The Mileage Log

Tracking and managing your business-related vehicle use is an important way to reduce your tax payable and understand your business. The mileage log under Trackers → Mileage keeps it the way the CRA wants the data.

Here are some examples of vehicle use that you should lot:

  • Sourcing trips
  • Post office runs
  • Supply store visits

Why the percentage

Canadian sole proprietors do not deduct kilometers times a rate. They deduct their real car costs times the share of the year's driving that was business. Those costs are:

  • Gas
  • Insurance
  • Repairs
  • Lease payments or depreciation

The log substantiates that share. The per-kilometer figure RelistKit also shows, labeled CRA allowance value, is what an employer would reimburse staff at (and may apply if you operate as a corporation).

1. Add a trip

  1. Navigate to Trackers → Mileage, and then click Add a business trip.
  2. Enter the date. Choose the destination; recent destinations are one click away.
  3. Select the purpose from the dropdown. The choices are:
    • Sourcing
    • Shipping
    • Supplies
    • Buyer meetup
    • Other, with a note
  1. Enter the distance in one of two ways, using the switch at the top of the form:
  • Distance: enter the kilometers one way and leave Round trip ticked to double it.
  • Odometer readings: enter the start and end readings, and RelistKit does the subtraction. The next trip's start reading pre-fills from the last end.
  1. Click Save.

Note: Only business trips go in the log. Personal driving is never entered trip by trip; the CRA method only needs the year's total.

2. Enter the year's total

The summary tiles need one more number: the total kilometers the car drove this year, business and personal.

  1. On the mileage page, click Enter km driven.
  2. Type the total, or enter the odometer reading at the start and end of the year.
  3. Click Save. The Business use tile now shows the percentage.

3. Export the log

Click CSV or Excel at the top of the log, and then give the file to your accountant. Each trip is one row with these columns:

  • Date
  • Destination
  • Purpose
  • Kilometers
  • Round trip
  • Note

Common questions

Do I need to log every trip?

Yes, for the CRA. Once you have a full year logged, the CRA lets you keep a three-month sample in later years if it stays within ten percent.

What counts as a business trip?

Driving whose purpose is the business. Examples:

  • To a thrift store to source
  • To the post office to ship
  • To a store to buy supplies
  • To meet a buyer

The commute to a day job does not count.

I drive for another business too.

Log only RelistKit-business trips here, and keep the other log separately. The total-kilometers figure is for the whole car.