Use Your Vehicle For Business? Must See Information

By Author: Mike Nielson
Total Articles: 162
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Every day, a tens of millions of people make their living on the road, using their personal vehicles to conduct business. As an employer, it is a common practice to compensate these employees for their mileage. Yet any employer will tell you, easier said than done. Nobody wants to have to keep a diary of their mileage, and can we blame them? Getting employees to fill out logs of their mileage is just a hassle for them, and getting them to submit those logs opens up a whole other can of worms. Everyone wants their money come tax time, but nobody wants to put in the effort to record accurate and IRS approved mileage logs. But don’t fret, there is hope, new technology has arrived to change all that.

What everyone wants is a win-win scenario. In the industry it is referred to as a tax-neutral reimbursement plan. This is where employees keep a log of their mileage and submit a copy to their employer so that they can both avoid paying unnecessary taxes. Businesses everywhere struggle each week to keep these mileage records in order, a process that is extremely inconvenient for both the driver and the employer. It has become ...
... a strenuous routine for many, a necessary evil.

That is not to say that employers are limited in their options, in fact they have a plethora of ways to compensate for mileage. From a flat monthly allowance, to an allowance with a gas card, to compensation per mile driven, or some other combination. Regardless of the selected method, this payment is considered a taxable benefit by the IRS - unless a mileage log is used to prove that the compensation reflects the actual business travel expense. For example, a $650 allowance may only result in a $420 compensation to the employee, and may require the employer to pay payroll taxes on the benefit too. So, keeping a mileage log ensures that the employee can get the full allowance benefit and the employer does not have to pay payroll taxes on the allowance.

Many companies still have their employees fill out a weekly or monthly mileage log. Beyond the fact that it is a time consuming, ancient and impractical method, it is also prone to exploitation. Employees can easily miscalculate their supposed mileage, or knowingly alter it. The documents can get damaged or misplaced, and all of this can end up costing you, as an employer, time and money. Not to mention getting employees to bring in their forms is a headache in itself.

There have been no good alternatives until recently - when new technology popped on the market that combines GPS location tracking accuracy with internet web services to finally provide a truly automated way to create accurate and complete mileage logs.

This impressive miniature device fits in any vehicle’s power adapter and sits in the dashboard or console. Using its GPS technology, it automatically tracks every trip’s start and stop location, miles driven, separates business from personal trips, and even automatically identifies the purpose of business trips based on the employee’s meeting calendar and contact addresses. A real mileage log with no effort. The device reports only what the employee confirms as business trips - no issue with “big brother” tracking personal activities.

As an employer, you can finally have peace of mind that you are given the correct mileage calculations for your drivers, and the employee benefits from fair, objective compensation program that protects their privacy. With this technology you can easily activate and deactivate your employee’s devices, and collect the generated mileage reports. It is fair, accurate, and couldn’t be easier. If you are looking for a better way to ensure that your staff are tracking their travels accurately, look for a plug-and-drive GPS mileage logger.

For more information on mileage reimbursement, mileage log and car logbook visit http://www.satlogix.com/