Mileage log · Construction and trades
Mileage tracker for contractors
Home to the job site, the site to the supplier, the supplier back to the site, then an estimate on the way home. A contractor’s day is four or five business drives, and the log behind your vehicle deduction is all of them. Odie records each one from your truck.
No account. Free for 40 automatic trips a month, no card.
A day on the road
A weekday on a kitchen renovation:
- WorkHome office to the job site
- WorkJob site to the building supplier for cabinets
- WorkSupplier back to the job site
- WorkJob site to a homeowner for an estimate
- WorkEstimate to home
When home is the place of business, the drive out to a site and back can be business. When you rent a shop and report there every morning, the drive to the shop is commuting.
What counts as business driving
In the log as Work
- Drives to job sites, which change from contract to contract
- Supply runs and equipment rental pickups
- Estimates and site visits with clients
- Drives to the dump or recycling depot with job waste
- Permit offices and inspections
Not business
- Home to a shop or yard you report to every day
- Personal stops on the way back from a site
- Weekend use of the truck for yourself
What the log is worth
A worked example for a self-employed driver in each country. Your numbers will differ; the method is the same.
Canada · self-employed
22,000 business km out of 30,000 km in total is 73.3% business use. Applied to $13,000 of car costs for the year, that is
$9,533
Deducted on the T2125. There is no per-kilometre deduction for the self-employed: it is a share of real costs, and the log proves the share.
The CRA on motor vehicle expensesUnited States · self-employed
14,000 business miles at the IRS standard rate of 76¢ (Jul 1 to Dec 31, 2026) is
$10,640
Deducted on Schedule C if you use the standard mileage rate. Business parking and tolls go on top.
Schedule C instructionsYour vehicle
Many contractors drive a pickup or a van that is also the family’s second vehicle. Running costs are deducted as the business share. The vehicle itself is depreciated through capital cost allowance, and the class depends on the vehicle and what it cost: see the CCA guide.
Expenses to keep with the log
- Fuel, the largest line for most trades
- Parking near downtown sites
- Tolls
- Insurance, licence and registration, as the business share
- Repairs and maintenance
- Loan interest or lease payments
What Odie does
- Starts a trip when your vehicle’s Bluetooth connects and you are moving, and ends it when you park.
- Asks Work or Personal from the lock screen, and suggests the answer after the same route twice.
- Keeps fuel, charging, parking and toll receipts next to the trips.
- Builds the year report: summary, monthly and per-client totals, expenses, the trip log and the odometer readings.
Tag each trip with the job or the client, and the year report totals kilometres per job. That is also how you see which contracts cost the most to drive to. See a sample year report (PDF)
Questions
Is the drive from home to the job site business?
If your home is your main place of business, a drive out to a client’s site is business. If you report to a shop or yard every morning, that drive is commuting, and the trips from the shop to sites are business.
My truck is over the CCA ceiling. Does that change the log?
No. The log is the same: every business trip, plus odometer readings at the start and end of the year. The ceiling only changes how much of the purchase price counts for capital cost allowance. The CCA guide walks through a $46,000 example.
Can I log trips for more than one truck?
Odie Pro handles more than one vehicle, each with its own odometer readings, which the CRA asks for separately per vehicle.
Informational, not tax advice. Your accountant knows your situation.
Guides
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Capital cost allowance for a vehicle in Canada
How a vehicle's purchase price turns into a yearly deduction on Form T2125, the $39,000 line that sets the class, and what changes for an electric one.
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Is driving to work deductible in Canada? The CRA rule
Home to your regular workplace is personal. What the CRA counts as business driving instead, a worked example, and how to log trips so the split holds up.
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Are parking and tolls deductible? (CRA)
Why parking and supplementary insurance skip the CRA's business-use percentage, what tolls fall back on instead, and how the employee route differs.
Your next work trip can log itself.
Odie is on the App Store, free to start.