How to Recreate Mileage Log

Car, Truck, Plane - you travel you have deductions for charitable, medical, rental management and self employment. Bummer, no mileage log.

Here are suggestions on how to recreate a written log that will help document your deduction.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Empty records books one each for charitable, medical and one for self employment
• Excel is helpful

1. Get out your calendars of appointments. Copy this calender onto a MASTER calendar. In the next steps we are seeking more information and documentation. You may use a computer calendar or one that you hand write everything into.

2. Using a scanner make copies of bank and credit card records and receipts and put in folder for back of mileage notebook. Make sure to keep originals in your yearly tax files.
   
   What you are looking for is information about where you spent money. Did you spend money at the pharmacy after the doctors office visit? Did you pay in cash at the doctors office on date of appointment? Do you have record of teller deposit at the bank, making self employment income deposit?
   
   Did you purchase gas near clients house. Did you take client out to dinner and it matches the calendar date? You spent 3.00 at the church's youth group concert where you chaperoned as a volunteer to the youth group. Add all these notations to the master calendar with the mileage notation. Make sure to not double enter. Keep copies of how your arrived at that conclusion at the back of notebook.

3. On your MASTER calendar ADD date and place information from bank records/receipts. Try to figure the mileage for each entry. You may have to use Google maps to reconstruct the actual mileage for each entry.

4. Note on Master calendar any regular travel you do. Such as Business Journal Meet ups, or volunteering to shelf books at grade school library.
   
   Find out exactly how far it is to those regularly driven places and write that down. Notate it on MASTER CALENDAR with any documentation you have... notes from meeting or emails regarding the meetings. Again notate the mileage on the MASTER calendar.

5. Once you feel you have solid information on your Master Calendar, then you can create a mileage log for the past year.
   
   Start a notebook for mileage and using your newly created master calendar enter all information in date order by hand. When known enter the mileage. You can also create one using the computer.
   
   EXAMPLE: You have clocked and know that it is 12 miles round trip to the grade school, where you volunteer one day a week. (you can document from the sign in book of visitors at the school) You can then enter that amount of miles in the notebook for each entry.

6. Once you have figured out and recreated all mileage you will be able to figure your deduction by totaling the mileage and multiplying with theper allowance per mile, in your tax form instructions.
   
   You will now have a written back up for WHY you should be allowed this deduction. Make sure to keep all copies of your documentation together in a file with your submitted tax return.

7. Additionally for ease of mind you can notate at back of notebook any major travel by air that is tax deductible. Include all related expenses and staple in copies of the bank drafts or actual receipts. (hopefully, you kept those).
   
   If you don't' clean your computer then email files of online purchase receipts may be available. Credit cards may have receipts of those purchases too. Do not forget to write the travel deductions in the appropriate places on your return.

8. There is an online service, which for a small amount of money will calculate your mileage and provide written documentation. It looks promising enough to add to the resource box. They have a link to try a prior year for free.

Tips & Warnings

• Read the IRS rules if in doubt irs.gov
• It is useful to use TurboTax or a paid preparer for advice and help.

Resources

• Professional Biz Mile service to recreat milage
• irs.gov

[Alrady]

on 12/20/2009 another great articlel and I didnt' want to redo the resource list is : found at business dot com look for mileage guides for business. To find all lost deductions follow steps in this article.

[WickerWoman]

on 11/22/2009 Excellent article on how to recreate a mileage expense record for the self-employed! Hubby and I sometimes forget to write the mileage down and this is an excellent primer to help jog our memories! 5*s

[Alrady]

on 11/14/2009 If you are writer on ehow or other sites you might want to read the related article http://www.ehow.com/how_4703560_deduct-expenses-writing-income.html

[TERAZ]

on 10/6/2009 This is good info an often overlooked deduction.
Mostly due to lack of a log...Well here you go!

[charlotteh]

on 7/11/2009 Thanks for this very informative article on logging for tax purposes. This is 5*s and one of my favorites Thanks