Tidy Orders

Mileage tutorial

Track business mileage with Tidy Orders

The Mileage tab turns the IRS standard mileage deduction into a 10-second task. Log a one-off drive, save a recurring route for one-tap entry, or let Google Maps calculate the distance for you.

Tutorial 6 min read Updated June 28, 2026
Goal: capture every deductible drive accurately enough for Schedule C, without spending more than a few seconds per trip — and without losing rate history when the IRS publishes a new annual rate.

Open the Mileage tab

In the sidebar, open Mileage. You'll see a header with a Log trip button, a year-to-date summary (miles and estimated deduction), and your trip history below.

Each trip stores the IRS rate that was in effect on the trip date, so historical deductions never shift when a new annual rate is published.

Log a single trip

Tap Log trip in the header to open the entry dialog. You have three entry modes:

Miles Type the distance directly. Best for trips you already know the length of.
Odometer Enter start and end readings. Tidy Orders computes the distance and shows a live preview.
Route Enter From and To addresses, then tap Calculate to fetch the Google Maps distance.
  1. Pick the trip date (defaults to today).
  2. Choose an entry mode and fill in the distance.
  3. Add a short business purpose — required for IRS recordkeeping.
  4. Pick a category: Business, Medical, or Charity. The IRS rate is set automatically.
  5. Toggle Round trip if the distance is one-way.
  6. Save.
Tip: the deduction preview updates live as you type, so you can see what a trip is worth before saving.

Save a recurring trip

For drives you take repeatedly — a weekly client visit, a regular supplier run — flip the Save as recurring toggle in the entry dialog before saving. The trip is logged as usual, and a template is stored so you can re-log it in one tap.

You can also promote any past trip into a recurring one. On the Mileage list, tap the repeat icon on any trip row. Tap it again to remove it from your recurring list.

Use Quick log for one-tap entry

Once you have at least one recurring trip, a Quick log strip appears at the top of the Mileage page and inside the Log trip dialog. Each chip shows the route label and its distance.

  1. Tap a chip.
  2. Tidy Orders creates a new trip with today's date, the saved distance, purpose, category, and round-trip setting.
  3. The IRS rate for today is snapshotted onto the trip.

Quick log chips are sorted by most recently used, so the routes you drive most often stay at the front.

Edit or delete a trip

Tap any trip row to open the detail view. From there you can adjust the date, miles (or odometer readings), purpose, category, round-trip status, and notes. When you save, the IRS rate re-snapshots based on the updated trip date and category — so changing a 2025 trip's date into 2026 will update the deduction accordingly.

Route metadata (start/end addresses, distance, duration) is shown for context but read-only in the detail view, so you don't accidentally re-run a Maps lookup mid-edit.

Manage your recurring trips

Scroll to the bottom of the Mileage page and expand Manage recurring trips. From there you can review every saved route and remove any you no longer drive. Removing a recurring trip clears it from Quick log but leaves your past trip history untouched.

How the deduction is calculated

  • Each trip stores miles and the IRS cents-per-mile rate that applied on the trip date and category.
  • The deduction equals miles × rate, rounded to whole cents.
  • Year-to-date totals on the Mileage page sum the snapshotted deductions, so history stays accurate even after the IRS updates its annual rate.
  • Round-trip toggles double the stored miles, not the rate.