Mileage Log
Log business trips and post the deduction at the IRS per-mile rate in force on each trip's date.
The mileage log records business trips and posts each one as an expense at your per-mile rate, so the deduction is in your books as you go.
Mileage is often under-claimed because trips weren't logged at the time, and a log rebuilt from memory is weak evidence.
Logging a trip
- Check the rate
Lejr starts you with the IRS business mileage rates, including mid-year changes. Add a new period or adjust one in Settings → Accounting → Mileage (or Set rate on the log). Each trip uses the rate in force on its date; a trip with no rate yet waits until you add one.
- Log it when it happens
Choose Log trip and enter the date, miles and purpose. A record made at the time holds up better than one written months later.
- Say what it was for
The business purpose matters most if you're examined. “Client site visit, Larkspur Cafe” is a record; “travel” isn't.
Standard rate or actual expenses
The standard mileage rate multiplies business miles by a per-mile figure meant to cover fuel, maintenance, insurance and depreciation. Actual expenses deducts the business share of real costs.
Lejr uses the standard rate method. Which suits you depends on your vehicle and driving, and there are rules about switching. Ask your accountant.
What counts as business mileage
Travel between work locations, to clients and to suppliers generally counts. Commuting between home and your regular workplace generally doesn't, and it's the most common error. A home office can change the answer, so check with a professional.
Good to know
- Each trip posts an ordinary two-line entry that you can edit like any other.
- Rates are kept to a tenth of a cent, since rounding to whole cents drifts over thousands of miles.
- Lejr records and computes. Whether a trip is deductible is for you and your preparer to decide.