Mileage Tracking for Cleaning Business Owners
Many cleaning-business owners drive 8,000 to 18,000 business miles a year. At the 2026 IRS standard rate of 72.5 cents per mile, that is a deduction range of $5,800 to $13,050 for the workers who can claim it.
Who can deduct
Owners and sole-proprietor cleaning operations deduct business mileage on Schedule C at 72.5 cents per mile. W-2 cleaning employees cannot deduct on the federal return; some states mandate employer reimbursement (CA, IL, MA, NY).
How cleaning-business owners actually drive
An owner-operator cleaning multiple homes a day commonly logs 12,000 to 16,000 miles a year. Larger operations with more clients log 16,000 to 20,000.
Typical deductible trips
The trips below are the ones cleaning-business owners most commonly forget to log, plus the obvious ones. Auto-tracking catches all of them, including the small ones that add up.
- Driving from one client home to the next
- Driving to a supply store to restock cleaning products and equipment
- Driving to estimate appointments for new clients
- Driving to a deep-clean or move-out job at a different address than your usual route
- Driving to client homes for special services (carpet, upholstery, post-construction)
How TruMile helps
TruMile auto-detects every drive using motion plus location, so the trips above get logged whether you remember them or not. Smart classification learns your repeat routes (between regular client homes, between job sites, to your supply store) and starts tagging them automatically after a few trips.
At year-end, one tap turns your trip log into an IRS-compliant CSV or PDF you can hand to your accountant or paste into Schedule C. The math is already done.
Free for 40 auto trips a month, every month. If you are anywhere near the high end of the typical mileage range, the unlimited Pro tier at $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year usually pays for itself in the first week of tax season.
FAQ for cleaning-business owners
Can I deduct drives to Costco for cleaning supplies?
Yes. If the trip is specifically to buy supplies for the business, the drive is deductible. A trip that mixes business supplies with personal grocery shopping needs to be split or treated as personal.
I have employees who drive between client homes. Can I deduct their mileage?
Your employees' mileage is not your business deduction. If you reimburse them, the reimbursement is a business expense (and required by law in CA, IL, MA, NY for W-2 employees). Their personal mileage records are between them and the IRS, but as W-2 employees they cannot federally deduct it.
What about miles to bank deposits and supply orders?
Yes. Banking, supply pickups, and any other business-purpose drives during your work day are deductible.
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