Make the 90-Day Mileage Log Rule Work for You

The IRS says that you may keep an adequate record for part of a tax year and use that part-year record to substantiate your vehicle’s business use for the entire year. To use a sample record, you need to prove that your sample is representative of your use for the year.

You can use your appointment book as the basis for your mileage, building great business-use proof. If you also use a mileage log, the entries should match with those in your appointment book.

The IRS illustrates two possible sampling methods:

One identical week each month (for example, the third week of each month)
Three consecutive months

We don’t recommend the one-same-week-each-month method because it is difficult to start and stop a record-keeping process. (It’s hard to create a habit, undo it, and then create it again—every month.)

The three-consecutive-months log requires only one start and one stop, and you are rewarded with nine months of mileage-log freedom. For this reason, the three-month log is the superior alternative. Before getting into the three-month method, we should note that once you have done three months, you are in the habit. You might find it easier to continue all year, rather than stop this year and then have to start again next year.

Here are the basics of how the IRS describes the three-month test:

The taxpayer uses her vehicle for business use.
She and other members of her family use the vehicle for personal use.
The taxpayer keeps a mileage log for the first three months of the taxable year, and that log shows that 75 percent of the vehicle’s use is for her business.
Invoices and paid bills show that her vehicle use is about the same throughout the year.

According to this IRS regulation, this three-month sample is adequate to prove up to 75 percent business use. Download our free Monthly Mileage Log at https://www.clergy.tax/about/forms

Mileage rates for 2021:

56 cents for every mile of business travel driven.
16 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purpose.
14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations.
26 cents per mile is the depreciation on the vehicle, a component of the Standard Mileage Rate.

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