Mileage that does the math

"It's about 34 miles. Ish." That's how most mileage logs start, and it's also why they end badly. You reconstruct a month of driving from memory, eyeball distances off a maps app, paste them into a spreadsheet, multiply by a rate you half-remember, and hope nobody asks how you got any of those numbers.

The IRS, meanwhile, does ask. To substantiate vehicle expenses you need a record of the date, the distance, where you went, and the business purpose, kept as you go, not invented at year-end. A spreadsheet of round numbers doesn't inspire confidence in anyone: not your approver, not your accountant.

Mylo's answer: you log the trip, the app does the math.

Distance in, reimbursement out

Every mileage expense in Mylo is built the same way:

distance × your org's rate = the amount.

You never type an amount. You give Mylo a distance (one of three ways, below) and the server computes the reimbursement at the mileage rate your org has set. The default rate is $0.725 per mile, mirroring the IRS standard mileage rate, and an owner or admin can change it (or switch the whole org to kilometers) in settings.

One detail your accountant will appreciate: the rate is snapshotted on the expense the moment it's created. If your org updates its rate next quarter, every trip you already filed keeps the rate it was actually paid at; history never gets silently rewritten.

Three ways to log a trip

Open Mileage (it's in the sidebar, and under the + create button as Mileage log) and pick whichever mode fits the trip:

1. Map mode: pick it, don't measure it

Start typing your starting point and destination; Mylo suggests real addresses as you type, or you can use your current location as a stop. Ran errands on the way? Add stops, up to ten in a single trip. Mylo computes the actual driving route between your stops, shows it on a live map preview, and uses the route's real distance. No guessing, no separate maps app, no transcribing.

The stop addresses are saved on the expense in full, because a mileage row is an audit record, and "345 Spear St" without a city isn't one.

2. Manual: you already know the number

Same commute-adjacent client run every week? Type the distance, done. Manual mode is the no-ceremony option for distances you already know.

3. Odometer: readings, with receipts

Enter the odometer reading at the start and end of the trip; the difference is your distance. Here's the part that kills the "ish": snap a photo of your dashboard for each reading. Mylo's AI reads the odometer straight off the photo (filling in the number for you if you haven't typed it) and the photos attach to the expense as documentation.

After the expense is created, a verification check runs in the background: the AI re-reads your dashboard photos and compares them to the readings on the expense. It never blocks you (you're already done), but if a photo disagrees with a typed reading, the expense carries an odometer mismatch flag with a plain-English note that your approver sees. Honest logs sail through; creative ones get a second look.

The paper trail writes itself

A mileage expense has no receipt, so Mylo generates one. Every trip gets a mileage log PDF attached automatically: the traveler, date, mode, start and end addresses, distance, the rate applied, the computed amount, and, in map mode, an image of the actual route. When the expense is exported to QuickBooks, the log goes with it, so the substantiation lives in your books, not in a folder somewhere.

Your approver doesn't see a bare number either. The expense shows the trip itself (where you went, how far, at what rate, logged how) plus the attached log and any odometer flags. Approving mileage stops being an act of faith.

> A few honest caveats. The IRS standard mileage rate is a default: > your org sets its own rate, and your employer's policy governs what you're > actually reimbursed. Substantiation rules for vehicle expenses have real > teeth (contemporaneous records of date, distance, place, and business > purpose), and this post is general information, not tax advice; check > with your accountant.

Good to know

• The amount is always computed for you: distance × rate, calculated server-side. There's no amount field to fat-finger.
• The rate is frozen per trip. Org rate changes apply to new trips only; filed expenses keep the rate they were created at.
• Miles or kilometers. Your org picks the unit; every trip and rate follows it.
• The purpose is still yours to add. Date, distance, and route are captured; the why (the description) is the one piece only you know.
• Odometer checks never slow you down. Photo verification runs in the background after you're done; it flags, it doesn't block.

Ready to log your first trip? The step-by-step walkthrough is in How to log mileage expenses. For everything else, see the Mylo features & how-to guide.