Mileage tracking

Learn how to track distance-based business travel using your personal vehicle and get reimbursed at your company's standard mileage rate.

What is mileage tracking?

Mileage tracking records business travel completed using your personal vehicle, allowing you to claim reimbursement based on a standard rate per mile or kilometer rather than tracking actual fuel costs and vehicle expenses. This simplified approach eliminates the need to save gas receipts and calculate actual costs, replacing them with a straightforward multiplication of distance times rate.

Common uses for mileage reimbursement. Client visits represent the most frequent mileage claims, where you drive from your office to client locations for meetings, consultations, or service delivery. Office-to-site travel covers trips to project sites, construction locations, or temporary work locations that aren't your regular office. Business meetings at external locations such as conferences, training venues, or partner offices qualify for mileage reimbursement. Deliveries or pickups of business materials, equipment, or documents also generate legitimate mileage claims.

Company mileage rate

Your organization establishes a reimbursement rate that typically aligns with government standards for your country, updated annually to reflect changing vehicle operation costs.

Check your organization's rate. Navigate to Settings → Mileage Rates to view your company's current reimbursement rate per mile or kilometer. The rate you see applies to your region and vehicle type. Note that rates may vary based on vehicle type—for example, motorcycles or trucks might have different rates than standard passenger cars—or by region if your company operates in multiple countries.

Typical government-based rates provide context. In the United States, the IRS standard mileage rate for 2023 was $0.655 per mile for business use of personal vehicles. In the United Kingdom, HMRC's approved mileage rate is £0.45 per mile for the first 10,000 miles annually, then £0.25 per mile thereafter. These government rates are updated annually based on factors like fuel prices, insurance costs, and vehicle depreciation, and many companies adopt them directly to simplify administration.

Create a mileage expense

Creating a mileage expense differs slightly from regular expenses because you enter distance rather than a dollar amount.

Click "+ New Expense" to open the expense creation form. Select the category "Mileage" or "Transportation - Mileage" depending on how your organization names this category—this selection tells Eloope to treat this as a distance-based expense. Instead of an amount field, you'll see a distance field where you enter the total miles or kilometers traveled, such as 120 for a 120-mile round trip. Add comprehensive trip details to provide context: in the "From" field, enter your starting location like "Office" or your office address; in the "To" field, enter the destination such as "Client Site - Acme Corp" or the specific address; in the "Purpose" field, explain the business reason, for example "Quarterly review meeting with Acme Corp management."

The system automatically calculates your reimbursement by multiplying distance by rate. For instance, 120 miles × $0.655 = $78.60, and this calculated amount appears as the expense amount. Select "Personal Vehicle" as the payment method to indicate you used your own car. Click "Save" to create the mileage expense with the calculated reimbursement amount.

Distance calculation

Accurate distance calculation ensures fair reimbursement and compliance with audit requirements.

Method 1: Manual calculation using odometer. Use your vehicle's GPS odometer to record precise distances. Note your odometer reading at the start of your trip—for example, 45,230 miles. Record the odometer reading when you return to your starting point—for example, 45,350 miles. Calculate the distance by subtracting start from end: 45,350 - 45,230 = 120 miles. This method provides the most accurate measurement but requires diligent recording.

Method 2: Mapping tools for planned routes. Use popular mapping applications like Google Maps, MapQuest, or Waze to calculate distances. Enter your start address and destination address into the mapping tool. Use the distance shown in the route information, which accounts for actual road distances rather than straight-line measurements. This method works well for typical routes and is acceptable for most companies' audit requirements.

Method 3: Automated mileage tracking apps. Applications like MileIQ, Everlance, or TripLog automatically track your trips using your phone's GPS. These apps run in the background and detect when you're driving, automatically logging start point, endpoint, and distance. You can categorize trips as business or personal within the app. Export business trip distances directly to Eloope for expense creation. This method provides the most convenient tracking with minimal manual effort, though it requires a small monthly subscription fee.

Required documentation

Understanding what documentation you need for mileage expenses helps you prepare properly and avoid rejection.

Essential information you must provide. Every mileage expense requires clear start and end locations—specific enough that an approver or auditor could verify the distance using a map. The business purpose must explain why the trip was necessary, tying it to specific work activities or clients. Distance traveled must be accurate to the nearest mile or kilometer. The date of travel anchors the expense to a specific day and ensures it's claimed in the correct time period.

Receipt not required for mileage expenses. Unlike fuel purchases or other vehicle-related expenses, mileage reimbursement doesn't require a purchase receipt because you're not claiming actual costs. The standardized rate is designed to cover all vehicle operation costs without itemization.

Optional supporting evidence strengthens claims. While not required, additional documentation can speed approval and defend against audits. A screenshot of your map showing the route and distance provides visual confirmation. A mileage log exported from your tracking app demonstrates systematic record-keeping. Meeting confirmations showing the location and time prove the business meeting actually occurred at the stated location.

Round-trip vs one-way

Understanding how to calculate distances for different trip types prevents under-claiming or over-claiming reimbursement.

Round-trip mileage is most common. When you leave your office, travel to a client site, and return to your office, you calculate the total distance both ways. For example, Office → Client (60 miles) → Office (60 miles) equals 120 miles total, which is what you enter as a single mileage expense. Don't create two separate expenses for the outbound and return legs—combine them into one round-trip claim.

One-way trips occur less frequently. If you drive from home directly to a client site at the start of your workday, that's 30 miles one-way, and you enter 30 miles. Similarly, if you end your workday at a client site and drive home from there, that's another one-way trip. Check your company policy on whether home-to-first-appointment and last-appointment-to-home trips are reimbursable, as policies vary.

Multiple stops require summing all segments. For trips with multiple destinations, calculate each segment and sum them. For example, Office → Client A (25 miles) → Client B (35 miles) → Office (40 miles) equals 100 miles total. Enter 100 miles as a single expense, and in the description field, note all stops: "Visits to Client A, Client B, return to office."

Not reimbursable

Knowing which trips don't qualify for mileage reimbursement helps you stay compliant with company policy and tax regulations.

Regular commute is never reimbursable. The daily drive from your home to your regular office location and back is considered personal commuting, not business travel, even though you're going to work. IRS regulations and most company policies explicitly exclude regular commuting from reimbursement. For example, if your home-to-office commute is 15 miles, you cannot claim those miles under any circumstances.

Personal errands don't qualify. Stopping for personal shopping, dry cleaning, or other personal tasks during a business trip means you cannot claim that portion of the mileage. If you make a 20-mile detour for personal reasons during a business trip, you should deduct that 20 miles from your total claim.

First appointment from home may not be reimbursable. Check your specific company policy on this common scenario. Some policies allow you to claim miles from home to your first business appointment, considering it business travel since you're not going to your regular office. Other policies consider this equivalent to commuting and disallow it.

Travel already covered by per diem shouldn't be claimed separately. If you're receiving a daily travel allowance or per diem that's intended to cover all travel costs including local transportation, you typically cannot also claim mileage reimbursement for the same days.

Mileage vs fuel expenses

Understanding that you cannot claim both mileage reimbursement and actual fuel costs prevents double-dipping and ensures policy compliance.

You must choose one method or the other. For any given trip, you can claim either the standard mileage rate or your actual vehicle expenses including fuel receipts, but never both. The standard mileage rate is specifically designed to cover all vehicle operating costs as a simplified alternative to tracking actual expenses.

The mileage rate is comprehensive. When you claim mileage at the standard rate, that rate is calculated to cover fuel costs, vehicle wear and tear, regular maintenance and oil changes, insurance allocation, and vehicle depreciation. This all-inclusive rate means you don't need to save fuel receipts or track oil changes—it's all bundled into the per-mile rate.

When to use actual costs instead of mileage. If your company policy specifically requires actual expense receipts rather than allowing mileage reimbursement, you'll need to save all fuel receipts and track actual costs. When using a company vehicle rather than your personal vehicle, mileage reimbursement typically doesn't apply since the company already owns the vehicle. In rare cases where fuel prices are significantly more expensive than the standard rate covers—such as in remote areas or during fuel price spikes—your company might allow you to claim actual costs with receipts instead.

Submit mileage in reports

Grouping multiple mileage expenses together creates clean, organized reports that are easy for approvers to review.

Example monthly mileage report. Consider a month where you made four client visits: March 5 trip to Acme Corp, 120 miles round trip, reimbursement $78.60; March 12 trip to Beta Inc, 85 miles round trip, reimbursement $55.68; March 19 trip to Gamma LLC, 150 miles round trip, reimbursement $98.25; March 26 trip to Delta Co, 95 miles round trip, reimbursement $62.23. Your report totals 450 miles of business travel for $294.76 in mileage reimbursement. Submitting all mileage expenses together in one monthly report makes it easy for approvers to see your travel patterns and for you to track your monthly business mileage.

Mileage log best practices

Maintaining accurate mileage records protects you during audits and ensures you receive full reimbursement for all business travel.

Keep records immediately and consistently. Log each trip immediately after returning while details are fresh—don't wait until month-end when you've forgotten half your trips. Create your mileage expense in Eloope the same day or within 24 hours of the trip. Include all required details: date, start location, destination, distance, and business purpose. This immediate logging prevents forgotten trips and lost reimbursement.

Use a consistent format for all entries. Whether you log in a notebook, a spreadsheet, or directly in Eloope, use the same format every time: Date of trip, starting location, ending location, total distance traveled, business purpose or client name. This consistency makes it easy to review your records and ensures you don't forget any required information.

Reconcile and submit regularly. Set a weekly schedule to review your mileage log and create any missing expenses in Eloope. Monthly, compile all mileage expenses into a report and submit it for approval. This regular cadence prevents large backlogs and ensures timely reimbursement.

Save supporting evidence for potential audits. Keep screenshots from mapping applications showing routes and distances. Save exports from mileage tracking apps documenting your business trips. Retain meeting confirmations, emails, or calendar entries that prove meetings occurred at the stated locations. While not submitted with every expense, this supporting documentation becomes invaluable during audits or when questions arise.

Company vehicle vs personal vehicle

Different vehicle ownership situations have different reimbursement rules that you need to understand for compliant claims.

Personal vehicle qualifies for mileage reimbursement. When you use your own personal vehicle for business travel, you're eligible for the standard mileage reimbursement rate. No receipts are needed—just accurate distance tracking. This is the most common scenario and the simplest to manage.

Company vehicle typically doesn't qualify for mileage. If you're driving a vehicle owned by the company, you usually cannot claim mileage reimbursement since the company already bears all vehicle costs. Instead, you submit actual fuel receipts if you paid for fuel yourself, or no expense claim is needed if the company provides a fuel card. Check your specific company policy as rules vary.

Rental car uses actual costs, not mileage. When you rent a vehicle for business travel, you claim the actual rental cost plus fuel receipts, not a mileage rate. Keep the rental agreement and all fuel receipts. The rental car scenario is treated as an actual expense reimbursement, not a mileage reimbursement.

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• Creating Expenses
• Expense Submission Workflow
• Policy Compliance
• Quick Start for Employees