# Mileage Log

> The contemporaneous record §274(d) requires. Four elements per trip, kept at or near the time of the drive. Phone notebooks fail; auto-logged GPS records win.

Category: mileage-and-vehicle-expenses
Updated: 2026-05-26
Canonical: https://everylastmile.app/glossary/mileage-log

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A **mileage log** is the contemporaneous record of business vehicle use that the tax code requires to support any car-and-truck deduction. The legal authority is **IRC §274(d)** and **Temp. Treas. Reg. §1.274-5T(c)**; the practical playbook is **IRS Publication 463**.

**The four elements per trip (and per Pub. 463):**

1. **Date** of the trip
2. **Business miles** driven (or starting/ending odometer)
3. **Route or destination** (address, client name, store)
4. **Business purpose** — concretely, not "errands"

Plus two annual numbers Schedule C Part IV demands: **total miles** for the year (so the business-use percentage can be computed) and the date the vehicle was placed in service.

**Timing matters.** The regulation requires the log to be "made at or near the time of the expenditure or use." A weekly log is explicitly accepted as "near the time" (Temp. Reg. §1.274-5T(c)(2)(ii)(C)). A spreadsheet built every April from credit-card statements and Google Maps is _not_ contemporaneous and is routinely rejected.

**What works in court.** Electronic logs from a GPS-based mileage app are accepted when they capture the four elements and were generated contemporaneously. The Tax Court explicitly accepted a MileIQ-generated log to support a real-estate agent's standard-mileage deduction in **Chappell v. Commissioner, T.C. Summ. Op. 2024-2**. The court found the contemporaneous app records sufficient to satisfy §274(d) even when other categories of records failed.

**What fails in court.** Reconstructions, calendars, and iPad notes:

- **Velez (T.C. Memo. 2018-46)** — iPad calendar entries + reconstructed log = $0 deduction + 20% penalty.
- **Garza (T.C. Memo. 2014-121)** — calendar with no business purpose noted = $20,085 deduction lost.
- **Khan (T.C. Summ. Op. 2025-5)** — generalized explanations and reconstructed spreadsheets = no deduction; the Cohan rule does not apply.

**Worked example — a defensible entry.**

> **Date:** April 3, 2026  
> **Vehicle:** 2022 Toyota Camry  
> **Start:** 14227 mi (home, 6:42 AM)  
> **End:** 14269 mi (DoorDash dash zone, Plano TX, 7:18 AM)  
> **Miles:** 42  
> **Purpose:** Drive to Plano dash zone for lunch shift (DoorDash)

Repeat for every trip. An ADT-based app does this automatically.