Tracking Your Mileage As A Healthcare Business
Self-employed and driving for your healthcare business? You might qualify for a tax deduction while you’re at it! Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as answering a business call on your way to Target and calling it a write-off.
Where you’re going, why you’re going, and how you document it are all essential to staying on the IRS’s good side.
This guide breaks down the difference between personal and business mileage (it’s stricter than you think), the different ways to calculate your deduction, and how to keep a mileage log your accountant will thank you for!
NOTE:This guide is for educational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, or financial advice.
Mid-Year IRS Mileage Update
If you’re already tracking your mileage like a pro, I want you to stop and make sure your mileage log is taking this into account before we get too far:
2026 Business Mileage Rates
Jan. 1 - Jun. 30 → 72.5 cents/mile
Effective July 1 → 76 cents/mile
Those rates are super important if you’re using the standard mileage method (more on that later).
The IRS doesn’t always update the rates mid-year, and even though it makes things more confusing, I’m never going to complain about a little extra tax savings!
What mileage is tax-deductible?
Mileage Examples:
Travel between workplaces during a business day
Miles driven to visit clients or customers
Travel to a business meeting that is not your normal workplace
Travel from your qualifying home office to another work location (for the same business)
Travel from your home to a temporary work location if you also have a regular work location
Mileage driven while traveling for business away from your tax home
Terms To Know
Temporary work location: an assignment that’s expected to last for one year or less. Generally, a location becomes indefinite if the work is expected to last longer than a year.
Tax home: generally the “entire city or general area” where you work; it is not necessarily where your home is.
What mileage isn’t deductible?
The short answer: personal trips!
Even if you’re driving the car you also use for your business, if you’re driving for personal purposes, that mileage likely isn’t deductible.
Some examples of trips or expenses that do not count:
Travel from your home to your regular place of business or indefinite work location (aka commuting)
Personal errands or other nonbusiness trips
Personal travel during which you make a business call
Parking at your regular workplace
The Standard Mileage Method
The first of two methods the IRS allows for calculating your mileage deduction is the standard method.
Essentially, you’ll apply the IRS’s business mileage rate (double-check that you’re using the correct rate) to your qualifying business miles driven during that period.
If you own your vehicle and you’d like to use the standard method, you need to choose this method in the first year the car is available for use in business. Then, you can switch to the actual expense method in later years. If you lease the car and choose the standard method, you need to use it for the entirety of the lease period.
The safest way to know you’re using the correct method? Ask your accountant!
The Actual Expenses Method
The actual expenses method requires more record-keeping because, as the name implies, you’re tracking all of your actual expenses.
Qualifying expenses can be:
Insurance
Gas/Fuel
Repairs + Maintenance
Lease Payments (if you lease)
Depreciation (if you own)
Vehicle Registration Fees
*Tolls and parking fees for business use are separately deductible, regardless of which method you use.
How To Track Mixed-Use Mileage
This is a super common FAQ I get: What if you use the same vehicle for your business and to run errands?
If you’re using the actual expense method, you’ll need to figure out your car’s business-use percentage.
Here’s how it works in practice:
If you drive 3,000 business miles and 7,000 personal miles, your business-use percentage is 30%. If you had $10,000 in qualifying actual expenses, $3,000 would be your business-use portion before considering any deduction limitations. When you keep a thorough mileage log, this is something your accountant can help you calculate!
What the IRS wants you to be tracking
The best way to keep the IRS happy when it comes to a mileage log? Keep detailed, contemporaneous records.
Sample Mileage Log
Date Starting Point Destination Business Purpose Total Mileage
Aug 25 123 Main St. 345 Maple St. Meeting w/ Client A 18 miles
Pro Tip: You’ll also want to record your total annual mileage, so take a photo of your odometer on the first and last day of the year!
Easily Track Your Mileage
Mileage Apps:This is probably my personal favorite because it’s so easy! These apps (like MileIQ or Everlance) automatically track your trips via GPS. Then, you can go in, categorize each trip as business or personal, and add in any other details.
Manual Log: For my old school healthcare businesses, a good ol’ pen + paper mileage log works just fine. You just need to remember to write down all the details of your trip(s) each day.
Whichever method you choose, make sure you’re reviewing it and adding any missed trips each week. The IRS considers a weekly log timely kept, so don’t stress too much if you don’t write down your mileage the second you get into the parking lot!
Let’s Connect!
Twelve years of looking at business financials has taught me one thing above everything else: the small stuff is never small. A missing mileage log. An uncategorized expense. A rate change nobody caught. These are the details that cost money when they're wrong and save money when they're right.
If your records could use some attention before year-end, that's exactly what a Diagnostic Review is for. We look at where things actually stand, what's missing, and what needs to happen before December 31st becomes a hard stop.