The Mileage Log and Possible Deductions

Record business driving with your phone's GPS, label each trip, and see what your books already deduct and what businesses like yours commonly miss — with the IRS rule behind each item.

Two pages under Accounting work together. The Mileage log records the driving you do for work and prices it at the IRS standard mileage rate. Deductions reads your books and tells you what is already deducted, what is commonly missed by a business like yours, and which new IRS changes may apply. Contractors, landlords and management companies all have both, on the website and in the iPhone and Android apps.

Recording a trip with GPS

In the app, open Accounting → Mileage log and press Start a trip before you drive. The phone measures the distance from its GPS while you go, with the screen off and the phone in your pocket. Press Stop and save when you arrive. The trip is saved with the date, the times, the miles and the street names where it started and ended, and it is listed as Not labelled until you say what it was for.

Nothing starts on its own. Only a trip you started is measured, and it stops when you press Stop, or by itself after 12 hours if you forget.
While a trip is running, your phone shows it: the blue location indicator on an iPhone, an ongoing "Recording a trip" notification on Android.
Only the total miles and the two place names are saved. The route itself never leaves your phone.
With no signal, the finished trip is kept on the phone and sent the next time you open the mileage log.
You can also add a trip by hand on the website or in the app, from the miles or from two odometer readings.

Labelling trips

Only business miles are deductible. Tap a trip and mark it Business or Personal, and for a business trip write the reason — "Job at 12 Oak St", "supplier run". The IRS expects a mileage log to show the date, the miles, where you went and why, kept at the time of the drive. The year's summary lists anything that is missing, like unlabelled miles or a business trip with no reason.

How the deduction is worked out

Each business trip is priced at the standard mileage rate in force on its date. In 2026 that is 72.5 cents a mile for January to June and 76 cents from July, so a single rate for the whole year would be wrong. The rate is a cited figure in the tax knowledge base, and when no rate for a year is on file the deduction says it could not be priced rather than showing $0. The standard rate covers fuel, insurance, repairs and depreciation: you use it or the actual costs of the vehicle, not both. Parking and tolls on business trips are deductible on top. Export the year as a spreadsheet for your accountant from the same page.

Possible deductions

Accounting → Deductions reads your posted books for the year. A contractor or management company sees them by line of Schedule C; a landlord by line of Schedule E. Below that is a list of what businesses like yours commonly deduct, each marked:

Not in your books — something that usually applies and nothing for it is posted, like depreciation on a rental building or driving with no vehicle costs.
Worth checking — it may apply; the reason says what to look at.
In your books — it is already there.
Good to know — a rule that affects how a deduction works, like the passive-loss allowance or the 20% QBI deduction.

Each item shows the IRS rule it comes from, with the tax year and the citation, and where it helps, roughly what it could save at your federal bracket. That figure is an estimate from this year's numbers, not a promise.

New from the IRS this year

Every January and July Seayora reads the IRS's own pages on business and rental deductions and looks for changes that may matter to contractors, landlords and property managers. Anything it finds appears under "New from the IRS this year" marked as not verified yet, with a link to the IRS page, until Seayora's team has checked it.

What it is not

This is a planning tool built from your own books and Seayora's tax knowledge base. It is not tax advice and it does not file anything. Your accountant decides what goes on your return.

Frequently asked questions

Does Seayora track where I go?

No. Only a trip you start is measured, your phone shows it the whole time, and only the miles and the start and end street names are saved — never the route. Nothing is recorded when you are not running a trip.

Why is a trip listed as Not labelled?

A trip recorded with GPS does not know what it was for. Mark it Business or Personal; only business miles count toward the deduction.

Can my assistant read this?

Yes. A connected assistant can read your possible deductions, including the year's mileage summary, through the deduction_analysis tool. It cannot add trips — a mileage log is meant to be kept at the time you drive.

Related guides

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