Free Mileage Log Template for 2026 (IRS-Ready Google Sheet)

If you drive for your 1099 or self-employed work, a mileage log is how you prove your car deduction if the IRS ever asks. Our free template does the math for you and has a column for everything the IRS asks for.

→ Get the free 2026 mileage log template (Google Sheets)

To use it, open the link and choose File > Make a copy to save your own version. No email or sign-up with Keeper is needed. Prefer Excel? From your copy, choose File > Download > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx). Want a paper log for your glove box? Choose File > Print.

What the IRS requires in a mileage log

For every business trip, IRS Publication 463 (Table 5-1) says your record should show:

• The date you used the car for business

• Your business destination

• The business purpose of the trip

• The miles you drove for that trip

You also need your total miles for the year, business and personal combined, so the IRS can see what share of your driving was for work.

A starting address isn't on the IRS list, but it makes your miles easier to verify, so our template has a column for it. If you also deduct business parking and tolls, note those too, and keep receipts when you can. If you drive the same route over and over, like a delivery route, Publication 463 lets you record the route's length once and then log the date of each trip.

If part of your record is missing, the deduction isn't automatically lost. You'd have to prove the missing details with your own detailed statement plus other evidence, like receipts or client invoices. That's a lot harder than keeping the log, so it's worth the habit.

Mileage log example

Here's what a filled-in log looks like, using the sample trips from our template. Each business row covers the four things the IRS asks for: date, destination, purpose, and miles.

The first two business trips use the 72.5-cent rate. The August trip uses 76 cents, because the IRS raised the rate on July 1, 2026.

How the Keeper mileage log works

The template has two parts: a log for your trips and a dashboard that adds everything up.

Entering your trips

Each row is one trip.

Here's what goes in each column:

• Trip purpose: Why you drove, like "Meeting: Acme Co." or "Supply pickup." Be specific. "Business" on its own isn't a purpose.

• Date: The day you took the trip. Type it as a date, like 3/3/26.

• Start and End: Where you started and where you went. An exact address is best, but a clear description like "ABC warehouse on 6th" works too.

• Miles: The distance you drove for that trip.

• Business or personal: Pick from the dropdown. Only business trips count toward your deduction.

• Deduction: Calculated for you. Each business trip gets the rate for the date you drove.

If a business trip shows Check date instead of a dollar amount, the date is missing, isn't a 2026 date, or wasn't typed in a format Sheets reads as a date. Fix it and the deduction fills in.

Your mileage dashboard

As you log trips, the dashboard at the top updates on its own. It shows your total mileage deduction, both 2026 rates, your business miles, and your total miles.

Do you need odometer readings?

The IRS doesn't require odometer readings on each trip. But they're the easiest way to get your total miles for the year, which you do need.

If you log your personal trips too, the dashboard already has your total. If you only log business trips, enter your odometer readings from the start and end of the year in the Starting Odometer and Ending Odometer boxes. The dashboard's total miles uses whichever is higher: the miles you logged or the difference between your two readings.

Keeper pro tip: Snap a photo of your odometer on January 1 each year. If you forget to log for a while, you'll still know where you started.

How the mileage deduction works

Your mileage deduction is your business miles times the IRS standard mileage rate for when you drove them. For 2026, that's:

• 72.5 cents per mile from January 1 to June 30

• 76 cents per mile from July 1 to December 31

For miles you drove in 2025, the rate is 70 cents.

So if you drove 2,500 business miles in the first half of 2026 and 2,500 in the second half, your deduction would be $1,812.50 + $1,900 = $3,712.50. You can see every IRS rate and run your own numbers with our mileage rate calculator.

The IRS sets the rate based on a study of what it costs to own and run a car. It's usually set once a year, but the IRS can change it mid-year, as it did in 2026. The rate covers gas, oil, tires, repairs, maintenance, insurance, registration, and depreciation, so you can't deduct those separately. You can still deduct business parking and tolls on top of it. If you're self-employed, you can also deduct the business share of your car loan interest and any personal property tax on the car.

If your car costs more per mile than the IRS rate, you might come out ahead with the actual expenses method instead. See mileage vs. actual expenses for how to choose. You need a mileage log either way.

How you report your miles

If you're self-employed, you'll usually report your car use in Part IV of Schedule C. (If you have to file Form 4562, for example because you're depreciating the car, you'll answer the same questions in Part V of that form instead.) It asks for three numbers for the year:

• Business miles

• Commuting miles

• Other personal miles

It also asks whether you have evidence to support your deduction, and whether that evidence is written. Your mileage log is that written evidence.

Commuting from home to a regular workplace isn't deductible. If your home is your main place of business, though, drives from home to clients or job sites usually count as business miles. To make tax time easier, write "Commute" in the trip purpose and mark those trips as personal, so you can total them separately.

Tips for keeping a mileage log that holds up

• Log at least once a week. The IRS wants records made at or near the time you drive. Publication 463 says a log you update weekly counts as timely.

• Use whatever you'll actually stick with. A spreadsheet, an app, or a paper notebook in your glove box all work. The IRS considers a record kept on a computer an adequate record.

• Keep one log per car. If you use two cars for work, track each one separately.

• Forgot to log for a while? Rebuilding months of trips from memory rarely holds up. If you kept a good log for part of the year, the IRS may let you use it to show your business use for the whole year, as long as that period is typical of how you drove.

• Keep your log for at least 3 years after you file, which is the general rule. If you depreciate your car, keep the records for every year you're depreciating it.

Driving for Uber, Lyft, or DoorDash? Don't rely only on the mileage summary in your driver app. It may not match your deductible business miles, so keep your own log too.

Rather not track everything by hand? The Keeper app connects to your bank and cards and finds your tax-deductible expenses automatically, including gas, parking, tolls, and car insurance.

What happens if you claim miles without a good log?

The Tax Court is strict about mileage records. Two cases show the most common ways a log falls apart.

⚖️ A log made after the fact: Kilpatrick v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo. 2016-166)

A CPA claimed more than 40,000 business miles on his 2009 return, then cut that to about 8,700 at trial. He hadn't kept a log. To back up his deduction, he put together a calendar and MapQuest printouts in December 2011, two years after the driving. The court held that those records weren't made at or near the time he drove, so they didn't count. He was allowed only the small amount the IRS had already accepted.

⚖️ A log full of errors: Burden v. Commissioner (T.C. Summary Opinion 2019-11)

The taxpayers' mileage numbers didn't match: one log said about 44,000 miles, while their return claimed about 36,000. The log showed business driving on 360 days of the year, including trips to South Africa and the Dominican Republic, which you can't drive to. The court disallowed the entire car deduction. Claiming fewer miles than the log showed didn't fix it.

The lesson from both cases: log as you go, and make sure your entries are accurate and add up.