Driving For Business? Here’s How To Make It Pay-off!

By Author: Mike Nielson
Total Articles: 162
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Individuals often are uninformed or forget that they are entitled to money back for some of their vehicle expenses come tax time. Many self employed professionals or employees such as real-estate brokers, insurance brokers, financial advisors, contractors and small business owners do a fair amount of driving on the job and many are unaware of the benefits of keeping a car logbook around in order to track their business trips. The government actually will give a decent amount of money back per mile/kilometer and thus making it worth your while to continue reading some of these tips about keeping your distances travelled organized. So take a moment to read the tips below about how to keep a mileage logbook to claim the vehichle expenses deduction you deserve.

Firstly, decide how you will record your mileage. Ensure that your method of choice is accessible for you and that you choose something that you will stick to. If you decide that you will keep a paper log and mark your mileage manually each trip then make sure to keep up with it. More advanced solutions exist as well such as smartphone applications and even automated ...
... GPS devices that do it all for you. You have many options when it comes to a quality car logbook, many free solutions which require effort, and some with a cost (typically very reasonable) that make the process easy. Review them well before selecting one that works for you

When recording your distance travelled it is important to note the required data, to ensure that you will be safe if it ever gets audited. Automated systems will often take care of this for you, however some may not, and manual recording involves writing these down each trip. Include the time and date, description of your trip including where you travelled (to and from) and the purpose. Also include the kilometers listed on your odometer before and after, and make the calculation of the mileage for that trip. If you are going the manual route, find yourself a template to print off to optimize the process.

Essentially one should record the point of departure and destination of each trip along with the mileage in whatever form of car logbook that you choose to go with. It is always better to be over-prepared for the government with detailed records to present should you happen to get audited. As mentioned, there are a few automated systems out there now coming equipped with GPS technologies that streamline the process making it easy and convenient. So although it may seem like a laborious task, there are many ways of tracking your mileage effectively to ensure that you get the tax deduction that you deserve.

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