How Your Smartphone Can Make Your Life a Little Easier at Taxtime

Author: Jenny Shilling 

Keeping track of your mileage is a royal pain. Just like picking up after your dog during your evening walk, but you still do it, right? Yet, there is a way to make keeping track of your mileage much easier. Everyone has one, we never leave the house without it these days. What am I talking about? Your phone. It's either attached to your belt, in your pocket, or in your purse. Children carry them. By installing a simple "app" to your smartphone, you can make keeping your mileage record a breeze.

According to Google and Bing, three of the "best" mileage applications for the iphone are:

1. Tripcubby
2. Milog
3. Triplog

For your Android phone the "best" applications are:

1. Mileage Tracker
2. Trip Master
3. VR Mileage Tracker
4. Mileagetrac
5. Mytracks

The standard mileage rate for business miles driven in 2013 is $0.565 cents per mile. The rate for miles driven for medical or moving services is $0.24 per mile. Lastly, the rate for miles driven in service of charitable organzations is $0.14 per mile.

Transportation expenses that you can deduct include the ordinary and necessary costs of all of the following:

1. Getting from one workplace to another in the course of your business or profession when you are travelling within the general area where you do business.
2. Visiting clients or customers.
3. Going to a business meeting away from your regular workplace.
4. Getting from your home to a temporary workplace when you have one or more regular places of work.

Sadly, you cannot deduct commuting expenses no matter how far your home is from your regular place of work, even if you are working during the commute.  Parking costs at your regular place of work fall under the commuting category too.

So, investing $0.99 to $5.00 on a smartphone application can help take the frustration out of trying to keep track of the miles between Point A and Point B. According to the online reviews, they are "user-friendly" as most phone apps are, and designed to make your life easier. As we all carry the phone with us at all times, and they are always "on", it is one less step you would have to take to keep track of your mileage, unlike the GPS unit in your vehicle.

So when your accountant asks you for your mileage log next April, you will be able to hand him a concise log instead of a handwritten log of numbers that may or may not be correct. Having a GPS handle your mileage can make your life easier, but only if you check it out.  If you have questions about tracking your mileage, tax deductions, or general tax questions, the Specialists at the Tax Office, Inc. are here for you. Contact Us at 916-773-7053916-773-7053, or at #plan4tax, or www.facebook.com/plan4tax.