The Vehicles step of the Entry Workflow is where you log monthly business mileage and calculate the deduction at the IRS standard rate. You can keep multiple vehicles per business, each with its own monthly log.

Why track mileage

The IRS allows you to deduct business mileage from your taxes using the standard mileage rate. Simple-C stores a clean monthly log per vehicle and applies the correct rate for each period automatically.

Getting to the page

Open the Entry Workflow and click the Vehicles step (the last step in the stepper). Then choose your business and the year you want to log.

Adding a vehicle

  1. Click Add Vehicle
  2. Enter a Vehicle Name — Simple-C uses this name as the identifier in the dropdown. The placeholder suggests “Vehicle Plate & Description”, e.g. ABC-1234 — 2019 Ford Transit. Use whatever label is meaningful to you.
  3. Click Save Vehicle

The new vehicle is added to the dropdown and selected automatically so you can start logging miles.

Logging monthly miles

Once a vehicle is selected, you’ll see a row of 12 monthly miles fields:

  1. Click the month you want to update
  2. Enter the business miles driven for that month
  3. Save — Simple-C calculates the deduction by applying the IRS rate that applies to that month

You can come back at any time and update or correct an earlier month.

Multiple vehicles

You can add as many vehicles as your business uses. Each vehicle has its own log, so make sure you have the right one selected before entering miles. The annual totals (miles and deduction) are tracked per vehicle.

Reports

Use the PDF and Excel export buttons on the page to generate a mileage log you can share with your accountant or keep for IRS substantiation.

Tips for accurate mileage tracking

  • Be consistent — record mileage at the same time each month, while you still remember the trips
  • Separate business and personal — only log miles driven for business purposes
  • Keep your own trip log — Simple-C stores the monthly totals; the IRS expects you to also keep a contemporaneous log of dates and purposes for audit purposes
  • Don’t estimate at year-end — round-number guesses entered all at once are an audit red flag
  • Update every month — even if you didn’t drive much, enter 0 rather than leaving the month blank