Mileage Tracking for a Mobile Service Business: What Counts
For a mobile service business, driving between jobs, to pick up supplies, and to a customer's property generally counts as deductible business mileage — your commute from home to your first job of the day typically does not, following the same rule as any other business's commute. Track the odometer reading or trip distance for each drive at the time it happens, with the date, destination, and purpose, since a mileage log reconstructed months later is far more likely to be challenged and far less accurate.
What generally counts
- Driving between jobs during the workday.
- Driving to pick up supplies or materials for a job.
- Driving to a customer’s property for the job itself.
What generally doesn’t
- Your commute from home to your first job of the day — treated the same as any commute, not a business trip, in most cases.
- Personal errands, even if run during a business trip, without a documented business purpose.
Rules can have nuances depending on how your business is structured — this is general guidance, not a substitute for confirming your specific situation with a tax professional.
The four things every log entry needs
- Date
- Starting and ending location (or odometer readings)
- Total miles
- Business purpose
Missing any of these turns a mileage log into a rough estimate instead of a usable record.
Log it at the time, not from memory later
A mileage log built at year-end from memory is both less accurate and more likely to be challenged than one built trip by trip. The difference between “roughly how much I drove this year” and an actual dated log is significant if the deduction is ever questioned.
Automate it if you can
The reason mileage logs fail isn’t lack of intent — it’s that logging manually gets skipped on busy days. An app or system that captures the trip automatically removes the daily decision to log or not, which is where most manual logs quietly stop being kept.
Frequently asked questions
Does my drive from home to the first job count?
Generally no — that's typically treated as a commute, the same as an employee driving to an office, regardless of whether you're self-employed. Rules can have nuances depending on your setup, so confirm with a tax professional if your situation is unusual.
What information does each mileage log entry need?
Date, starting and ending location (or odometer readings), total miles, and the business purpose of the trip. All four are what separates a usable log from a rough guess if it's ever reviewed.
Is a mileage app or a paper log better?
Either works as long as it's used consistently and at the time of the trip, not reconstructed later. An app that logs automatically removes the temptation to skip entries on busy days, which is when logs typically fall apart.