Home › Guides › IRS mileage log rules: odometer vs. GPS
IRS mileage log rules: odometer logs vs. GPS apps for independent contractors
In short: the IRS doesn’t require a particular app or a paper form. It asks for an adequate record made at or near the time of each drive. A GPS app or an odometer log can both work. What matters is that the log is complete, kept as you go, and adds up to the miles your car actually shows.
What the IRS asks you to record
For car expenses, IRS Publication 463 (chapter 5, Table 5-1) lists what your records should show:
- the miles for each business use of the car;
- the total miles you drove the car for the year;
- the date of each use;
- where you went, and the business purpose;
- if you deduct actual costs: what each expense cost, and when you started using the car for business.
You should keep these in “an account book, diary, log, statement of expense, trip sheets, or similar record,” and a record kept on a computer counts as an adequate record (Pub. 463, chapter 5).
“At or near the time” (contemporaneous records)
- Pub. 463 says a timely kept record is worth more than a statement prepared later, when memories aren’t as accurate.
- You don’t have to write everything down the same day. A log you fill in each week, covering that week’s driving, counts as timely.
- For delivery work, the business purpose is usually clear. Pub. 463 notes that the nature of the work, “such as making deliveries,” is evidence of business use, and delivery records show when you used the car. Your app’s trip and earnings history backs up your log.
- If records are missing, you have to prove each item with your own detailed statement plus other evidence. That’s much harder than having the log.
Business miles vs. personal miles
- Only business miles are deductible. Personal driving doesn’t count, and neither does commuting between your home and your regular place of work.
- For gig drivers, whether the drive from home to your first pickup counts depends on your facts: temporary work locations, or whether your home is your principal place of business. See Pub. 463 chapter 4 and the Schedule C instructions for line 44b, or ask a tax professional.
- Schedule C Part IV asks for your business, commuting, and other miles for the year, and whether you have evidence, and whether it’s written (Instructions for Schedule C).
- If you deduct actual expenses instead of the standard rate, you need your business-use percentage. Pub. 463’s example: 12,000 business miles out of 20,000 total is 60%. The total comes from your odometer, so note it at the start and end of the year.
The 2026 standard mileage rate
The IRS business rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents a mile from January 1 to June 30 and 76 cents a mile from July 1 to December 31. For 2025 it was 70 cents (IRS standard mileage rates). Miles use the rate for the day you drove them.
GPS apps vs. odometer logs
| GPS mileage app | Odometer log | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Your phone tracks the route and adds up the distance. | You note the odometer at the start and end of each drive or shift. |
| Effort | Little, once it’s running. | Two numbers per drive. |
| Common gaps | A weak signal, a dead battery, battery saver, a closed app, or forgetting to start it can lose miles. Trips may be sorted as business or personal by guesswork. | Forgetting a reading, or a typo. |
| Checking it | Hard to check against anything outside the app. | Matches the number on your dashboard. Repair invoices and oil change records often show the odometer too. |
| Personal miles | Only what the app recorded. | The gap between one shift’s ending reading and the next shift’s starting reading is personal driving. |
Why odometer readings are easy to back up
The odometer is a number other people write down too: repair shops, oil change places, inspections, and the dealer when you buy or sell. A log whose readings only go up, with shift totals that add up to the change on the dashboard, is consistent and simple to check. Even the IRS’s sample mileage log in Pub. 463 (Table 5-2) has columns for odometer start and stop. That doesn’t make a log audit-proof. It just makes it easier to show your numbers are real.
Using both
- If you like your GPS app, keep it, and also write down the odometer when each shift starts and ends.
- Take a dated photo of the odometer on January 1 and December 31, or as close as you can.
- Download your app trip and earnings history every so often as backup.
How long to keep your records
Generally, keep the records that support a deduction for 3 years from the date you file the return. If you depreciate your car, keep its business-use records for each year of the recovery period (Pub. 463, chapter 5; IRS Publication 583).
Sources
- IRS Publication 463: Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (chapter 4: car expenses; chapter 5: recordkeeping)
- IRS: Standard mileage rates
- IRS: Instructions for Schedule C (Part IV, vehicle information)
- IRS Topic no. 510: Business use of car
- IRS Publication 583: Starting a Business and Keeping Records
How Work Well Kept can help
Work Well Kept is a free record keeper built around the odometer. Tap Start when a shift begins (your last reading is filled in), and enter the odometer when you finish. Each drive keeps its date, starting and ending odometer, Business or Personal, and the app. The gaps between shifts show your personal miles, and the free reports total business, personal, and all miles for any week, month, or year, at the IRS rate for each day.
It’s free to start, with no credit card. You can also look around first with sample records, no account needed.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax, or benefits advice. Rules change and differ by state, agency, and landlord, and the office or landlord you’re dealing with decides what it accepts. Work Well Kept isn’t affiliated with the IRS, USDA, HUD, any state agency, or any gig app. See our Disclaimer.