Business miles vs commuting miles
The single most expensive misunderstanding in mileage deductions, and the one an examiner looks for first.
The commute is never deductible
Driving between your home and your regular place of work is personal. It does not matter whether it is 4 miles or 84. It does not matter that you took a call on the way. It is a commute, and the IRS treats it as a personal expense.
This surprises people because the drive is undeniably caused by the job. The tax code does not care about causation here; it cares about where you started and where you ended.
Which miles do count
| Drive | Deductible? |
|---|---|
| Home → regular office | No. Commute. |
| Office → client → office | Yes. |
| Client → client | Yes. |
| Office → temporary work site | Yes. |
| Home → client, with a qualifying home office | Yes. |
| Home → client, without a home office | Generally no. |
| Office → home, stopping at a client on the way | Partly. The business leg counts. |
The home office changes the math
If your home qualifies as your principal place of business, then leaving it for a client is not a commute — you are travelling between two business locations. Every such trip becomes deductible.
The bar is real: the space must be used regularly and exclusively for business, and it must be where you conduct the administrative or management work of your trade. A laptop on the kitchen table does not qualify.
For a self-employed person who genuinely works from home, this single distinction is often worth more than every other mileage rule combined.
A stop on the way does not launder the commute
Picking up coffee, or even mail, on the drive to the office does not turn it into business mileage. Stopping at a client's site, however, splits the drive: the home → client leg follows the commute rules, and the client → office leg is business.
Temporary work sites
A location you expect to work at for one year or less is a temporary work site. Driving there from home is deductible if you also have a regular place of work elsewhere. If the assignment stretches beyond a year, it stops being temporary — and the drive becomes a commute.
What this means for your log
A log that records only mileage cannot survive this distinction. The destination and business purpose columns are what separate a deductible mile from a commute, and they are the first columns an examiner reads.
Our free mileage log template carries both. The 2026 IRS mileage rate page gives the rates to apply.
Kilevo builds the log from your calendar, keeping the destination and the meeting title with every trip, so the business purpose is recorded at the time — not reconstructed in April.
