How to Export a Mileage Report for Taxes (Step-by-Step Guide for 2026)

Published: June 2026 | Reading time: 6 min | Category: Tax Tips, How-To

You tracked your miles all year. Now it’s time to turn that data into something the IRS — or your accountant — can actually use.

Exporting a mileage report sounds like a five-minute task. And it is, if you know what format you need, what fields must be included, and where to find the report in your tracking app. This guide walks through every step, explains what your accountant needs to see, and covers the two formats the IRS accepts.

What a Valid Mileage Report Must Contain

Before you export anything, verify that your report will include all four IRS-required fields. A report missing any of these cannot be used to substantiate your deduction:

Field	What the IRS Requires
Date	Exact date of each trip
Destination	Business name or address (city minimum)
Business purpose	Why the trip was necessary for your business
Miles driven	Distance per trip (not rounded estimates)

Beyond per-trip data, your report should also show:

Total business miles for the period
IRS mileage rate applied ($0.725 per mile for 2026)
Total deduction value (total business miles × rate)
Date range covered by the report

Your accountant will use the total business miles figure when filling out Schedule C, Line 9 (Car and truck expenses). The per-trip detail is your backup documentation if the IRS ever asks.

What Format Should You Export?

The IRS does not mandate a specific file format — what it requires is that the content is complete and accurate. In practice, two formats work well:

PDF — Best for filing, sharing with an accountant, or storing as a record. Clearly formatted, hard to modify after the fact, and easy to print if needed. This is what most accountants prefer to receive.

CSV / Excel — Best if your accountant wants to import your mileage data into accounting software (QuickBooks, etc.), or if you want to filter and sort trips yourself before handing it off.

When in doubt, export both. A PDF is your formal record; the spreadsheet is a working copy.

Step-by-Step: Exporting Your Mileage Report from Mileafy

Mileafy generates IRS-compliant PDF reports directly from the app, including all required fields and a clean layout designed for tax and accounting use.

Step 1: Open Mileafy and navigate to Reports

Tap the Reports section in the main navigation. This is where all your logged trips are compiled by time period.

Step 2: Set your date range

Select the tax year you’re reporting on — January 1 through December 31. If you’re generating a report for quarterly estimated taxes, select the relevant quarter (e.g., January 1 – March 31 for Q1).

You can also filter by vehicle if you track multiple cars, or by trip classification (business only, personal only, or all trips).

Step 3: Review before exporting

Before generating the PDF, scan through the trips to catch anything that needs correcting:

Any trips still marked “Unclassified”? Categorize them as Business or Personal now — unclassified trips create gaps in your report.
Any trips with missing business purposes? Add a note before exporting.
Do the total business miles look reasonable for your year of driving?

Taking 5 minutes here saves you from going back to your accountant with a corrected version.

Step 4: Export the PDF

Tap Export → PDF. Mileafy generates a formatted report with:

Your name and report period on the header
A line-by-line trip log (date, origin, destination, purpose, miles)
Running totals per month
Total business miles and total deduction value at the current IRS rate
Clean typography designed to be readable at a glance

Version 9.1 of Mileafy (released June 2026) added a redesigned report layout with improved typography and direct print support — you can print the report straight from the preview screen without exporting to another app.

Step 5: Save and share

Once exported, you have several options:

Save to Files — stores the PDF in iCloud or your local storage
AirDrop — send to your Mac instantly if you’re preparing taxes there
Email — attach and send directly to your accountant
Print — tap Print from the preview to send to any AirPrint-compatible printer

→ Download Mileafy free on the App Store

What Your Accountant Actually Does with the Report

When you hand your mileage report to a tax preparer, here’s what happens:

They take the total business miles figure and multiply it by the IRS standard mileage rate for the year ($0.725 for 2026). This gives your vehicle deduction, which goes on Schedule C, Line 9.

They verify the report looks contemporaneous. A well-formatted app-generated report with GPS timestamps is far more convincing than a handwritten log or a spreadsheet that looks like it was filled in all at once.

They may check the business-use percentage. Total business miles ÷ total annual miles = business-use percentage. If this number is very high (say, above 90%), your accountant may ask you to confirm it and may document why it’s plausible for your line of work.

They file with the total, not the detail. The line-by-line trip log doesn’t go to the IRS — it stays in your records as backup. If you’re ever audited, that’s when the per-trip detail gets reviewed.

When to Generate Your Report: A Timeline

Most self-employed people generate their mileage report once per year at tax time. But there are good reasons to export more frequently:

Quarterly (recommended for self-employed) — If you make quarterly estimated tax payments (due April, June, September, January), generating a quarterly mileage report helps you estimate your deduction accurately before each payment. Overpaying estimated taxes ties up cash; underpaying triggers penalties.

Mid-year check — Running a report in July gives you a realistic picture of your year-to-date deduction and flags any tracking gaps while there’s still time to fix them.

Before switching jobs or platforms — If you change gig platforms, take on a new client, or shift how you use your vehicle, a mid-year export captures the record up to that point cleanly.

At year-end — December 31st is the right time to do a final review of your full-year log, correct anything outstanding, note your odometer reading, and generate the annual report you’ll use for filing.

Common Export Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Exporting before classifying all trips. Any trip still marked “Unclassified” won’t appear in your business mileage total. Always do a final classification sweep before generating your report. In Mileafy, unclassified trips are clearly flagged so you can find them quickly.

Selecting the wrong date range. If your report covers January 2025 through December 2025, make sure you’re applying the 2025 rate (70 cents/mile), not the 2026 rate. Reports generated for 2026 driving use $0.725/mile.

Only saving the total, not the detail. The total business miles figure is what goes on your tax return. The per-trip log is what you keep in case of audit. Keep both — the PDF from a tracking app contains everything in one document.

Not keeping a copy. Export the PDF and save it somewhere you’ll still have access to in three to four years. iCloud, Google Drive, or email to yourself all work. A tax-related file that only exists on your phone is one device failure away from being gone.

Waiting until April. Generating your first mileage report the week taxes are due means reviewing a year’s worth of trips in a hurry. Errors are more likely, corrections are harder, and you’re adding stress to an already stressful period. A 10-minute year-end review in December is much easier.

If You Tracked Part of the Year Manually

If some of your mileage was tracked in a spreadsheet or paper log and some in Mileafy, you’ll need to reconcile the two before filing.

Option 1: Consolidate into one document. Add your manual log entries to a spreadsheet, generate your Mileafy PDF for the tracked period, and present both to your accountant as supplementary records for the same Schedule C.

Option 2: Use your manual log as the baseline. If the overlap is small (a few weeks), present the Mileafy report for the tracked period and the manual figures for the rest, noting the gap explicitly. Accountants deal with partial-year records regularly.

Either way, be conservative with your manual estimates. Overclaiming unverifiable miles is the scenario most likely to cause problems if the IRS asks questions.

The Bottom Line

Exporting a mileage report takes about five minutes if your log is clean and complete. The work is in maintaining the log throughout the year — which is exactly what automatic GPS tracking handles for you.

The steps are simple: set your date range, review for unclassified trips, export to PDF, save it somewhere durable, and send it to your accountant. That’s it.

Start tracking with Mileafy — free to download →

Every mile logged is a mile your accountant can use.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Consult a qualified tax professional for guidance specific to your situation.