# Can you "guestimate" miles for taxes



## Firstime (Apr 2, 2016)

or do they need to see a spreadsheet? I started out just leisurely driving and figured I wouldn't even make 3 grand(which I'm told if you make under $3,000 a yr you don't even need to file) so didn't really pay attention. However I'm driving more and just started writing down the miles I drive. However my first two months there's no account...just gas receipts.


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## CrazyT (Jul 2, 2016)

Firstime said:


> or do they need to see a spreadsheet? I started out just leisurely driving and figured I wouldn't even make 3 grand(which I'm told if you make under $3,000 a yr you don't even need to file) so didn't really pay attention. However I'm driving more and just started writing down the miles I drive. However my first two months there's no account...just gas receipts.


You can go to your uber account and get the miles from all your trips. It won't have dead miles, but at least there is documentation for you. I did that before I started tracking mileage. When I had a trip that put me in an area I couldn't pick up, I noted on my print out the return mileage as well. You lose a lot of miles since any you log getting to the pax aren't on there, but it's better than nothing and there is documentation in case the IRS pulls yours for a random look


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## Bill Collector (Dec 17, 2015)

As long as your dead miles are not more than the on-trip miles, you should be fine. Then again I'm not a tax professional. Mine was about 0.8 times.


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## nickd8775 (Jul 12, 2015)

Double your trip miles for a good estimate.


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## ddelro219 (Aug 11, 2016)

use the app or website. though i'll add a couple miles or so to each trip to account for the miles to pick up the pax. i don't believe the app tracks mileage until you start the trip.


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

Use Everlance on phone going forward.
It does it all for you. Usually 2x overall mileage for 1x mileage on trip is about right.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Can the I.R.S. " GUESSTIMATE" WHAT YOU OWE ?


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## Euius (May 19, 2016)

nickd8775 said:


> Double your trip miles for a good estimate.


Damn, if I did that id be able to deduct so much money!

I'd also be claiming more business miles than my odometer shows I've drove at all, total. In short of be risking a criminal fraud charge and jail time.

To answer OP: The IRS requires a log of miles recorded as they happen, not a ginned up guesstimate.

Hand recorded logs, either on paper or electronic are accepted. You don't need an app.


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## UberTaxPro (Oct 3, 2014)

tohunt4me said:


> Can the I.R.S. " GUESSTIMATE" WHAT YOU OWE ?


YES! If you don't file tax returns the IRS will file a "guesstimate" for you. They'll include all your gross income that they know about with 0 deductions then send you a bill.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

UberTaxPro said:


> YES! If you don't file tax returns the IRS will file a "guesstimate" for you. They'll include all your gross income that they know about with 0 deductions then send you a bill.


I know.

They taxed me for stocks one year as if they fell out the sky into my lap .

By the time I found actual costs,3 years had gone by.( they contacted me at the limit of time I could back file for,3 years).


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## Bill Collector (Dec 17, 2015)

UberTaxPro said:


> YES! If you don't file tax returns the IRS will file a "guesstimate" for you. They'll include all your gross income that they know about with 0 deductions then send you a bill.


All the while Uber is laughing all the way to bank! I wonder how many Uber drivers don't subtract various fees shown in 1099. Yet another reason to simplify tax code!


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## Ironbound Financial (Sep 10, 2016)

Firstime said:


> or do they need to see a spreadsheet? I started out just leisurely driving and figured I wouldn't even make 3 grand(which I'm told if you make under $3,000 a yr you don't even need to file) so didn't really pay attention. However I'm driving more and just started writing down the miles I drive. However my first two months there's no account...just gas receipts.


When you do your taxes you don't need to submit milage logs. Only if the irs requests which is rare. Also make sure to include all miles driven with or without passenger


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

I'm not sure if it's on the 1040, but I think there is a question on TurboTax as to whether you have records to back up your mileage claims. As Ironbound said, you don't submit them with your return, but you need to hang onto your logs in case of an audit down the road.


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## Ironbound Financial (Sep 10, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> I'm not sure if it's on the 1040, but I think there is a question on TurboTax as to whether you have records to back up your mileage claims. As Ironbound said, you don't submit them with your return, but you need to hang onto your logs in case of an audit down the road.


This is true . but it is rare to be asked for driver logs. I am talking to the fact that most people don't keep these logs. These will end up estimating their mileage rather than taking no deduction


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

Ironbound Financial said:


> This is true . but it is rare to be asked for driver logs. I am talking to the fact that most people don't keep these logs. These will end up estimating their mileage rather than taking no deduction


Yep. But I was a Boy Scout once upon a (long ago) time, and I want to be prepared. I have my mileage logs going back to 2002, when I first started driving as an independent contractor. I've never been audited, but my CPA advised me from the start to track and record all expenses, including mileage.


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## hopeblouin (Sep 7, 2016)

every time i go "online" for uber, i reset my trip meter to zero. then when i log off, i snap a pic of the meter with my phone. when i get home, i write down the miles with the date and the amount i earned that day in a notebook. will this be good enough for the irs?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

hopeblouin said:


> every time i go "online" for uber, i reset my trip meter to zero. then when i log off, i snap a pic of the meter with my phone. when i get home, i write down the miles with the date and the amount i earned that day in a notebook. will this be good enough for the irs?


No, from what I understand you need a contemporaneous log of the mileage, and by that they mean permanent odometer readings, rather than trip meters. If the actual odometer is in the pictures, maybe that would fly.
I keep mine in a Day Planner, along with the other mileage deduction I find I'm using more as I get older- medical visits.


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