Free mileage tracker spreadsheet and template
This page is general information, not tax advice.
This mileage tracker template has the columns from Table 5-2 of Publication 463, the IRS's own example of a daily business mileage and expense log. It works as an Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet, a Numbers sheet, a CSV, or a printable form, and it needs no app. The IRS labels its table "not an official Internal Revenue form", and this template is not one either. It is a layout that records every element in Table 5-1.
Review note. The CSV, spreadsheet, and PDF download links are added at launch. The layout below is the specification for the files.
The columns
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date | The date of the trip |
| Destination | The city, town, or area, or the client or customer |
| Business purpose | Why the trip was business, in a few words |
| Odometer start | The reading when you left |
| Odometer stop | The reading when you arrived |
| Miles this trip | Stop minus start, or the miles from a map |
| Expense type | Gas, oil, tolls, parking, and so on |
| Expense amount | The amount, with the receipt kept |
Each week ends with a weekly total row, and the sheet carries a total year-to-date row. Table 5-2 also has a name field at the top, which is yours or your business's. If you also bill time, add a start time and end time column and the sheet doubles as a mileage and time tracking spreadsheet.
The header
Above the columns, record what Schedule C Part IV asks for at year end.
- The vehicle, by name or plate
- The date the vehicle was placed in service for business
- The odometer reading on January 1
- The odometer reading on December 31
How to use it
- Fill in the header on January 1. The year-end odometer goes in on December 31.
- Enter each business trip on the day you take it, or at the end of the week from your calendar and receipts. Weekly is the interval Publication 463 names as timely.
- Leave personal trips out. The total miles for the year covers them.
- Record parking and tolls in the expense columns. They are deductible in addition to the standard mileage rate.
- At year end, total the business miles. The difference between the two odometer readings is the total miles, and the business miles divided by the total is the business-use percentage. Multiply the business miles by the rate for each period. For 2025 the rate is 70 cents a mile. For 2026 it is 72.5 cents through June 30 and 76 cents from July 1.
The spreadsheet version
The Excel and Google Sheets version has one row per trip with the eight columns above, plus a vehicle column so several cars can share one file, a weekly subtotal, and a year-to-date total. Sum the miles column with a filter on the vehicle to get each car's business miles. The CSV has the same columns and opens anywhere.
The printable version
The PDF is one page per week in the Table 5-2 layout, with the header fields, seven trip rows, a weekly total row, and a year-to-date row, sized to print on letter paper for the glove box.
Where a spreadsheet works
A spreadsheet or a notebook is a valid mileage log. The IRS accepts an account book, diary, log, trip sheet, or similar record, as long as the entries are made at or near the time of the trip and contain the required elements. If you make a handful of business trips a month, know the addresses, and sit down once a week to record them, a spreadsheet meets the rules. Take the odometer readings on January 1 and December 31, keep the file for three years after you file, and you are done.
Where a spreadsheet fails
- Missed trips. A drive that is not written down is a deduction you do not get.
- Entries from memory. A log filled in from a calendar in March is not a timely kept record, and the IRS gives it less weight.
- Odometer readings. The year total is the denominator of the business-use percentage, and most spreadsheets do not have one because nobody wrote the odometer down on January 1.
- Guessed distances. An estimated distance is an estimate, and the IRS does not accept estimated amounts.
- Rate changes. A year total cannot be split at a mid-year rate change. Each trip needs its own date.
Those are the reasons the template is free and the app is not.
How Miles handles this
The Miles mileage log export is this template, filled in. Every drive is detected and measured, the record carries the time it was created, odometer reminders capture the year totals, and the log PDF uses the Table 5-2 layout with the same columns, the weekly totals, and the year-to-date row. The CSV has the same eight columns plus the vehicle and the created-at time of each record. A log kept in the template can be imported into Miles when the app launches. Review note. CSV import is beyond the current feature decisions and needs a product decision.
Miles is coming soon.
For a kilometre version, see CRA logbook requirements.