Free mileage tracker template for expense reports (Excel & Google Sheets)
A mileage tracker template gives you a simple, IRS-compliant way to record business miles as you drive them. Keeping a business mileage log matters for both tax deductions and employer reimbursement, but most people record trips inconsistently or reconstruct them from memory months later.
A template fixes that problem. Download it below, fill it in as you go, and it calculates your reimbursement automatically.
What to include in a mileage log
The IRS doesn't accept a total number of miles at the end of the year. A vehicle mileage log needs one entry per trip with enough detail to substantiate it, which means six specific fields.
Date of the trip
Destination, either the city or the name of the place
Business purpose, specific enough to justify the trip
Starting odometer reading
Ending odometer reading
Total miles driven
Two things matter beyond the fields themselves. First, log each trip as close to the time of travel as possible. Logs reconstructed at year-end are a common audit red flag, even when the underlying miles are legitimate.
Second, if you're tracking mileage for reimbursement rather than a personal deduction, add your name and the vehicle used so your employer can verify the claim.
2026 IRS mileage rates
The IRS sets a standard mileage rate each year that determines how much of each business mile is deductible or reimbursable. 2026 is unusual because rising fuel prices prompted a mid-year increase, so the year has two sets of rates depending on when the trip happened.
| Rate type | Jan 1 to Jun 30, 2026 | Jul 1 to Dec 31, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Business | 72.5 cents per mile | 76 cents per mile |
| Medical or moving (Armed Forces) | 20.5 cents per mile | 23.5 cents per mile |
| Charitable | 14 cents per mile | 14 cents per mile |
If you drove for business in both halves of 2026, your log needs to be split accordingly. Miles through June 30 are calculated at 72.5 cents; miles from July 1 onward at 76 cents. Applying a single rate to the whole year will produce the wrong number.
One point trips up a lot of employees. Employers aren't required to reimburse at the IRS rate at all. The 2026 mileage reimbursement rate functions as a tax-free ceiling rather than a mandate, so reimbursements at or below it stay out of taxable income while anything above it generally counts as wages.
How to use the mileage log template
The template works the same way in both formats. Here are the five steps from download to submission.
Download the mileage log template Excel file, or make a copy of the mileage tracker Google Sheets version. If you'd rather keep a printable mileage log in the glovebox, print a blank copy and fill it in by hand.
Enter your name and vehicle in the header fields at the top of the sheet.
Log each trip as it happens. Fill in the date, starting and ending odometer readings, destination, and business purpose. Total miles calculate automatically from the odometer readings.
Let the template do the math. It applies the correct 2026 rate based on the trip date and calculates your reimbursement amount per trip and in total.
Submit the completed mileage sheet with your expense report at the end of the pay period or month.
Every field in the mileage template feeds the reimbursement calculation, so a skipped odometer reading breaks the math for that trip.
Mileage rarely travels alone on an expense report, so most people submit it alongside an expense report template covering meals, lodging, and the other costs from the same trip.
Mileage log for taxes vs. mileage log for reimbursement
Both use cases require the same six fields, but the rules around them differ in ways that matter.
For taxes, if you're self-employed or freelancing, a mileage log for tax purposes has to be contemporaneous to substantiate the standard mileage deduction, which you claim on Schedule C.
If you use the same vehicle for personal driving, you also need to track personal miles to establish what percentage of use was business. Without that split, the deduction is difficult to defend. A printable mileage log template for self-employed drivers works well here if you'd rather record trips in the car than on a phone.
Mileage is also only one of several travel tax deductions available to self-employed filers, so it's worth confirming what else qualifies before filing.
For reimbursement, if you're an employee, your log has to satisfy two audiences: your employer's policy and the IRS substantiation rules that keep the reimbursement tax-free. Most employers pair the log with a mileage reimbursement template or a standard mileage reimbursement form.
If your employer reimburses below the IRS rate, knowing how to calculate mileage reimbursement yourself is the only way to tell whether the shortfall is deductible.
What makes a mileage log IRS-compliant
Compliance comes down to four requirements, all of which come from IRS Publication 463.
Timely recording. Entries made at or near the time of travel. The IRS gives more weight to a log kept contemporaneously than one assembled later.
Adequate records. All six required fields for every trip, not a summary total.
Documented business purpose. "Client meeting, Acme Corp" holds up. "Work" does not.
Written evidence. Digital records count. A spreadsheet or app-generated log is as valid as a paper notebook.
A log reconstructed at year-end is technically permissible if you can support it with other evidence like calendar entries or receipts, but it's a much weaker position in an audit. Capturing trips at the moment they happen removes the problem entirely, which is why GPS-based automatic tracking has become the practical gold standard for substantiation.
When a mileage tracker template is not enough
A mileage tracker spreadsheet works well under a specific set of circumstances such as occasional business driving, a handful of trips per month, one or two people to keep track of. In that situation, it's the right tool.
Templates break down in three predictable ways.
Frequent drivers forget entries. Manual logging depends on remembering to do it after every trip. Over hundreds of trips a year, entries get missed, and missed entries are unclaimed money.
Odometer readings get skipped. It's the field people most often leave blank, and it's the one that makes the math work.
Business purpose entries drift. Early entries are specific. By month eight, everything says "meeting," which weakens the whole log.
At team scale, these problems multiply. Chasing down incomplete logs at month-end becomes its own administrative job, and inconsistent entries across employees make reimbursement approvals slower.
That's the point where automation earns its place. Expensify's mileage tracking app gives you four ways to log a trip, so you can use whichever one fits the drive.
Track by GPS and the app records your route in the background while you drive.
Prefer to work from the dash? Enter your start and end odometer readings and snap a photo of the reading itself.
You can also drop start and stop addresses on a map and let Expensify calculate the distance, or type in the mileage manually when you already know it.
GPS and map-based trips generate a route map attached to the expense, which is stronger written evidence than a number typed into a spreadsheet cell.
Whichever method you pick, Expensify applies the correct IRS rate in realtime and drops the result straight into an expense report.
Nothing to reconstruct at month-end, and the timing requirement takes care of itself because the trip gets recorded while it's happening.
FAQs about mileage tracking
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The IRS requires a record of each business trip that includes the date, destination, business purpose, starting and ending odometer readings, and total miles driven. Records should be created at or near the time of travel. Digital logs are acceptable. A year-end total without per-trip detail is not sufficient to substantiate a deduction or a tax-free reimbursement.
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An IRS-compliant mileage log has one row per trip with six fields filled in: date, destination, business purpose, start odometer, end odometer, and total miles. Entries are dated and recorded close to when the driving happened.
For reimbursement, it also identifies the driver and the vehicle. Format doesn't matter. A spreadsheet, an app export, and a paper logbook are all acceptable as long as the detail is there.
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A spreadsheet template is the best free option for people who drive occasionally and can reliably log trips by hand. It costs nothing and satisfies IRS requirements when filled in properly.
For frequent drivers, a GPS-based app is more reliable because it removes the manual step where most logs fail. Expensify tracks mileage automatically and applies the correct IRS rate without manual entry.
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Create columns for date, destination, business purpose, start odometer, end odometer, total miles, and reimbursement amount. Use a formula to subtract the start odometer from the end odometer for total miles, then multiply that by the applicable IRS rate.
Because 2026 has two rates, the rate column should reference the trip date rather than a single fixed value. The template above has these formulas already built in.
