Do you have to track your vehicle mileage?

[D1gger]

For tax purposes, I have to keep a record of kilometres that I drive my company car for personal use, versus company use. For instance, driving to work from my home and back at the end of the day is considered personal use, and I get a taxable benefit for that portion of the car usage. Anywhere I go during the day on company business is considered non-taxable.

It is a huge pain at the end of the year when our accounting staff ask me for a log, or summary of my mileage.

Does anyone else have to do this, and if so, how do you do this. I am looking for an easier solution that trying to recreate it at the end of the year.

 

[sjwaste]

For tax purposes, I have to keep a record of kilometres that I drive my company car for personal use, versus company use. For instance, driving to work from my home and back at the end of the day is considered personal use, and I get a taxable benefit for that portion of the car usage. Anywhere I go during the day on company business is considered non-taxable.

It is a huge pain at the end of the year when our accounting staff ask me for a log, or summary of my mileage.

Does anyone else have to do this, and if so, how do you do this. I am looking for an easier solution that trying to recreate it at the end of the year.

Does your odometer have two trip counters? Use that. Or, you know your travel distance to/from work, just keep track of what days you work and multiply that out. Then use a trip counter to track your intra-day work mileage.

 

[Wyndru]

I'm supposed to log mileage on my personal car for business (I travel around between buildings a lot), but I have never accumulated enough to make it add up to more than $20/month so it's more hassle than it's worth to do all of that logging.

My coworker created an google spreadsheet that has locations on it and it calculates mileage based on a center point, so all he does is puts a number (increments by 1 each trip) in a certain column (his destination) and it calculates it for him. He can access it right from google drive on his phone, so it's easy to update when he is on the go.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I don't HAVE to. I do, because keeping track of your mileage and MPG is a good practice.

 

[vi edit]

I don't HAVE to. I do, because keeping track of your mileage and MPG is a good practice.

That's not what he's talking about.

He's talking about...

On Wednesday, January 16th I started the day with 21,340 miles.
I drove 20 miles to work. 21,360 miles.
Then 60 miles from the office to the Bobsville job site. 21,420 miles.
Then I went to the strip club between Bobsville and home which is 40 miles. 21,460. Then home 40 miles. 21,500.

As for what I did, I had a little mileage ledger that my boss gave each of us. I just tracked it daily with a running tally for the day of personal vs. work milelage. It's basically doing checkbook balancing every time you write a check vs. going back at the end of the month and trying to catch up.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

I log my odometer every time I fill up at the pump with the company fuel card. What I mean is: the odometer reading is a required entry at the pump in order to dispense fuel.

The company deducts a flat sum from my paycheck to cover personal use ($40/month). On a monthly basis, I must log into our fleet management's website to declare what percent of the calculated miles are categorized as "personal" so that I can be taxed on the fuel provided to me for personal use of the vehicle.

 

[highland145]

It's all company miles. All of it.


:ninja:

 

[Fritzo]

I do for reimbursement at the end of the month (the company pays .55/mile).

I don't think I've actually ever done it though. I just record where I was, Google map the distance, and then make up some mileage that matches that number

 

[Baked]

It's all company miles. All of it.


:ninja:

True story.

 

[dullard]

I've done it. Pretty quick and painless if you ask me. I just used a clipboard with a printed table on it: date, start mileage, stop mileage, travel reason, signature. Takes no more than a few added seconds per trip.

At least in the US you can legally use a typical mileage once you've documented several trips that way. And then you just tally up the number of times for each common trip. You have to remember to make a tally mark, but you also have to remember to lower your pants prior to using a toilet (you just do it without thinking after a few accidents).

 

[Apple Of Sodom]

Use actual expenses instead of mileage. Especially if you drive a high-end car

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc510.html

To use the actual expense method, you must determine what it actually costs to operate the car for the portion of the overall use of the car that is business use. Include gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration fees, licenses, and depreciation (or lease payments) attributable to the portion of the total miles driven that are business miles

 

[D1gger]

I do for reimbursement at the end of the month (the company pays .55/mile).

I don't think I've actually ever done it though. I just record where I was, Google map the distance, and then make up some mileage that matches that number

This is basically what I have been doing, I'm just not diligent enough to keep my log up to date. I only have to turn it in once per year, and my calendar entries are not always complete enough to be accurate.

I guess I will just try to keep it up to date more often.

 

[jupiter57]

It's all company miles. All of it.


:ninja:

This.
When I had my Contracting Co., I just recorded the mileage on Jan. 1, then on Dec. 31, that was my "business" mileage on my work truck.

Now I have a Farm, I do the same, Farm truck is Farm truck.
But, to be fair, (almost) all mileage on both are true "business" miles.

 

[Mixolydian]

Davis CarChip. Plug it into your OBDII port and it logs all your trips (as well as other engine data). You can download the data to your computer whenever and categorize each trip as personal or business.