Mileage Form

If you choose the standard mileage deduction, you must keep a log of miles driven. The IRS is quite specific on this point: At the start of each trip, the taxpayer must record the odometer reading and list the purpose, starting location, ending location, and date of the trip.

Reimbursing Employees You can reimburse employees directly for their business driving costs by requiring them to turn in driving expense reports. You can pay for actual costs or the IRS standard mileage rate. All reports must show detailed mileage and business purpose for each trip.

Mileage reimbursement is when employers offer employees reimbursement for expenses associated with driving on behalf of the business. These expenses can include fuel costs, maintenance and vehicle depreciation. Mileage reimbursement is typically set at a per-mile rate usually below $1 per mile.

The IRS will also accept a written record, such as a diary, trip log or notebook, in which the employee notes each expense at or near the time it occurred. For mileage reimbursement, the record should contain the vehicle's beginning and ending odometer readings, the dates, and the purpose of the trip.

IRS announced that Beginning on January 1, 2020, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) would be: 57.5 cents per mile driven for business use, 17 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes, 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations.

By far the best way to prove to the IRS how much you drove for business is to keep contemporaneous records. Contemporaneous means your records are created each day you drive for business, or soon thereafter. A mileage tracker app like MileIQ may be one of the easiest ways to provide what the IRS wants.

Self-employed individuals will report their mileage on the Schedule C form. In addition to providing the number of miles driven during the tax year, you'll also need to answer a few questions about the vehicle, including when it was placed into service for business.

Your mileage log must include the starting mileage on your vehicle's odometer at the beginning of the year and its ending mileage at the conclusion of the year. Each time you use your vehicle for business purposes, you must record the following information: The date of your trip.The purpose of your trip.