# Sampling for mileage



## Jimmy44 (Jan 12, 2020)

Anyone hear of or use sampling method for mileage keeping track for 3 months ?


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## percy_ardmore (Jun 4, 2019)

I guess the lack of response gives you your answer.


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## Jimmy44 (Jan 12, 2020)

Jimmy44 said:


> Anyone hear of or use sampling method for mileage keeping track for 3 months ?


It's actually an IRS accepted method to keep track of your miles. You keep a close count of your mileage for 3 months then multiply your 3 month total x 4. If your starting and ending total miles for the year correspond with those three months the IRS is ok with it.



percy_ardmore said:


> I guess the lack of response gives you your answer.


I had actually forgot I posted this. Thanks for the reminder.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

To use the sampling method the IRS requires that you keep track of your “business appointments” for the entire year. It would seem just as easy to track and record the business mileage daily, leaving no question as to when and how many such miles you accrue. The sampling method is more geared to someone making sales calls where the driving route is repeated weekly or monthly throughout the year. I don’t believe it is well suited to ride share, but that’s just my opinion based on what I have read.


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

The sampling method doesn't work with taxis/other vehicles for hire.

Reproducing your "business appointments" for the entire year is such a monumentally hard thing to do that it makes mileage tracking dirt easy.

My guess is that you came up with this because you don't have a mileage log and now your scrambling?

Well... good luck with that.

Your options include...
1. Do the impossible and create a proper log.
2. Make it up and pray you don't get audited
3. Make a sampling for one month with proper documentations AND PRAY you don't get audited.


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## Jimmy44 (Jan 12, 2020)

It's tax season and I am interested in how drivers file. My taxes have been done by H & R Block for 4 years. I am a full time driver and my mileage is backed up and I have never been audited. I have know idea why your reply ended with you making assumptions about me. You could not be more wrong.


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Jimmy44 said:


> It's tax season and I am interested in how drivers file. My taxes have been done by H & R Block for 4 years. I am a full time driver and my mileage is backed up and I have never been audited. I have know idea why your reply ended with you making assumptions about me. You could not be more wrong.


Wait, so your not scrambling to figure out how to deduct your expenses?

you ACTUALLY have a mileage log?

Seriously?

Just use standard mileage rate, sampling doesn't work for rideshare. One would use sampling when you can plug in your "route" for a day/week and just use the theoretical mileage it would take rather than your actual odometer readings. And it's also so random that i doubt they would accept it for taxi/towncar use anyway.

From a technicality standpoint, it's not really the correct way to be doing it. Personally I wouldn't use sampling, it wouldn't be acceptable due to a requiremnt that your mileage would have to be consistent month to month.

Honestly using sampling is just such a bad idea.

"So you drove the same customers every day to the same places and had a route?"

"NO... well... no.."


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

I never heard of sampling for mileage so out of curiosity I sampled 2019.
Second column actual numbers per month.
Third Column is a 3 month average only using last 3 months.
Last column is prior 3 months added together times 4.

I just don't see how sampling would work for rideshare. For a route driver that pretty much had the same route day after day all year, yes I could see it working. Anyway I did not take the time to read up on the sampling rules, just based it of what OP posted and plugged in my numbers. Maybe I could say i sampled Mar-May and get a bonus 13,842 miles. Oh wait, that would not work as i don't put that many non rideshare miles on my car a year.


Jan3365​Feb3129​Mar4454​3649​3 Month Avg43792​Apr3979​3854​3 Month Avg46248​May3853​4095​3 Month Avg49144​Jun3496​3776​3 Month Avg45312​Jul2805​3385​3 Month Avg40616​Aug2120​2807​3 Month Avg33684​Sep1481​2135​3 Month Avg25624​Oct2809​2137​3 Month Avg25640​Nov1231​1840​3 Month Avg22084​Dec2580​2207​3 Month Avg26480​Year35302​2942​Year Avg


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