Mileage

The miles I drive for business related travel, now that I'm a business owner, can be deducted from my taxes. But you have to keep track of your mileage in order to take the deduction. For now, all I've done is set up a spreadsheet to track my mileage. As far as I can tell, I just need to note the date, the starting miles and ending miles and the business purpose. I have the spreadsheet calculate the miles I've driven by subtracting the ending miles from the start miles. Then I also have it calculate the actual cash value of the deduction. For 2010 the IRS has declared that business mileage can be deducted at $0.50 per mile. 

There is also a different method that one can use for the deduction, but since I am using the same vehicle for personal as well as business travel, I've decided to just use the mileage method. I just enter the miles into my iPod Touch and then transfer the data into a spreadsheet when I get home. But there are easier ways to do it. I could buy a mileage app in the iTunes store. But for now I'm just using a spreadsheet. I can access the spreadsheet from my iPod Touch whenever I have Internet access, but that's now always available. During those times I just jot a note down in Notepad and then put the info into the spreadsheet when I get home.