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Take the Hassle Out of Tracking Your Mileage with These 7 Apps
If you’re a Lyft or Uber driver, you already know how important it is to track your mileage and expenses.
You’ll need that information come tax time to make sure you’re squeezing out every last penny in deductions.
But rideshare drivers aren’t the only people eligible for mileage tax deductions. If you drive your personal vehicle for other kinds of paid work or use it for charitable, moving or medical purposes, you may also qualify for a standard mileage rate deduction.
Back in the old days, tracking mileage meant pulling a crumpled notebook out of the glove box and hoping your pen wasn’t out of ink.
But now there’s an app for everything — including mileage tracking.
Here are our favorites.
Best Mileage Tracker Apps
These apps will help you stay on top of all the business miles you travel, so you can reduce your tax liability when it’s time to pay Uncle Sam. And you can try out most of them for free!
Everlance is a versatile app that not only tracks your mileage but also helps you keep track of all your other business expenses.
Features include:
Everlance has three pricing tiers for self-employed users:
Everlance also has three pricing tiers for business owners:
Everlance is a nice mileage tracker option for freelancers, entrepreneurs and small-business owners who could benefit from extra features to help cut down their tax bill.
Download Everlance from the App Store or Google Play.
Stride is a free app that runs in the background, quietly logging every mile you drive, and then generates an IRS-ready report that you can use to do your taxes.
Features include:
Stride is a great choice for independent contractors and self-employed individuals looking for a simple app to track mileage and business expenses with ease.
Download Stride from the App Store or Google Play.
TripLog helps individual workers and companies cut down on administrative work by automatically tracking miles, recording incurred business expenses, streamlining timesheets and more.
Some of its features include:
TripLog has three price tiers. For an additional $3.33 per user per month (or $40 annually) you can purchase an add-on for timesheet and scheduling services:
TripLog is a good app for owners of small businesses who have mobile employees, or self-employed individuals looking to keep tabs on mileage and other expenses. Its many features that help business owners cut down on administrative work make TripLog stand out from other apps.
Download TripLog from the App Store or Google Play.
Hurdlr automatically tracks mileage and identifies tax deductions. You can connect this app to your financial institution to keep up with your income and expenses.
Features include:
Hurdlr has four pricing options:
If you’re a rideshare driver, independent contractor or entrepreneur, Hurdlr is a great option not just for tracking mileage, but to stay on top of your profits and tax obligations.
Download Hurdlr from the App Store or Google Play.
MileIQ automatically captures your drives and delivers a comprehensive mileage log whenever you need it.
Features include:
MileIQ has five price options:
MileIQ is ideal for individuals looking to ditch paper logs and go digital with automatic mileage tracking.
Download MileIQ from the App Store or Google Play.
SherpaShare advertises itself as the “ultimate rideshare driver assistant.” It helps you record how many miles you drive and other related expenses with little effort — and offers ways to increase your income and lower your expenses.
Features include:
SherpaShare has two versions:
Consider this app if you drive for Uber, Lyft or another similar company. This app can also be useful for delivery drivers.
Download SherpaShare from the App Store or Google Play.
From Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, you can download QuickBooks Self-Employed to track miles, organize expenses and estimate taxes.
Features include:
QuickBooks Self-Employed has three price tiers:
QuickBooks Self-Employed is perfect for solo workers looking to accurately record their miles driven and make it easy to file taxes.
Download QuickBooks Self-Employed from the App Store or Google Play.
When trying to decide which mileage tracker app is the best for you, consider one with these top features.
With automatic mileage tracking, you can just get in your vehicle and drive — no need to do anything to signal the start of the trip or make note of your odometer reading. Having automatic tracking saves you from having to track miles by hand.
Mileage classification allows you to distinguish between personal and business trips. If you use your vehicle for work and personal purposes, it’s helpful to be able to easily categorize trips.
Be aware, only business mileage is tax deductible. If you’re dropping off a rideshare customer and then decide to visit a friend’s house for a break before picking up more passengers, you can’t deduct the miles driven to your friend’s place.
Mileage tracking apps that turn your miles driven into IRS-compliant mileage reports will make it easier to deduct your business travel expenses when it’s time to file taxes. Also, if the IRS audits your tax return, these reports will be an accurate record of your mileage log.
If you’re going to deduct mileage on your taxes or you need to track mileage to get reimbursed, mileage trackers can be very useful.
Mileage trackers make it easy to stay organized and have all the information you need come tax time.
Independent contractors, entrepreneurs and small-business owners can either keep record of all their actual expenses (like gas station receipts and parking stubs) or use the IRS standard mileage rate to determine the deduction amount for business travel. The rate for 2022 is 58.5 cents per mile.
If you drove 10,000 miles for business, for instance, you would be able to deduct $5,850 from your tax liability.
People in the following lines of work should consider downloading a mileage tracking app:
Use this Q&A to help you determine which mileage tracker to download.
All the mileage tracker apps listed above come highly recommended. However, the best one for you will be one that fits your needs.
If you’re looking for a simple app to track mileage without added features, Stride may be the one for you.
If you’re an independent contractor and need an easy way to nail down mileage deductions for filing quarterly taxes, try Hurdlr or QuickBooks Self-Employed.
If you run a small business with a fleet of multiple vehicles, consider Everlance or TripLog.
Stride is the only completely free app on this list. However, Everlance, TripLog, Hurdlr and MileIQ all have a free version. You can test out the free version to see if you like the app before committing to paying for the premium version with more features.
You really can’t go wrong with any of the mileage tracker apps we’ve discussed. Stride is completely free, but trying the free version or a free trial of the other apps is also a great way to go.
You’re not making any financial commitment, so you can also switch to one of the other mileage tracking apps if one doesn’t serve you well.
The information on each mileage tracking app listed above will help you select the best mileage tracker for you.
The brilliant thing about using one of these apps is that they keep a record of your work travel so you can deduct business mileage with ease. You don’t have to worry about how to track your mileage. The app records it for you!
When deducting mileage on your tax return, the IRS is looking for an accurate account of business miles driven. In addition to mileage, you should keep track of the date, destination and reason for each trip. Mileage tracker apps will help you keep the required records.
Lisa McGreevy and Nicole Dow are former writers at The Penny Hoarder. Michael Archambault, a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder, contributed.
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