TripLog/1040 - 1.3

TripLog/1040from Stevens Creek Software, the software that pays for itself, tracks car mileage which can be used as a deduction on your income tax return, or alternatively used to get reimbursement from your company. Your iPhone, always by your side (or in your pocket), is the perfect tool to keep track of this valuable deduction. Record your mileage before you even get out of your car!

Mileage may be deducted for:

• Business travel, not including commuting to and from a regular office)
• Travel in the course of volunteering for any 501c(3) charitable organization
• Travel incurred as part of deductible medical expenses (e.g., driving to a doctor's office, driving to a pharmacy to pick up a prescription)
• Relocation travel.

These miles are tracked separately (medical and relocation are grouped together), because the IRS deduction for each of them is different (in 2008, the deduction is 50.5 cents per mile for business miles driven, 19 cents per mile driven for medical or relocation purposes, and 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations).

You can also track mileage in a fourth category, but only those just mentioned actually become income tax deductions. Income tax returns (form 4562) have a separate line for "commuting miles," so you may wish to track those, but they don't create a deduction.

In addition to the mileage deduction, cars driven more than 50% for business purposes can also generate a Section 179 depreciation deduction for the cost of the car itself. Here again, TripLog/1040is an essential tool providing documentation for that greater than 50% usage.

Parking fees and tolls paid in the course of driving mileage which is deductible are also deductible, and TripLog/1040 allows you to keep track of those as well.