Short answer
A mileage log needs, for each business trip, the date, the destination, the business purpose and the miles, plus your total miles for the year. This free template has those columns, odometer fields for the year's total, and a place for parking and tolls.
Which mileage log template format should you use?
- Excel (.xlsx)Trips sheet and year totals
- Printable PDFOne page, keep it in the car
- CSVFor Google Sheets or Numbers
What goes in each column?
| Column | What to write |
|---|---|
| Date, start time | When the trip began |
| Starting point, destination | A name or address someone else can recognize |
| Business purpose | Specific: "estimate, Garcia kitchen", not "business" |
| Odometer start and end | Optional per trip; needed for the year |
| Miles | Distance of the trip |
| Use | Business, commuting (home to your regular workplace) or personal |
| Parking and tolls | Deductible on top of the standard mileage rate, business trips only |
How do you keep a template up to date?
The IRS gives the most weight to entries made at or near the time of the trip: fill it the same day or the same week. See the full IRS mileage log requirements.
Is there a faster way than filling it by hand?
If your phone records your drives, the Google Maps Timeline mileage log fills these columns from your Timeline export: you only mark which places are for work. Free to preview, $49 per tax year to keep the files.
Common questions
Do I need odometer readings for every trip?
No. The IRS asks for the miles of each business trip and your total miles for the year. Odometer readings at the start and end of the year are the simplest proof of the total; per-trip readings are optional.
Do I have to log personal trips too?
Logging them is not required, but Schedule C asks for business, commuting and other miles, and they must add up to your total. Logging every trip makes the totals easy to defend.
I did not fill in a template last year. What now?
If your Google Maps Timeline was on, the drives are already recorded with their dates and distances: you can build the log from them instead of from memory.