
Most of the working community often travel for business purposes and leave a substantial amount of money in terms of taxes on the table if they don’t log their business miles properly. One thing everyone needs to understand is that every mile travelled on business purposes is tax deductible. Each trip you take for business reasons offers you a chance to claim these miles as a business mileage.
The only hard part is how to track these miles accurately and without any difficulties. Previously it was done by manually logging the business miles for each trip and maintaining a log book in the vehicle all the time. But with the evolution of technology and softwares, now we have excellent tech solutions available at our disposal to do the miles tracking job for us in a more efficient way. These mileage trackers or miles tracking apps automatically record the miles travelled for business purposes.
Mileage Tracker’s Benefits
Before going too deep into the benefits of the miles tracker, let’s understand how one can claim their business miles as a tax deduction. There are two ways to claim your business mileage tax-deduction.
- IRS Standard Rate Deduction: This is the most convenient method for miles tax deduction. There is a fixed IRS rate for each business mile you travel. Once you have the number of business miles driven in a year, then you can multiply it with the IRS standard rate deduction and you will get the amount you save on taxes.
- Actual Expense Deduction: In this method you not only need the number of miles you drive on business but also need to calculate all your actual expenses related to your vehicle. Expenses like lease amount, fuel costs, insurance and maintenance all need to be calculated for the business miles you drove in the whole financial year. You can only claim the portion of these expenses according to your business miles.
You can choose any method whichever gives you the most return. Again the only issue remains is how to track and record these miles efficiently. Mileage tracker apps are the life saviour for the individuals who usually drive a lot of business miles. These apps not only log the miles but also create a record for the amount of fuel you used while on driving for business purposes. There are numerous other benefits of using a miles tracker app.
No More Guesswork
Without a miles tracker app, we need to maintain the log for each trip as accurately as possible. But there is no way to record the miles accurately and in some cases people lose their logbooks or fuel slips and use a lot of guesswork while filing their tax return. But with a miles tracking app you can officially say bye-bye to the uncertainty and guesswork. Miles tracker records every single mile automatically. It will record all the data and provide you an option to edit it whenever you want. Just make sure you buy the IRS compliant miles tracker, because it will provide you with an IRS compliant report.
Mental Peace
Miles tracker apps can lift a huge amount of burden from your shoulders. The amount of time you have to spend calculating your business miles can be diverted to some other positive aspects of your business. Miles tracker apps automatically record all the miles and related data without mistakes. Therefore you don’t need to worry about any mistakes or errors.
Increased Productivity
A person with less administrative burden on his mind can do wonders with his business. Most of the time it is very painful to log each and every business mile and fuel expense for that trip. But with the help of a miles tracker app, there is no need to waste time doing calculations. Miles tracker app will do the work for you.
Video Credit – CanTrack Global Ltd
Easy to Use
Miles tracker apps are very easy to install and very easy to use. Once you have set up the app, then you can simply forget about it and your miles tracker will track and record each and every mile that you drive and at the end of each month or year you can print out an IRS compliant report.
How to Select a Miles Tracker for Your Company?
There are so many miles tracking apps available in the market. The biggest question arrives is, which one is the best for me. Before selecting an app for your company, make sure you select the app based on certain criteria.
- First thing to look for in a miles tracker app is that it must calculate everything automatically. This will save a lot of time and manual entries.
- Your miles tracker app should be able to keep all data safe and also provide an option to scan the fuel receipts and other documents for tax purposes and maintain them safely in their record.
- Your miles tracker app should be customizable. Always look for an app that allows itself to be customizable according to one’s requirement.
- Miles tracker app providers must also provide customer support in case of an issue. Always prefer the one that has some additional features.
Miles tracker apps are very helpful in claiming your business miles. These apps not only help you claim your business miles but also record all the data regarding your trips. This data will come handy in case of an IRS audit.