If you drive for your business at all, then you’ll want to keep track of your milage. In 2020, every mile you drive means a 57.5 cent deduction off your income at tax time. That can really add up!
For example, driving 25,000 miles for work would mean a deduction amount of over $14,000.00 on your Schedule C. That’s $14,000 less in income to pay taxes on.
Tracking Your Business Mileage
The tricky part is keeping track of the miles you drive. Each trip needs to be documented with the date, reason for the trip, and the mileage driven. How easy is that to forget? Pretty easy.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten back from a client meeting only to realize I forgot to log the trip. I think, oh I’ll remember it next time I’m near my milage tracker. Never happens. That’s a lot of missed tax deductions!
Here’s what the IRS has to say about deducting your mileage.
This is why mileage tracking apps were invented.
Mileage tracking apps track this for you, automatically. Typically, they work like this:
You download the app and turn it on. Every time you drive somewhere the app records the trip and puts the information in a “for review” type status. Then every day or so sit down and review the stored trips. The key here is to do this quite often, otherwise you will forget key information.
You review each trip marking it as business or personal. For the business trips you will want to record some information such as, drove to bank to make the weekly deposit.
Another way they can work is tracking your trips manually, rather than automatically. With manual tracking you have to start each trip when you get in the car and end the trip when you arrive at your destination.
There are a few benefits of this; you don’t have to review any trips and these types of apps are usually free.
The drawback is that you have to remember to start and stop the app every time you get in the car. Which, if you are like me, is pretty tough to do.
So here are some popular mileage tracking apps. You can decide which is best for you.
Best Mileage Tracking Apps
Most of these apps have both free and paid versions. The free versions track trips manually while the paid versions will do it automatically.
Some will also allow you to track other business expenses as well.
Related: The Best Business Expense Tracker Apps
Stride
The Stride mileage app is one of the longest-running and most popular mileage apps. It’s available for both Android and iOS. Stride is a simple app, but it gets the job done.
How it Works
Operating Stride is easy. Just start the app when you leave the house for work. Stride will track all of your miles until you tell it to stop.
What it Costs
Free. There’s no cost for the Stride mileage app.
Pros and Cons
Pros include built-in GPS, automated reminders, and the ability to track other business expenses as well. One major con is that Stride doesn’t give you the option to classify miles as business or personal. However, you can simply not turn the app on when driving personal miles.
Also, some reviewers report that the app will automatically shut down after 30 minutes of being in one location. This could be a hindrance if you’re a rideshare driver waiting for a client for a while and forget to turn the app back on.
TripLog
TripLog is a mileage tracking app meant to accommodate a variety of users. One great thing about the TripLog app is that you can use it on multiple vehicles. It’s available for both Apple and Android phones.
How it Works
Depending on the plan you use, operation varies.
The free plan requires manual start before it will track mileage. The paid plans include auto-tracking along with several other features. Some of those features include daily cloud backup and route planning.
What it Costs
TripLog has a free version, a Professional version for $4 a month, and a Professional Plus version for $6 per month, per user (up to five users). There’s also an “Enterprise” plan for companies.
They also offer a 30-day free trial if you want to try it out.
Pros and Cons
Pros include a Bluetooth option that will save on phone battery usage. Also, the paid versions let you record other expenses as well. And if you pay annually instead of monthly, you’re entitled to a discount on the price.
The biggest con is the manual tracking feature on the free version.
MileIQ
MileIQ is Microsoft’s contribution to the mileage tracking app world. This app offers two versions; a Basic version and an Unlimited version.
It’s available for both Android and Apple phones.
How it Works
The Basic version is, well, pretty basic. One cool thing about the Basic version is that it does automatically track your miles, but limits it to 40 drives per month.
The Unlimited version tracks all of your drives, and you can code them personal or business.
What it Costs
The Basic version is free and the Unlimited version costs $5.99 per month ($4.99 a month if you pay it annually).
Pros and Cons
The pros include MileIQ’s ability to automatically track mileage and let you swipe easily to determine business or personal use. It makes expense reporting easy as well.
Cons include the limited number of drives on the Basic version and the fact that the app doesn’t have any extended accounting capabilities.
Everlance
The Everlance mileage tracking app was created with independent workers and small businesses in mind. The founders created the app to help encourage and empower entrepreneurs.
How It Works
Everlance has three versions: Basic, Premium, and Premium+. The Basic version automatically tracks mileage for up to 30 trips per month.
The Premium version gives you unlimited automatic trips, lets you sync your debit and credit cards, has advanced PDF and Excel reports, and more. It also helps you track expenses with an “unlimited receipt uploads” feature.
The Premium+ version offers the added benefits of VIP support and customized one-on-one training.
Everlance is available for both iPhone and Android.
What It Costs
Everlance’s Basic version is free. The Premium version is $8 a month or $5 a month when billed annually. The Premium+ version is $12 a month or $10 a month when billed annually.
Pros And Cons
Each version has its pros and cons. The pros are that the Basic version is good if you’re a business owner that doesn’t drive a lot.
The Premium version is a nice balance of cost vs. value and offers pretty much everything you’d need as a solopreneur. It tracks all trips and then allows you to choose whether a trip is business or personal.
As far as the cons, The Basic version at 30 trips max won’t do entrepreneurs much good if they do a lot of driving. Another downfall is that you’re automatically signed up for the Premium version when you sign up, which comes with a 7-day free trial.
If you are looking for the free version, you’ve got to make sure to switch over before your free trial ends.
Hurdlr
Hurdlr is a multi-functional mileage app created for entrepreneurs and side hustlers. Along with tracking miles, it will help you track expenses and create reports for managing your business expenses.
How It Works
Hurdlr automatically tracks your miles; you tap to categorize them as business or personal miles. It auto-tags repeat drives for you as well.
There are three different versions you can buy: Free, Premium, and Pro. The Free version comes with unlimited miles, but you do have to track your mileage manually. Same with expenses.
The Premium version offers auto-tracking of miles, income, and expenses. It also estimates your projected tax burden for you. The Pro version upgrade combines the Premium features with advanced reports, invoicing, and double-entry accounting.
What It Costs
The Free version is free, and the Premium version is $8 a month if billed monthly or $60 if billed annually. Hurdlr’s Pro version costs $120 per year, billed annually.
Pros and Cons
The added features of estimated tax burden and tracking of income and expenses are nice features of the paid versions. Also, the paid versions come with the ability to set custom rules for your tracking.
The free version is 100 percent manual, which can mean missed tracking.
SherpaShare
SherpaShare was created with on-demand self-employed workers such as rideshare drivers in mind. One great feature that makes it useful for rideshare drivers is the Heatmap feature.
This feature shows you where other rideshare drivers are so you can serve the areas that are needed and strategically plan where you’ll wait for your next ride.
How It Works
SherpaShare automatically tracks your mileage, lets you upload receipts, and tracks earnings and expenses as well. You can manually add mileage and trips as well.
Both SherpaShare plans include unlimited automatic tracking, revenue and profit charting, and 24/7 support. There’s another feature that allows Uber drivers to integrate with their Uber driver app.
The upgraded version includes priority support including phone support, and an exclusive list of customized deals and promotions.
What It Costs
There’s no free version of SherpaShare. The basic version costs $5.99 per month ($4.99 per month if billed annually). The Super Premium version costs $120 annually.
Pros and Cons
The main con of SherpaShare is that it doesn’t offer a free version, although it does offer a 14-day free trial.
As far as pros go, the ability to track income and expenses and the added benefits for rideshare drivers — especially Uber drivers — are pretty beneficial. This might be a great app for you if you want to maximize income as a rideshare driver.
QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a comprehensive financial organizational app for the self-employed/solopreneur. Yes, it automatically tracks your business miles.
However, this app has a lot of other features as well. It lets you track and store expense reports. You can take photos of receipts, send and track invoices, and pay quarterly taxes with the app.
Basically, it’s a “QuickBooks to go” for the sole proprietor that includes a mileage tracking feature.
How It Works
The QuickBooks Self-Employed mileage app works automatically; all you have to do is categorize each trip business or personal.
Also, the app will automatically compare your mileage to your vehicle expenses at the end of the year.
What It Costs
QuickBooks Self-Employed is the most expensive of the apps mentioned here, but given all of the added features it comes with you might find it worth the price. There are three plans to choose from.
The Basic plan costs $15 per month, helps you keep business and personal expenses separate, and helps you maximize your Schedule C deductions.
The Tax Bundle plan costs $25 per month and includes the added feature of one free state and one free federal filing with TurboTax. And you can transfer your financial information from the app to TurboTax.
The Live Tax Bundle plan costs $35 per month. It includes unlimited advice from a live CPA all year long.
Pros And Cons
The biggest pro of QuickBooks Self-Employed is that it has everything you need for business accounting.
The biggest con of QuickBooks Self-Employed is likely the price. Although the app often has deals for short-term discounts, the regular price for the plans might be a deterrent for some small business owners.
Apps That Receive Our Honorable Mention Status
There are a couple of other apps out there that, while worth mentioning, are just a bit more basic for our tastes. But we thought you’d want to know about them.
Mileage Expense Log
Mileage Expense Log is a free app for iOS and Apple users. It automatically tracks your miles as long as you’ve got your GPS system turned on.
MileWiz
MileWiz is available for Apple and Android and costs $49.99 per year. Features include automatic tracking, auto-categorize, and cloud backup.
Check both of these apps out if you’re looking for some additional options for mileage tracking.
Why Tracking Your Mileage is Important (and Why Apps are Useful for Doing This)
Life is just too busy to write down every mile you drive and every item you buy for your business, am I right?
This is where a mileage app can be a huge time and money saver. So go ahead and spend the little bit of money it costs each month to get the type of mileage tracking app that works best for you and your business.
The money you save at tax time will more than make up for what you’ve spent on the mileage tracking app you choose.
Forgotten business expenses can mean a higher tax bill due come spring. And most business owners would be happier lightening their tax burden a bit.
So make a decision to get your business driving deduction information more organized and save yourself some cash in the process.
