As an employee, the IRS can require you to keep track of the mileage that you drive for business-related purposes and submit those numbers at tax time. Although this can be beneficial to you, it does pose some challenges since your employer does not reimburse you for your mileage and you are responsible for maintaining accurate records of all of your expenses and income to avoid any problems with the IRS down the road. There are a few ways that you can make your mileage tracker app more IRS-proof, so you don’t have to worry about these issues in the future, no matter where you are or what kind of device you use.
1) Use GPS Tracking
Track the mileage of your vehicle with a GPS tracker. Some GPS trackers are even compatible with smartphones and will send notifications when you’ve reached a certain location or have exceeded the speed limit. There are also apps that allow you to log the miles you’ve driven on your smartphone, but it’s not recommended because those can be tracked by someone who has access to your phone.
2) Classify Trips Automatically
One way to make your mileage log app more IRS-proof is by automatically classifying trips on the go. This will save you from having to manually classify your miles each time you take a trip, which can be tedious and time consuming. As an added bonus, it can also help reduce the number of accidents that occur due to drivers texting while driving. All it takes is one crash and all your hard work could be for nothing!
3) Monitor Turn Data
Monitoring turn data can also be a good way of making sure that you’re maximizing the amount of mileage you log in each trip. This will help avoid any issues with the IRS and make your app more IRS-proof.
4) Use Battery-Friendly Settings
- Use battery-friendly settings on your phone: Turn off background data, turn down brightness, and use airplane mode when possible. 2. Turn off any features that you don’t need while driving (e.g., Bluetooth). 3. Park the vehicle in a shaded area to keep the battery cool and avoid GPS draining from being on too long.
5) Reduce Data Usage
One of the best ways you can make your mileage log app more IRS-proof is by being mindful about how much data you use. The less data you use, the less time you spend in a roaming zone and the less chance that your phone will die before the end of the day. There are a few things that may be easy for you to do that will help reduce your data usage.
1) Turn off all notifications on your phone outside of messages and alarms.
