How to log mileage expenses

A mileage expense in Mylo is a trip, not a number. You record the distance one of three ways (pick the route on a map, type the distance, or enter odometer readings) and Mylo computes the amount at your org's mileage rate. This guide walks through each mode, the org rate settings behind the math, and what your approver sees when the expense lands in the queue.

Before you start: the rate

Every mileage amount is distance × your org's rate, computed server-side when the expense is created. The rate and unit come from your organisation's settings:

• Rate: defaults to $0.725 per mile, mirroring the IRS standard mileage rate. An owner or admin can change it.
• Unit: miles or kilometers, org-wide.

The rate in force is snapshotted onto each expense at creation, so a later rate change never rewrites trips that were already filed.

Start a trip

Open Mileage from the sidebar, or tap the + create button and choose Mileage log. The flow has two steps on one page: Track distance, then Confirm details.

> Accountants: mileage is filed from an employee account. Use act as > from the Team page to log a trip on a client's behalf.

Step 1: Track distance

Map mode

1. Tap the Start field and begin typing an address or place name; Mylo suggests matches as you type. Pick one. (Or use your current location; Mylo resolves it to a real street address.)
2. Do the same for the Stop field. As soon as both ends are set, Mylo computes the actual driving route, shows it on a map preview, and fills in the distance, already in your org's unit.
3. Multi-leg trip? Tap Add stop and order your stops, up to ten in one trip. The route and distance recompute as you go.

The full street addresses are saved on the expense. The row is an audit record, so "the office" won't do; Mylo stores the real addresses.

Manual mode

1. Switch to Manual.
2. Type the distance.

That's the whole mode. Use it when you already know the number.

Odometer mode

1. Switch to Odometer.
2. Enter the start and end odometer readings. The distance is the difference (the end reading must be higher than the start).
3. Optionally (and ideally) attach a dashboard photo for each reading. Mylo's AI reads the odometer from the photo on the spot: if you haven't typed the reading yet, it fills it in for you; if a legible photo disagrees with what you typed, you get an inline nudge with a one-tap fix. Photos that can't be read still attach as documentation.

After the expense is created, an authoritative photo check runs in the background: it re-reads the photos and compares them to the entered readings. It never blocks you; a disagreement simply flags the expense for the approver (see below).

Step 2: Confirm details

With the distance set, tap through to the second step:

• Amount preview: distance × rate, shown before you commit. The server recomputes it authoritatively on create.
• Category: required.
• Date and description: the description is optional; left blank, Mylo writes one for you (e.g. "Mileage: 18.4 mi @ $0.725/mi"). Adding the business purpose here is what completes the substantiation record.
• Reimbursable: on by default (you're owed the money). Switch it off for tracking-only trips that are already covered by the company.
• Billable: flip it on to bill the trip to a customer; you'll pick from your org's QuickBooks customer list.

Tap Create. The expense is created as a draft, and Mylo automatically attaches a mileage log PDF: traveler, date, mode, addresses, distance, rate, amount, and (in Map mode) an image of the route. That log is the trip's receipt: it travels with the expense into QuickBooks when it's exported. From here the expense behaves like any other: review it and Submit when ready.

Setting the org rate (owner/admin)

1. Open your Organisation settings.
2. Find the mileage rate and tap edit.
3. Enter the rate (dollars per unit) and pick the unit (mi or km), then save.

The new rate applies to trips logged from now on. Existing expenses keep the rate they were created with.

What approvers see

A submitted mileage expense arrives in the approval queue with its evidence attached:

• The trip details: start and end addresses, distance, unit, the rate applied, and how it was logged (Map route, Odometer, or Manual entry). Odometer trips also show the start → end readings.
• The mileage log PDF: attached to the expense like a receipt.
• Odometer check flags: if the background photo check found a problem, the expense carries an Odometer mismatch or Odometer photo unreadable chip, with a note explaining exactly what disagreed (e.g. "Start photo reads 48,112 but 48,412 was entered"). A clean check passes silently; a missing verdict is never treated as a failure.

Approve and deny work exactly as they do for every other expense; see Submitting, approving, and denying expenses.

Good to know

• You never type the amount. It's always computed from distance × rate, server-side.
• Rates are per-trip snapshots. Changing the org rate doesn't touch history.
• Map mode needs both ends resolved. The distance fills in once every stop is a picked address or your device location.
• Odometer photos are optional but worth it. They autofill the readings, attach as documentation, and give approvers verified numbers.
• The photo check never blocks. It runs after creation and only ever adds a flag for the approver.

For the bigger picture on why mileage works this way, read Mileage that does the math, or browse the full guide.