A mileage log that survives being questioned

Reconstructing a year of mileage from your calendar the week before you file is the single most reliable way to have the claim disallowed. The rules are less about the number and more about the record.

What a defensible log has

• Contemporaneous entries. Written at the time, not rebuilt later.
• A business purpose on every trip. "Client meeting — Henderson job" beats a bare address.
• Start and end points.
• Odometer readings at the start and end of the year.
• Ordinary commuting excluded. Home to a regular workplace generally does not count, and this is the most common error.

Why the tool does not know the rate

The mileage rate changes every year and sometimes mid-year. Our log asks you to enter the current rate rather than baking one in. A hard-coded figure would be silently wrong in a later year while still looking authoritative — which is worse than no figure at all.

The Tax & Records pack also has an expense and receipt log, a home-office worksheet, and a contractor payment tracker. Record-keeping tools, not tax advice.