Frequently asked questions
Mileage, taxes, and TruMile, answered.
41 plain-English answers covering IRS rules, gig driver taxes, mileage tracking accuracy, and how TruMile works. Updated for 2026 rates.
Taxes
Can I deduct mileage on my taxes?
If you're self-employed or own a business, yes. You can deduct business miles using either the IRS standard mileage rate (72.5 cents per mile in 2026) or the actual expenses method. W-2 employees can't deduct unreimbursed work miles on federal returns through 2025 because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
What is the 2026 IRS standard mileage rate?
The 2026 IRS standard mileage rate for business driving is 72.5 cents per mile, up from 70 cents in 2025. Medical and moving miles are 22 cents per mile. Charitable miles are 14 cents per mile (set by Congress, unchanged). Full guide and 2025 vs 2026 comparison.
Standard mileage rate or actual expenses, which should I use?
Most self-employed drivers come out ahead with the standard mileage rate because the recordkeeping is simpler and the deduction tracks miles directly. Actual expenses can win for higher-cost vehicles, heavy depreciation in the first year, or low annual mileage. You have to use standard mileage in year one to keep the choice open later. Compare both with our free calculator.
Can W-2 employees deduct mileage in 2026?
Not on federal returns. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended unreimbursed employee expense deductions from 2018 through 2025. A few states (California, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Iowa, Mississippi, New Jersey) still allow some form of state-level deduction. If your employer reimburses business mileage, that reimbursement is tax-free up to the IRS rate. See state-by-state rules.
What miles count as business miles?
Trips between business locations, to client meetings, to job sites, to pick up business supplies, and to temporary work locations. Commuting from home to your regular workplace doesn't count, but if you have a qualifying home office, trips from there to other work locations do count.
Do I need to keep an odometer log?
The IRS requires beginning- and end-of-year odometer readings, plus the date, business purpose, and total miles for each business trip. You don't need an odometer reading per trip. GPS-based tracking apps satisfy the per-trip mileage requirement.
What does the IRS consider a 'contemporaneous' log?
A log written at or near the time of each trip, not reconstructed weeks or months later from memory or calendar entries. Apps that auto-record trips qualify. A spreadsheet you fill in at the end of the month is borderline. A log you build from memory at tax time is not contemporaneous and is the kind of recordkeeping the IRS rejects in audits.
Can I deduct commuting miles?
No. Miles from home to your regular workplace are personal commuting miles and are never deductible, even if you do business calls in the car. The exception is if your home is your principal place of business (a qualifying home office), in which case trips from home to other work locations become deductible business miles.
What's the difference between Schedule C and Schedule SE?
Schedule C reports your business income and expenses (including mileage). Schedule SE calculates self-employment tax (15.3 percent of net earnings, covering Social Security and Medicare). You file both if your net self-employment income is $400 or more. Schedule C's bottom line flows into Schedule SE.
What's a 1099-NEC and when do I get one?
A 1099-NEC reports non-employee compensation. Any business that paid you $600 or more in a year as an independent contractor must send you (and the IRS) a 1099-NEC by January 31. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and similar platforms issue 1099-NECs (or 1099-Ks) for driver earnings.
Mileage tracking
How does automatic mileage tracking work?
An app runs in the background and uses the phone's motion sensors and GPS to detect when you start and stop driving. When motion is detected, GPS recording begins. When the vehicle stops for more than a few minutes, the trip ends and gets saved with start point, end point, total miles, and route. You classify each trip as business or personal after the fact. See how TruMile does it.
What's the most accurate way to track mileage?
GPS-based automatic tracking with start and end coordinates beats manual logs on accuracy and beats odometer-only logs on detail. The IRS accepts GPS logs as long as they show date, purpose, and miles for each trip. Manual logs work but lose accuracy fast because people forget to log trips or estimate distances. Read the full comparison.
Do I need GPS to track mileage for taxes?
No. The IRS doesn't specify GPS. A handwritten log meets the requirements as long as it captures date, business purpose, starting and ending location (or odometer), and total miles for each trip. GPS makes recordkeeping easier and harder to dispute, but isn't required.
What's the difference between manual and automatic tracking?
Manual tracking means you start and stop each trip yourself, or you write trips down later. Automatic tracking means the app detects driving and logs trips without you having to remember. Auto tracking captures trips you'd otherwise forget; manual tracking gives you direct control over what gets recorded. Most modern apps support both. Pros and cons of each.
Can I reconstruct mileage logs after the fact?
You can rebuild a log from calendar entries, client appointments, and odometer readings, but reconstructed logs are weaker evidence than a contemporaneous log if you're audited. Many drivers find missed deductions when they rebuild from calendar data after starting tracking late. Estimate what you may have missed.
How long should I keep mileage records?
The IRS recommends three years for most returns, six years if you under-report income by more than 25 percent, and seven years if you claim a loss from worthless securities or bad debt. Practical default: keep mileage records for seven years.
What happens if I lose my mileage log?
Try to reconstruct it from calendar entries, appointment records, gas receipts, and odometer readings. The IRS may accept a reconstructed log, but the deduction is at risk if you're audited and the documentation is thin. Going forward, an app that auto-backs-up trips removes this risk.
Does the IRS audit mileage deductions?
Mileage is one of the most common Schedule C items the IRS questions, especially when the deduction is large relative to reported income. Audits don't disallow the deduction automatically. They ask for the log. If the log is contemporaneous and shows date, purpose, and miles per trip, the deduction usually holds.
Gig economy
Are Uber and Lyft drivers self-employed?
Yes. Uber and Lyft classify drivers as independent contractors, which means you're self-employed for tax purposes. You report earnings on Schedule C, pay self-employment tax on Schedule SE, and you can deduct business expenses including mileage. Full Uber driver guide.
Can I deduct miles between rideshare trips?
Yes. Once you go online with an app accepting rides or deliveries, miles driven between requests count as business miles. This includes driving to high-demand zones, repositioning between trips, and driving from drop-off to next pickup. Miles before going online (your commute to a starting zone) don't count. More for rideshare drivers.
What's 'deadhead' mileage and is it deductible?
Deadhead miles are miles driven without a passenger or active delivery, like driving back from a drop-off to a busier zone or driving to your next pickup. For gig drivers who are online and accepting work, deadhead miles between active trips are deductible business miles. Deadhead miles before you go online or after you go offline are not.
Should I track miles for every gig app separately?
No. The IRS sees all your self-employed gig work as one business unless you genuinely run separate businesses (different services, different customer bases, separate accounting). For most multi-app drivers, total business miles roll into one Schedule C. Keep one mileage log, classify each trip as business or personal.
What miles count for DoorDash drivers?
From the moment you log into Dasher mode until you log out, miles driven are business miles. This includes driving to a hot zone before accepting your first delivery, miles between deliveries, and miles back from the last drop-off if you're still online. Once you go offline, miles back home are personal commuting miles. Full DoorDash driver tax guide.
What are 'online hours' and do they matter for taxes?
Online hours are the time you're logged into a gig app and available to accept work, whether or not you're on an active trip. They matter because miles driven during online hours are business miles, including the deadhead miles between requests. The total online window defines your work day for tax purposes.
Can I deduct miles to my first pickup?
If you've already gone online and accepted a trip, yes, the miles to that first pickup are deductible. If you're driving from home to a hot zone before going online, those miles are personal commuting. The rule turns on whether you were online and accepting work, not on the trip number.
Business use
What is 'business use percentage'?
Business use percentage is business miles divided by total miles driven in the year. It's the multiplier the actual expenses method uses to figure out what share of your car costs (gas, insurance, depreciation, repairs) are deductible. If you drove 20,000 miles and 8,000 were business, your business use percentage is 40 percent.
Can I deduct miles to a client's office?
Yes. Miles from your regular workplace (or qualifying home office) to a client's location are deductible business miles. If you stop at a client's office on the way home from your regular workplace, the leg from workplace to client is deductible. The leg from client back home is personal.
What about miles to a temporary work location?
Miles to a temporary work location (a job site you expect to work at for less than a year, outside the metro area where your main workplace sits) are deductible business miles, even from home. This is the main exception to the commuting rule and is heavily used by contractors and consultants.
Can I deduct miles for a home office?
If your home office qualifies as your principal place of business (exclusive and regular use, primary location where you conduct your trade), trips from home to other business locations become deductible business miles. The home office itself has separate deduction rules; for mileage, the only question is whether home counts as a 'business location' for purposes of starting the trip.
Should I separate personal and business miles?
Yes, and it's a hard requirement, not a recommendation. The deduction only applies to business miles, and you have to be able to show which is which. The simplest approach: classify every trip in your log as business or personal as it happens. Apps that auto-record trips usually let you swipe to classify in seconds.
TruMile app
How much does TruMile cost?
TruMile is free for 40 auto-detected trips per month, with unlimited manual trips. Pro is $7.99 per month or $59.99 per year and unlocks unlimited auto trips, auto reports, and receipt OCR. There's no free trial because the free tier is the trial. See full pricing.
What's included in the free tier?
40 auto-detected trips per month, unlimited manual trips, automatic drive detection, GPS routes, trip classification (business or personal), basic IRS-compliant CSV export, and US / Canada / UK / Australia tax rates. Free is meant to be enough for casual drivers and lighter gig schedules. All features.
Does TruMile work without internet?
Yes. Trip detection and GPS recording run locally on your phone with no internet required. Trips save to your device. Internet is only needed for exporting reports, syncing receipt OCR, or restoring from backup.
How does TruMile detect drives automatically?
iOS motion sensors signal that the phone is in a vehicle. GPS starts recording. When the vehicle stops for several minutes, the trip ends and saves with start, end, route, and total miles. You classify each trip after the fact. Detection happens in the background and is tuned to be light on battery. How it works in detail.
Can I import data from another mileage app?
Yes. TruMile imports CSV exports from MileIQ, Everlance, Stride, Hurdlr, TripLog, and most other trackers in a single tap. Your historical trips, dates, miles, and classifications carry over. The CSV format is standard, so even apps not on the list usually import cleanly. Compare TruMile vs other trackers.
International
What's the UK HMRC mileage rate?
HMRC's Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP) are 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, then 25p per mile after that. The rate applies to cars and vans. Motorcycles are 24p per mile flat. Bicycles are 20p per mile. UK mileage hub.
How does CRA mileage tracking work in Canada?
CRA uses a tiered cents-per-kilometre rate: 72 cents per km for the first 5,000 km and 66 cents per km after that (2026 rates). Employers can reimburse employees at these rates tax-free. Self-employed Canadians use Form T2125 to claim vehicle expenses and need a detailed log of business kilometres. Canada mileage hub.
What's the Australian ATO logbook method?
The ATO logbook method requires a 12-week continuous log of all car trips (business and personal). The percentage of business kilometres in those 12 weeks becomes your business use percentage for the next five years, applied to your total car expenses. The alternative is the cents-per-km method: 88 cents per km for up to 5,000 business km per year, no logbook required. Australia mileage hub.
Does TruMile support Canadian tiered rates?
Yes. Set Canada as your jurisdiction and TruMile applies CRA's tiered cents-per-km rate (72¢ for the first 5,000 km, 66¢ above) automatically. Reports format for T2125 and use kilometres throughout. Switching between US, Canadian, UK, and Australian jurisdictions is a setting in the app.
What's the difference between AMAP and the US standard mileage rate?
Both are per-mile flat rates that approximate the cost of operating a vehicle for business. AMAP (UK) is tiered: 45p for the first 10,000 miles, 25p after. The US standard mileage rate is flat at 72.5 cents per mile for all business miles in 2026, with no tier. AMAP is also used as a tax-free employer reimbursement ceiling; the US rate is a deduction multiplier.
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