How to Document Mileage and Travel for Client Visits

For anyone who drives between job sites, client meetings, or service calls, the question at year-end is the same: did you keep a mileage log the tax office will accept? "I drove a lot for work" is not an answer. A list of dates, start and end locations, purpose, kilometers, and ideally odometer readings, is.

Timesheet captures mileage as a dedicated entry type alongside your time tracking. Export it with a per-kilometer or per-mile rate and you have the reimbursement number or the tax-deductible total ready, without rebuilding the year from receipts. Mileage entries are on every plan, including free Basic.

Mileage TrackingFree

Distances or odometer readings, route and purpose, custom export field for cost. Free on Basic.

#Why Bother

Tax deductions. Most jurisdictions allow a per-kilometer (or per-mile) deduction for business travel. They also expect contemporaneous records.

Client billing. Some agreements include travel time and mileage. Lose the log, lose the reimbursement.

Employee expense reimbursement. Documented mileage is what finance pays out against.

Real project cost. Travel often hides in invisible places. A project that looked profitable on hours can break even when the driving is honest.

#Creating a Mileage Entry

Mileage in Timesheet is its own task type. That keeps it distinct from regular work entries in reports and exports.

#Setup

Create a new task
Pick Mileage as the task type
Fill in:
- Project (which client or job the travel was for)
- Description (purpose of the trip)
- Date
Add the mileage data (see options below)
Save

#Two Ways to Record the Distance

Option 1: Distance between points. Just the kilometers (or miles) traveled. Best when you know the route from a map or GPS.

Start location
End location
Total distance

Option 2: Odometer readings. Best for strict tax compliance.

Start reading
End reading
Difference becomes the recorded distance

Pick one method and stick with it for the year. Mixing methods invites questions you don't want to answer twice.

#Travel Time vs. Mileage

Travel time and mileage are two different numbers. Both can be tracked, separately or together.

#Together

Create the mileage entry
Set start and end times for when the drive happened
Add the distance
The entry holds both: time spent and distance covered

Useful when travel time is billable.

#Apart

One regular task for travel time (so it shows up in hours)
One mileage entry for the distance (so it shows up in kilometers)
Same date, same project; link them in the description if needed

#Capturing Route and Purpose

#What to Note

From: starting point (office, home, previous client site)
To: destination
Purpose: why you traveled (meeting, service call, delivery, site survey)

#Why It Matters Later

Audit defense, expense approval, route optimization, planning future trips. "Meeting at Acme" is the bare minimum. "Quarterly review at Acme HQ" is the version that survives a review three years later.

#Calculating the Reimbursement

Timesheet records the raw mileage. The cost calculation happens on export, via a custom field with the rate you use.

#Custom Export Field

In the export configuration, add a calculated field:

= {DISTANCE} * 0.30

That multiplies the recorded distance by 0.30 EUR, Germany's standard business-travel rate (Kilometerpauschale / Reisekostenpauschale). Adjust the multiplier to whatever applies in your country or your client agreement.

#Common Rates

Germany (Reisekostenpauschale / Kilometerpauschale): EUR 0.30 per kilometer for business travel, applied to the full driven distance (round trip eligible). The commute allowance (Entfernungspauschale) is separate: EUR 0.30 per kilometer for the first 20 km and EUR 0.38 from km 21 (EUR 0.38 from km 1 as of 2026), counting only the one-way distance.
United States (IRS, 2024 business rate): $0.67 per mile
United Kingdom (HMRC AMAP): GBP 0.45 per mile for the first 10,000 miles, GBP 0.25 per mile after

Always check the current year's rate before you file; these change.

#Building a Mileage Report

Open Export
Filter by mileage task type, or by a tag if you tag mileage entries
Add the custom field for the cost calculation
Select the date range
Export to Excel or CSV

The export carries: date, from, to, purpose, distance, calculated cost.

#What the Tax Office Wants

Requirements vary by country. The intersection of all of them:

#Always Include

Date
Start and end location
Business purpose
Distance
Project or client association

#IRS (United States)

Date, destination, business purpose, miles driven
Annual total
Odometer at year start and year end (helpful)

#HMRC (United Kingdom)

Date, reason, start, destination, miles
Cumulative total

#Finanzamt (Germany)

Date, start and end, purpose, kilometers
Odometer recommended; a Fahrtenbuch with gaps is worth less than a complete one

#Round-Trips and Multi-Stop Days

Round-trip in one entry. Office to client and back, as one entry with the total distance. Quick.

Round-trip as two entries. Outbound and return separately. Useful if the two legs land on different projects, or if one leg counts differently for tax.

Multi-stop days. Two options.

One entry per leg: Office → Client A, Client A → Client B, Client B → Office. Most accurate.
One entry for the whole day, with all stops noted in the description. Less precise, but practical for service techs running 8 calls a day.

Commute does not count in most tax systems. Home to office is not business travel; office to client is.

#Practices That Hold Up

Log mileage the same day. Memory fades fast, especially for the smaller trips that add up.

Pick one method for the year. Distance-based or odometer-based, not both.

Note the purpose, not just the destination. "Acme HQ, contract renewal meeting" not just "Acme".

Keep supporting evidence. Parking receipts, toll records, fuel receipts. Attach them as expense entries on the same project.

Monthly check. Open the export, scan for gaps, fill them while you can still reconstruct from calendar entries.

#Three Realistic Scenarios

#Consultant, Two-Stop Day

Morning at Client A, afternoon at Client B.

Mileage entry: Office → Client A (purpose: contract review)
Mileage entry: Client A → Client B (purpose: workshop)
Mileage entry: Client B → Office (return)

Each tagged to the right project. The export tallies the kilometers and the reimbursement at the end of the month.

#Field Service Tech

Same day, six service calls.

One mileage entry for the day, listing all stops in the description
Odometer at start, odometer at end
The export shows the day's total kilometers and the reimbursement

#Sales Representative on Territory

A weekly cadence of regular visits.

One mileage entry per trip, tagged to the relevant client
Clear purpose noted on each ("quarterly check-in, demo, deal close")
Exclude home-to-office commuting from the log

#Troubleshooting

"I forgot to record a trip." Reconstruct from your calendar (where you were), Google Maps Timeline (where the phone was), or fuel receipts (where you bought gas). Add the entry with the correct date.

"What counts as deductible?" When in doubt, consult an accountant. Keep more documentation, not less. Separate business and personal travel cleanly.

"My records are inconsistent." Stop, pick one method (distance vs. odometer), set a 17:00 reminder on weekdays, and start fresh. Past inconsistencies are past; today's log is what you control.

#Summary

The components:

Mileage task type: a dedicated entry for travel
Distance or odometer: pick one for the year
Route, purpose, project: the metadata that holds up under audit
Custom export field: the per-kilometer rate × distance equals reimbursement
Monthly review: the only way to avoid year-end reconstruction