Don’t Allow Gas Mileage to Be Added to Your Paycheck

Our Favorite Mileage Tracking Diaries and Apps

In the United States nannies should be reimbursed IRS gas mileage when they use their own cars for work purposes. The 2022 IRS gas mileage rate has increased to 62.5 cents per mile.

Some parents prefer to add the gas mileage to their nanny’s weekly paycheck but don’t allow your employers to make this costly mistake.

There is a difference between income and reimbursement. Income is taxed. Gas mileage is reimbursement owed to you for using your vehicle and should not be taxed as income.

All that’s needed to track your miles is to keep a pad of paper and pencil in your car so you can date and log where you drove and the miles driven each trip you take for work purposes. Record the odometer reading before and after each trip. Each week you simply multiply the miles you drove by 62.5 cents and your employers pay you the sum in cash.

My nanny friends highly recommend gas mileage logs that can be purchased and left in your car as well. One friend recommends using the Dome 750 Mileage Tracker and another loves using the BookFactory Auto Mileage Log Book.

Or, you can use an app on your smart phone to track the miles.

Here are some gas mileage apps to use to efficiently track miles driven:

1. MileIQ

MileIQ has various pricing options including a free basic plan. It is one of the most polished and easy-to-use apps. For every drive MileIQ records automatically. You swipe left if it’s personal trip or right if it’s a business trip. MileIQ maintains an accurate record of your mileage stored securely in the cloud. The only difference between the free version of MileIQ and the paid version is that you can log 40 trips per month for the free version and have an unlimited number of trips with the paid version.

2. TripLog 2

TripLog’s basic features are free. Advanced features, such as Bluetooth “autostart” and automatic daily cloud backup, come at a nominal price. You can also use TripLog 2.0 to estimate your gas mileage and find the best gas prices. Of all the mileage tracking apps available, TripLog is the best mileage tracking app for those who want to control when it should start tracking your business trips.

3. Stride Tax

Stride Tax is a free mileage and expense tracking app that will allow you to record your mileage by running it in the background as you drive. You can start and stop recording your mileage for each trip by tapping the start button when you leave home – or in some versions of the app, you can set it up to record automatically. You can also use Stride Tax to log your receipts and expense records, so you’ll have all your business deductions in one place at tax time.

4. Everlance

Everlance allows you to track 30 trips a month for free. After that it costs $5 per month or $59.99 annually. It allows you to track all your driving.

5. MileBug

MileBug is a functional app that does everything it’s supposed to. It isn’t as fancy as some apps, but still gets the job done. Track your miles for multiple businesses and drivers easily within the app. When it’s time to report, the app will email you the data in html in the body of the email or as an attached file. It stores your data in the cloud in case you lose your device or acquire a new.

6. Mile Cloud

Mile Cloud is designed to automatically track your mileage while you are driving. All you have to do is to classify your driving purpose with Mile Cloud’s highly customizable trip filters and you will get your detailed monthly and annual mileage reports. All your data is saved to your own iCloud. Mile Cloud is free but there are more add-ons.

7. Shoeboxed Receipt and Mileage Tracker

Shoeboxed Receipt and Mileage Tracker is a very basic app that simply tracks your miles and receipts for business expenses.

8. Veryfi Logbook Mileage Tracker

Veryfi Logbook app tracks your business-related vehicle travels automatically with detailed logs ready for tax reporting. Take the stress out of keeping a journal of trips with Veryfi Logbook app.

9. MileLogger

MileLogger automatically logs your drives when you start driving. It is free to classify drives with a single swipe.

10. MileGo

MileGo uses your phone’s built-in GPS to automatically detect when you get into a car and then logs that trip for reimbursement or tax deduction purposes. Alternatively, you can simply tap to start and end your trip. With just a swipe of the screen, this intelligent mile tracker app categorizes your trip as ‘Business’ or ‘Personal’ and then breaks it down further, with additional tagging options.

No matter how you chose to record the miles you drive for work with your own vehicle, don’t allow your employers to add what they owe you for gas mileage to your paycheck. Your employers should pay you with cash so that you aren’t taxed for the reimbursement as income.