How to track mileage for IRS taxes (gig worker guide)

This article includes Roadfolio, built by ITF Business. Tax info is general; talk to a CPA for your specific situation.

If you drive for work, mileage is one of your biggest tax deductions. Get it right and you save thousands. Get it wrong, lose records, or use the wrong method and you give back money you earned. Here's the complete 2026 guide.

The 2026 IRS mileage rates

• Business: 70¢ per mile (up from 67¢)
• Medical or moving (military only): 21¢
• Charitable: 14¢ (set by Congress, hasn't changed)

The business rate is what most gig workers, contractors, and freelancers care about.

Standard mileage vs actual expense method

Standard mileage method (most people pick this)

• Multiply business miles × 70¢
• That's your deduction
• Simpler, fewer receipts to track
• Catch: if you start with standard mileage, you can switch to actual later; the reverse is not always allowed

Actual expense method

• Track all vehicle costs: gas, oil, repairs, insurance, registration, depreciation, lease payments
• Multiply by business use percentage
• More paperwork; can yield bigger deduction for expensive cars (luxury, EV depreciation)
• Catch: must track everything carefully

Which is right for you?

For most gig drivers, contractors, and freelancers: standard mileage. For some luxury car owners and EVs: actual expense might be higher. Talk to a CPA your first year, then stick with what works.

What counts as "business" mileage

• Driving from one work location to another
• Driving to client meetings
• Driving for deliveries, rideshare passengers, or service calls
• Driving to pick up supplies or materials
• Driving to the bank for business deposits
• Driving to professional events, conferences, continuing ed
• Driving from home office to a client (if home is principal place of business)

What does NOT count

• Commute from home to your regular workplace (not deductible)
• Personal trips that happen to pass clients' offices
• Driving from home to a temporary work site if you don't have a home office
• Personal errands that include a stop at the post office

What the IRS wants in your log

Required for each business trip:

1. Date
2. Total miles driven
3. Starting location
4. Ending location
5. Business purpose

Optional but helpful: odometer readings, vehicle used, client name, type of trip.

The three ways to track mileage

1. Paper log (worst)

Notebook in the glovebox. Manual entry. Forgotten constantly. Lost at tax time. Audit-bait. Skip this.

2. Spreadsheet (slightly better)

You enter trips in Excel or Google Sheets when you remember. Still incomplete. Better than paper because at least it's typed.

3. Automatic GPS app (right answer)

App tracks every trip in the background. You classify business vs personal with a swipe. End of year, export an IRS-ready report. Examples:

• Roadfolio: best all-in-one (mileage + invoicing + expenses)
• MileIQ: $5.99/mo, dedicated tracker
• Stride: free, basic tracker
• Everlance: $8-24/mo, accountant-friendly

Common mistakes that cost money

• Not tracking dead miles (driving to a pickup, between rideshare gigs). These count. Uber/Lyft's reported miles miss most of them.
• Mixing business and personal trips. A trip with both business and personal stops requires you to allocate.
• Forgetting "trip purpose" in the log. Required.
• Reconstructing from memory at tax time. High audit risk; you'll forget many trips.
• Using personal commute miles. Not deductible.
• Claiming both standard mileage AND actual expenses. Pick one.

How much you can save

Real examples for 2026 rates:

• 5,000 business miles → $3,500 deduction → ~$770 tax saved at 22% bracket
• 12,000 business miles → $8,400 deduction → ~$1,848 tax saved
• 25,000 business miles → $17,500 deduction → ~$3,850 tax saved
• 40,000 business miles → $28,000 deduction → ~$6,160 tax saved

Plus self-employment tax savings on top.

Recordkeeping rules

• Keep mileage logs for 7 years after filing
• Save the export from your app each year (PDF or CSV)
• Back up to cloud storage
• If audited, you'll need to prove every trip

How to switch from paper to automatic tracking

1. Install Roadfolio or another GPS tracker today.
2. Turn on automatic tracking.
3. Set business hours (so most weekday trips auto-classify as business).
4. Add your client locations and common addresses.
5. Swipe to classify any ambiguous trips daily.
6. Run a report at end of month to verify everything captured.

What if you get audited?

• Pull your mileage report (PDF from your app)
• Match it to your calendar / client appointment records
• Provide vehicle service records showing odometer at start and end of year
• Show the business is real (1099s, invoices, contracts)

App-tracked GPS logs hold up well in audits. Paper logs and "reconstructed" mileage do not.

5 things to do this week

1. Install Roadfolio free; turn on automatic tracking.
2. Set up business hours and client locations.
3. Categorize this week's trips properly.
4. If you haven't tracked at all this year, run a calendar-based reconstruction to capture what you can.
5. Set a quarterly reminder to review and export reports.