ADDING UP THE MILES

Posted by Kristen White
8
Jul 1, 2017
105 Views
You always run the risk of miscalculating the mileage or even worse, for getting to log, so, using an automatic mile tracker app is really helpful. 

If you have to keep a record of the miles you drive for business, then you want to make certain that this is 100% accurate. Your job could be at risk if you file excessive mileage. 

Keeping a manual record of your expenses is tedious within itself, especially if you are recording the trips in a notebook.  You always run the risk of miscalculating the mileage or even worse, you may forget to log a trip.  And that can have an adverse affect on your reimbursement.

There is a free tracking app that is now available to you that you can download on your all your electronic devices.  This app will keep a precise record of all of your road trips for you and put your mind at ease as far as your documentation being error free.

There are multiple trackers that will service your needs, however, you may not have to use all of the particulars that they offer.  It is likely that you will want to do a comparison of different apps before making a concrete decision on which one is best suited for you.  However, no matter what Miles Tracker App you select your records will be available you whenever you desire to review them. Just make sure the app you pick does it accurately!  

The precision record keeping of your mileage log is also very important when it comes time for tax deductions.  When you capture this information you have to document what items count for reimbursement and what items do not.  Because reimbursement is involved it is easy to edit a a trip that was logged as a business venture and adjust it if it actually was a personal trip.
 
This is why the IRS has set rigid guidelines as to what they will accept for your tax deductions regarding this procedure.  For instance, when you travel from your office to another place business for a meeting or to a restaurant to have a business lunch or dinner with a client, that counts as mileage for a business expense but you ought to add a note to justify it for when you get audited.  But if you are traveling from home and happen to talk to a client while in the car, even though you may be discussing business this is not justification for reimbursement according to the IRS unless you have a home office. 

The IRS also tells you that you will need to keep up with what the standard mileage rate currently is so you can file that information your tax return.

You will find that the mileage apps are designed for both IOS and Android devices, which makes it very convenient for smartphone users.  What the Milecatcher app does better than most is it show the actual addoute and fiull address plus have a web portal for you to review the thousand of trips you will end up logging. And their free plan is very generous so if you may still have some unanswered questions just give it a try. You have nothing to loose. Afterwards if not happy, you can investigate different ones to make an accurate determination which one you would prefer to download.

Also, one great advantage that a mile tracker can have is the fact that it can run in the background, therefore, it will not prohibit you from having the important phone call with the client while you are driving to your next business location.  Also, none of your other important phone related activities would be interrupted causing you to have to go back and re-activate the tracker.  The only downside to this is that because it it use battery when you drive,  if you drive a lot, a cheap USB car charger is recommended so phone is fully charged once you unplug your device and no longer is driving.

Keep in mind that businesses’ like to make certain they are spending their money wisely and that the reimbursements they endorse to their employees are accurate and above any and all discrepancies.  This is where a tracker app will be your best partner in helping to keep you above suspicion when it comes to tracking your business trips for company purposes.

If you are looking for a smile tracker app, the author of this article recommends Milecatcher.

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