What you need: one row per business trip with the date, destination, business purpose and miles, plus your odometer at the start and end of the year. Fill it in at least weekly. At tax time, total your business miles, multiply by the IRS rate for when they were driven, and enter the result on Schedule C line 9. Schedule C Part IV also asks for your business, commuting and other miles, and whether you have written evidence.
Example: a freelancer's week
| Date | Destination | Business purpose | Miles | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06/29/2026 | Bloom Bakery, 22 Elm St | Website kickoff meeting | 16.4 | $0.725 | $11.89 |
| 06/30/2026 | UPS Store, Main St | Ship signed contracts to client | 5.2 | $0.725 | $3.77 |
| 07/01/2026 | Coworking space, 5th Ave | Client workshop (rented room) | 12.0 | $0.76 | $9.12 |
| 07/02/2026 | Bank of the West, Oak Rd | Deposit client checks | 3.1 | $0.76 | $2.36 |
| Total | 36.7 | $27.14 |
Printable mileage log template for self-employed people
The Excel file adds up miles and the deduction for you. The PDF is for a clipboard or glovebox; transfer the totals to Schedule C at year end.
What counts as business mileage when you work for yourself
- Trips to clients, customers and job sites
- Trips between two work locations on the same day
- Errands for the business: supplies, post office, bank deposits
- Trips to temporary work locations if you have a regular place of business elsewhere
- With a home office that is your principal place of business: trips from home to other work locations
- Not deductible: commuting from home to your regular office or shop
Can self-employed people claim mileage from home to work?
It depends on where your business is based. Driving between your home and your main or regular place of work is personal commuting, even when you are self-employed and even if you take business calls on the way.
But if your home office qualifies as your principal place of business, Publication 463 lets you deduct daily trips between home and another work location in the same business, whether that location is temporary or regular and however far it is. Many freelancers, consultants and tradespeople who run the business from home qualify; IRS Publication 587 explains the test.
If you rent an office or workshop and drive there every day, that drive is commuting. Trips from the office to clients are business.
Using the mileage log creator
Add trips as you go (the list is saved in your browser), then click "Download PDF log" whenever you need a copy for your records or your accountant. Choose the tax year: for 2026 each trip gets 72.5¢ or 76¢ depending on its date, and the PDF shows both subtotals so the math is easy to check.
If you use the actual expense method instead, the log still matters: enter personal trips too, or your odometer readings, and use the business-use share of total miles to split costs like fuel and insurance.
Mileage is one line of Schedule C. If part of your self-employment income comes from Etsy, the platform fees are a second deductible line, and they sit in twelve separate monthly CSV statements. The free Etsy tax summary reads those statements in your browser and totals the year's sales, refunds and every fee.
What the deduction is worth
The standard mileage amount reduces your Schedule C profit, so it lowers both self-employment tax (15.3% on 92.35% of net earnings) and income tax. For example, 8,000 business miles driven evenly through 2026 is 4,000 x $0.725 + 4,000 x $0.76 = $5,940. Business parking fees and tolls are deductible on top of that.
Sources
- IRS Publication 463, chapter 5: Recordkeeping
- IRS: Schedule C (Form 1040) and instructions
- IRS: Standard mileage rates (all years)
- IRS Announcement 2026-11, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 (rates from July 1, 2026)
Rates and rules on this page last checked against these sources on October 7, 2026.