What an IRS mileage log needs

A mileage total tells you how far you drove. It does not explain where you went or why the drive was for work. The IRS mileage record items include those details, along with total annual miles and the date you first used the car for business. Start with Publication 463, Table 5-1, rather than a promise that any particular app makes your records complete.

Orphie records the shifts you choose to start. It logs miles, dates, times, routes, and detected stops. You review the description and enter vehicle details. Orphie is not released yet. The workflow below describes what is built, not a download you can use today.

Keep the details that explain the drive

For the mileage part of your records, Table 5-1 calls for:

• Mileage for each business use and total miles for the year.
• The date you started using the car for business.
• The date of each use.
• Your business destination.
• The business purpose.

This is a selected mileage checklist, not the full car-expense list. The same table also covers costs and improvements. A number in a mileage app cannot replace every record you may need for your return. Publication 463 explains the wider car-expense and recordkeeping rules.

When you review a drive, ask whether someone reading the record could understand the work. A label such as “delivery shift” may need destination details beside it. In Orphie, you can edit the description and add a note. Detected stops are a count and dots on the route, not named delivery locations. Review the draft instead of assuming the map explains the business purpose.

Write it down while you can still explain it

Records made at or near the time have more credibility than a statement prepared much later. That does not mean the IRS requires you to type while driving. Publication 463, Timely kept records, says a weekly log that accounts for the week’s use can be timely. The recordkeeping regulation also says a contemporaneous log is not required.

A practical habit is to review the description after parking and before saving. Check that the vehicle, app labels, and destination details match the drive. If you review weekly instead, set aside time to account for the week’s use. That is a suggested routine, not a separate IRS rule or a guarantee that the record is sufficient.

If details are missing, do not invent a route or purpose. Publication 463’s incomplete-record guidance and 26 CFR § 1.274-5T(c) describe using a specific statement and corroborating evidence. What is needed depends on the missing detail and the circumstances. Ask your tax preparer what evidence fits your situation.

Orphie lets you add a missed shift by hand. It stays marked “Added by hand” and has no recorded route. Entering a shift later does not recover GPS information that the app never recorded.

Keep total driving separate from business mileage

The mileage record items do not prescribe an odometer reading for every trip. Publication 463, Tables 5-1 and 5-2, distinguish the required details from a sample log with odometer columns. The sample is not an official IRS form.

Recording the odometer at the start and end of the car’s period of business use in the year is a practical way to establish total driving. Use dates that fit the car’s actual use, especially if you start or stop using it partway through the year. Schedule C, Part IV, asks about business, commuting, and other miles, but does not prescribe those exact reading dates.

In Orphie, you enter odometer readings and the vehicle’s in-service date yourself. The Taxes tab shows annual business miles per vehicle. A plausible total is a useful cross-check, not proof that each drive had a business purpose.

A record is not a tax decision

GPS does not decide whether miles qualify. The standard mileage method has eligibility rules, and commuting generally is not deductible. See Publication 463’s car-expense rules. A deduction lowers taxable income. It is not cash, a refund, or the amount of tax saved.

Keep copies of records you need. Orphie’s Taxes tab shares a PDF and CSV for your preparer. Settings exports all records separately. Neither is an app-managed backup or restore feature. Ask a tax professional about your own return.