If you did not keep a mileage log, you can still rebuild one from records you already have. A rebuilt log is weaker than one kept at the time, so keep the records you used.
Where the trips already are
- Google Maps Timeline, if Location History was on: each drive with its date and distance.
- Your calendar: meetings with an address show where you went and when.
- Receipts, invoices and job notes: dates and client addresses.
- Service records with odometer readings, for your total miles in the year.
Free way: a spreadsheet
- Make columns for date, start, destination, business purpose and miles.
- Go through your calendar and receipts, one row per trip.
- Look up each distance in Google Maps and type it in.
- Add up business miles and total miles at the end.
This works, but a year of trips can take a full day.
Make an IRS mileage log from Google Maps Timeline
If Location History was on, Google Maps Timeline already holds your drives with dates and distances. You can turn that into a mileage log.
Step 1: export your Timeline
Timeline is now stored on your phone. Export it from the Google Maps app's Timeline settings, or use the Location History files from Google Takeout. Copy the file (Timeline.json or location-history.json) to your computer.
What the log needs
IRS Publication 463 (chapter 5) asks a car-use record to show the date, the destination, the business purpose and the miles.
Free way: read the Timeline by hand
- Open Timeline on your phone day by day.
- Copy each drive's date, places and distance into a spreadsheet.
- Add the business purpose for each trip.
This works for a few weeks of driving. For a full year it is slow.
Mileage log template for taxes
A mileage log for taxes is a list of trips. IRS Publication 463 (chapter 5) asks a car-use record to show the date, the destination, the business purpose and the miles.
Free template layout
Make a spreadsheet with these columns:
- Date
- Start (for example Home)
- Destination
- Business purpose
- Miles (or start and end odometer)
- Type: business, commute or personal
At the end of the year, add up business miles and total miles. Business miles divided by total miles is your business-use percentage.
The tool I made for this
I make and sell Mileage Log Rebuilder. Rebuild a mileage log for trips you already took, from Google Maps Timeline, your calendar or a list. Runs in your browser.
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