Mileage

What is the best way to figure my mileage? Is there any software that will help? Thanks in advance.

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I just zero out the 'trip meter' when I head out and take the reading when I get home. I list an entire route as a single reading and flag the shops performed on that route. I enter the mileage on the spreadsheet when I report the shops, so it is all there on my shop log. I do note my starting mileage Jan 1 every year, so I know what the total mileage for the year will have been. Because I do not have a salaried job, I have no 'regular place of work' away from home. This means that I can deduct mileage door to door on a route of shops. If you have a regular place of work, you need to look carefully at what IRS considers "commute" miles because those are not deductible. Private miles are also not deductible.

The trip meter, if your car has one, is best. Get in the habit, and it becomes second nature to record your mileage. You can use a log of any type that works for you. Mileage can be written into a spiral notebook, on a scrap of paper, or entered into Excel, any of which needs to be saved. Develop a system, paper or spreadsheet, whichever you're most comfortable with. At year's end, you will need to total your mileage for tax purposes.

After I enter my shop report and when I'm entering all the info into my spreadsheet I just use google maps to recreate my route and get the mileage from there.

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Some area around me the google maps are reasonably accurate for mileage, others are just wildly off. If I forget to get my mileage I will do google maps to recreate it and double check it with mapquest. If they don't match, then I will go back to my spreadsheet for previous routes and try to recreate mileage to see which one appears to be more reasonable. Short cut--record the mileage as it happens!

I set the trip meter and print out a map of my route from MapQuest . MapQuest will also allow you to have the MapQuest software to arrange your trip for maximum efficiency .If you don't really need directions just print out the 1st page of the direction and you will have all the information for your next years taxes.
Date of shops,number of shops, and how many miles traveled to perform those shops.
If you are like me and try to do jobs in the same order every 30 to 45 days saving the MapQuest sheet will make it easy to track mileage in the future.Just file them after each day of shopping collect 1 month at a time ,it really does make tax time a breeze.

Good luck Shoppers

Happy Shopping to all.

I use Rand McNally. When I used to do case management, we had to use Rand McNally to figure our mileage. This just makes me see Rand McNally as a little more legit, maybe I'm right, maybe I'm not....

When I have built my route for the day, I have a daily shopping sheet (that I made in MS Word) that lists all of the shops I am doing that day, with commission and any notes. I attach my paperwork to this that I want to take with me. At the bottom of this, I list my mileage. I find using this instead of my trip odometer keeps me from mixing in mileage from personal errands.

I also use the info on this sheet to input on an Excel sheet that I use to keep a running tally for shops I've done and when I get paid.

I used to keep a log just showing total miles driven for each job, using Google maps to calculate the routes. However, our tax advisor said that, in case of an IRS audit, it is important not just to log miles driven, but to show a beginning and ending reading on the odometer for each separate trip. He gave me an official log book to use, but I find that my smartphone works better for me. I just keep an ongoing file.

I take a picture of my odometer with my phone at the beginning and end of each shop trip. That way, if I forget to log the miles, I can just look at my pictures. They're date stamped, which helps reconcile them with specific trips.

Wow.

I write the starting mileage for the trip on the paperwork for one of the shops for the day. At the end of the shopping day, I record the ending mileage as well. If I forget the ending mileage, I can go out to the car when I'm entering my shop data to my spreadsheet (which includes mileage).

The IRS requires a mileage log, so I also enter the starting and ending mileage and total in a small notebook that should serve if I'm audited.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

I have a log in the car and write down all info. before starting, name of MSC and job, job mileage, city, date, mark off when paid...my accountant uses this for reimbursement of miles, works great.

Live consciously....

I generally forget to check my mileage in the car so I've been using mapquest or google maps for mileage. I mark my paperwork with the mileage. Then when I get paid, I input all the information, i.e., company, name of shop, fee, mileage and dollar amount for mileage. I have been deducting mileage for acting income for years and never put exact mileage, using just a guesimate, and never had a problem. I keep a running total. When I had a P.C., I used Microsoft Money to keep track of everything. It did all the math and it was easy to run reports. So, you could run reports for office supplies, phone calls, and mileage. I was told some time ago MS Money was no longer made because Microsoft conceded the accounting software to Quicken. I've never used Quicken, however, when I get a new laptop. I'll be using Quicken for my bookkeeping.

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