Mileage Tracking

Capture business driving the moment it happens, let Kantivo apply the current IRS standard rate, and let the deductible amount flow into your expense ledger as a real journal entry.

Logging a Trip

Every business mile is potential deduction. Logging it in Kantivo builds the contemporaneous record the IRS wants if your deductions ever get questioned.

  1. Open the Mileage Tracker from the sidebar (also accessible from Accountant Tools)
  2. Click Log Trip
  3. Set the date
  4. Enter start and destination locations
  5. Fill in distance (miles or kilometers based on your locale)
  6. Pick a category for the trip purpose
  7. Add an optional note explaining the business reason
  8. Click Save
Tip: Log trips contemporaneously — the same day or the same week. Real-time records are stronger evidence in an audit than a year-end reconstruction.

Trip Categories

Categories tag each trip with its purpose, which shows up in mileage reports and helps your tax preparer slice the data:

IRS Rates

Kantivo applies the current IRS standard mileage rate to the trip's distance to calculate the deductible amount. Rates update annually as the IRS publishes them.

Tax yearStandard rate (per mile)
2026$0.70
2025$0.70
2024$0.67

The math: distance × IRS rate = deduction. A 45-mile client visit at $0.70/mile = $31.50 deductible.

Tip: The standard rate already covers fuel, depreciation, insurance, and maintenance. If you use it, you can't also claim actual vehicle expenses for the same trips — pick a method and stick with it for the year.

Auto-Convert to Expense

Logged miles aren't expenses on their own — they're just records. Kantivo converts them into real journal entries when you're ready:

  1. Open the Mileage Tracker summary
  2. Select the trips you want to expense (or hit Select All)
  3. Click Convert to Expense
  4. Kantivo posts a journal entry — debit vehicle expense, credit the offset account you've configured
  5. Converted trips are flagged so they don't get expensed twice

This is the path of least friction for getting mileage onto the books without doing arithmetic or creating individual transactions.

Mileage Reports

Run mileage summaries over any date range for tax prep, audit support, or expense reimbursement:

Export as PDF or CSV — share with your tax preparer or archive alongside year-end records.

Tip: Run the report quarterly, not just at year-end. Reviewing every three months makes it much easier to remember and recover trips you forgot to log.