# TripLog App - Manual Mode - What happens if you make a mistake?



## VanKalDriver (Sep 13, 2021)

I just got the TripLog app, and set it up in manual mode. MagicTrip would never work because it would log ALL my driving, and just like that, I would be cheating on my taxes. In manual, you have to remember to start and stop tracking with every delivery.

It's not too hard, provided I remember, if I get a ping from home or while stopped somewhere in Paw Paw, Mattawan, Kalamazoo or Portage here in Michigan. However, in Kalamazoo and Portage, I get a lot of pings while I'm driving, particularly if I'm surge chasing. That makes for not only a ping acceptance while driving, but also switching to another app and manually starting a log behind the wheel, which can be dangerous.

Is it possible I could log miles driving around in Kalamazoo looking for trips? That would make it easier.

But my main question is, what happens if you forget to stop the trip log after a delivery is completed? Are you automatically guilty of cheating on your taxes? Are you rendered without a log and no mileage deductions? And does this manual TripLog even prove it to the IRS? It would seem to me like communication with the Uber app would be essential to actually prove it. I sure wish Uber could just give me its own log of both earnings and miles, given that it reports earnings to the IRS and has the mileage data!

Do I really need to get my mileage exactly right to do my taxes properly?


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

VanKalDriver said:


> I just got the TripLog app, and set it up in manual mode. MagicTrip would never work because it would log ALL my driving, and just like that, I would be cheating on my taxes. In manual, you have to remember to start and stop tracking with every delivery.
> 
> It's not too hard, provided I remember, if I get a ping from home or while stopped somewhere in Paw Paw, Mattawan, Kalamazoo or Portage here in Michigan. However, in Kalamazoo and Portage, I get a lot of pings while I'm driving, particularly if I'm surge chasing. That makes for not only a ping acceptance while driving, but also switching to another app and manually starting a log behind the wheel, which can be dangerous.
> 
> ...


Well, you are signing your tax return attesting to its accuracy.🤷🏼 But I’m not familiar with the mileage apps, although my understanding from other members here is that the IRS will accept them. I started doing private driving as an IC in 2002, before the apps were available. My CPA insisted on a contemporaneous, hand written log, per the IRS regs. I did it that way for sixteen years and never got audited. Maybe one of the tax pros, which I am not, will chime in. @UberTaxPro comes to mind. Good luck.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

VanKalDriver said:


> I just got the TripLog app, and set it up in manual mode. MagicTrip would never work because it would log ALL my driving, and just like that, I would be cheating on my taxes. In manual, you have to remember to start and stop tracking with every delivery.
> 
> It's not too hard, provided I remember, if I get a ping from home or while stopped somewhere in Paw Paw, Mattawan, Kalamazoo or Portage here in Michigan. However, in Kalamazoo and Portage, I get a lot of pings while I'm driving, particularly if I'm surge chasing. That makes for not only a ping acceptance while driving, but also switching to another app and manually starting a log behind the wheel, which can be dangerous.
> 
> ...


ALL your miles are deductible, driveway to driveway as long as your “online” and available to get offers. I’ve used TripLog for years and was actually audited a few years ago and had no problem with my mileage log.
Using TripLog in manual mode is the way to go. When you leave your driveway and go online adjust your odometer setting and begin your trip. At every destination just “save” so it records the address and odometer. Then immediately “start” the next trip. Rinse and repeat.

If you make a mistake just manually adjust the odometer reading. When you re-enter your driveway at the end of your shift and go “offline” just look at the odometer reading and compare it to your actual. If it’s off slightly just manually adjust and “save”

Good Luck.


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