10,500.
Actual expense method
The actual expense method requires you to determine the percentage of vehicle use that went toward business versus personal purposes.
To calculate this percentage, you need to know both the total miles driven during the year and the number of miles driven for business. You then divide the business miles by the total miles driven.
For example, if you drove 10,000 miles during the year, and 2,000 of those miles were for business use, your business use percentage is 20%. This allows you to deduct 20% of your total vehicle expenses for the year, including fuel, maintenance, repairs, and depreciation.
What mileage log formats does the IRS accept?
How you record this information and the formats you use are ultimately up to you, but it’s commonly done with a paper log or a mileage tracking app.
Paper mileage log templates
Paper mileage logs, often in the form of a notebook or diary, are the most traditional way to track mileage. You can even buy notebooks specifically designed with mileage log templates that include dedicated fields for all the necessary information.
However, these logbooks only work if you use them consistently for every business trip. When you’re rushing to a meeting or pressed for time, it’s easy to forget to log the required details, which can force you to rely on memory or estimate mileage later.
Digital mileage tracking apps
With smartphones and connected vehicles, mileage logs no longer need to be physical. Many mileage tracking apps are available to log your business miles automatically.
When you start driving, simply note whether the trip is for personal or business use, and the app tracks the mileage for you. You can then add important details like the business purpose afterward. With that said, you still need to remember to activate the app each time you drive, or the trip won’t be recorded.
How long should you keep business mileage records?
The main purpose of a mileage log is to support your claims of business mileage in the event of an IRS audit. You should keep your mileage records for at least as long as your tax return is subject to an audit.
The IRS states an audit can include tax returns filed within the last three years. However, this period can extend up to six years in cases where significant accounting errors are found. Tax experts often recommend retaining business expense records, including mileage logs, for at least seven years.
What to do if you’re audited
If the IRS audits your mileage deductions, it will likely request to see your mileage log. This is where accurate, organized records pay off. To prepare, make sure you:
- Keep digital or paper logs for at least three years (seven to be safe)
- Be ready to show annual odometer readings
- Have supporting materials like calendar appointments, client emails, or expense receipts
If your records are incomplete, you may still be able to reconstruct mileage using appointment logs, navigation history, or fuel receipts, though this is not ideal.
How Ramp simplifies IRS-compliant mileage tracking
Tracking business mileage for tax deductions is challenging. You're sifting through paper logs, trying to remember trip details weeks after they happened, and hoping your employees are recording accurate odometer readings. Come tax season, you're scrambling to compile documentation that meets IRS requirements while worrying whether your records will hold up in an audit.
Ramp's expense management software transforms mileage tracking from a manual burden into an automated process. When employees use Ramp cards for fuel purchases or vehicle-related expenses, the platform automatically creates a digital paper trail that links transactions to specific trips. This eliminates the need for separate mileage logs and reduces the risk of missing deductions due to poor recordkeeping.
The platform's mobile app makes real-time mileage capture effortless. Employees can log trip details immediately after driving, including starting and ending locations, odometer readings, and business purpose. These digital records include timestamps and location data that provide the contemporaneous documentation the IRS requires.
By centralizing mileage tracking within your expense management workflow, Ramp ensures you never miss legitimate deductions while maintaining the detailed, IRS-compliant records that protect your business during audits. The result? More money saved in tax deductions with minimal effort from your team.
Start tracking mileage automatically with Ramp
Beyond IRS compliance, Ramp's mileage tracking integrates seamlessly with your broader expense management workflow. The platform's Google Maps integration means employees simply enter their starting point and destination, and Ramp calculates the distance automatically.
With receipt scanning built into the mobile app, your team can capture fuel receipts and other vehicle expenses on the go, creating a complete picture of your transportation costs. This unified approach to expense tracking helps you maximize deductions while minimizing administrative burden.
Try an interactive demo and see for yourself why Ramp customers save an average of 5% a year across all spending.
FAQs
The IRS doesn’t require a particular format for mileage logs as long as they contain all the required information about the business use of a vehicle. In addition to paper mileage logs, you can provide digital files like an Excel spreadsheet, CSV, Word doc, PDF, and more.
While the IRS doesn't require odometer readings for each trip, it does require them at the start and end of the year to verify your total annual mileage. Recording your odometer at the beginning and end of the year is a smart habit, even if you're using a mileage app.
Whether or not you reimburse your employees for mileage is a matter of what is best for your business. To prevent confusion, be sure to include mileage as a category in your detailed travel expense policy.
“When our teams need something, they usually need it right away. The more time we can save doing all those tedious tasks, the more time we can dedicate to supporting our student-athletes.”
Sarah Harris
Secretary, The University of Tennessee Athletics Foundation, Inc.
“Ramp had everything we were looking for, and even things we weren't looking for. The policy aspects, that's something I never even dreamed of that a purchasing card program could handle.”
Doug Volesky
Director of Finance, City of Mount Vernon
“Switching from Brex to Ramp wasn’t just a platform swap—it was a strategic upgrade that aligned with our mission to be agile, efficient, and financially savvy.”
Lily Liu
CEO, Piñata
“With Ramp, everything lives in one place. You can click into a vendor and see every transaction, invoice, and contract. That didn’t exist in Zip. It’s made approvals much faster because decision-makers aren’t chasing down information—they have it all at their fingertips.”
Ryan Williams
Manager, Contract and Vendor Management, Advisor360°
“The ability to create flexible parameters, such as allowing bookings up to 25% above market rate, has been really good for us. Plus, having all the information within the same platform is really valuable.”
Caroline Hill
Assistant Controller, Sana Benefits
“More vendors are allowing for discounts now, because they’re seeing the quick payment. That started with Ramp—getting everyone paid on time. We’ll get a 1-2% discount for paying early. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars, it does add up.”
James Hardy
CFO, SAM Construction Group
“We’ve simplified our workflows while improving accuracy, and we are faster in closing with the help of automation. We could not have achieved this without the solutions Ramp brought to the table.”
Kaustubh Khandelwal
VP of Finance, Poshmark
“I was shocked at how easy it was to set up Ramp and get our end users to adopt it. Our prior procurement platform took six months to implement, and it was a lot of labor. Ramp was so easy it was almost scary.”
Michael Natsch
Procurement Manager, AIRCO
