Maintenance
Part of IRS Mileage Rates and Logs: Methods, Business Miles and the First Year Choice
How mileage rates services differ, and what they cost
Mileage services split into trip-capture apps and licensed preparers. Here is what each charges, what each does, and how to check a credential.
Mileage rates services differ in what they do and what they cost. This page explains how they differ and what each charges.
Two products get sold under that name. One is software that captures trips. The other is a person who decides what may be claimed. Software cannot do the second job, and no subscription tier changes that. This page prices both, names the services, and shows which promises are a reason to walk away.
What to take away
- Trip-capture apps run about $5 to $25 a month per user, or $60 to $300 a year, and most bill annually.
- A licensed preparer bills $150 to $500 for a return with a vehicle claim, or $75 to $250 an hour.
- The person who signs the return carries the responsibility. Find out who that is before you pay anyone.
- Any service quoting a per-mile figure or a deduction size before seeing your records is guessing.
- Credentials can be checked rather than believed, and checking takes minutes.
What MileIQ, Everlance, Stride, QuickBooks and FreshBooks cost
What they cost
What it is
- MileIQ
- Automatic drive detection on a phone, swipe to classify
- Everlance
- Trip capture plus expense and receipt tracking in one app
- Stride
- Free mileage and expense tracking, income side sold alongside
- QuickBooks Solopreneur
- Mileage tracking inside a small-business accounting subscription
- FreshBooks
- Mileage and expense capture attached to invoicing
Who it suits
- MileIQ
- Solo drivers who want the log to exist without thinking about it
- Everlance
- Sole proprietors who want mileage and spending in one place
- Stride
- Gig and rideshare drivers
- QuickBooks Solopreneur
- Owners already keeping books in QuickBooks
- FreshBooks
- Service businesses that bill by the hour or project
Price you can expect
- MileIQ
- Free tier capped at 40 drives a month; Premium typically $5.99 a month billed annually, or $9.99 month to month
- Everlance
- Free tier; Premium typically $8 a month billed annually, or $12 monthly; Professional about $16 a month
- Stride
- Free for tracking; paid tax add-ons typically $50 to $150 depending on the form
- QuickBooks Solopreneur
- Typically $20 to $30 a month, mileage tracking included
- FreshBooks
- Lite around $19 a month, Plus around $33, Premium around $60; mileage tracking included in all tiers
Which one to pick, by persona:
Which to pick
- Pick MileIQ if you want the log to exist without thinking about it.
- Pick Everlance if you want mileage and spending in one place.
- Pick Stride if you drive for a gig or rideshare platform and want free tracking.
- Pick QuickBooks Solopreneur if you already keep your books in QuickBooks.
- Pick FreshBooks if you bill clients by the hour or by project.
Check each vendor's current price before you buy. Rates move, and the free tiers are capped at drive counts that change.
Canadian readers: these prices and IRS checks are US only, and Canadian rates, provincial rules and the Canada Revenue Agency's own guidance are separate.
MileIQ's free tier allows 40 drives a month. Everlance and FreshBooks push you toward a paid tier once trip volume or client count rises.
What the people cost
A CPA, an enrolled agent or a tax attorney applies the rules for your year to your facts. That work is billed by the hour or by the form. A return with a vehicle claim commonly runs $150 to $500. Hourly rates run $75 to $250. A straightforward return without a business schedule can cost less.
Preparer Cost Ranges
- $150–$500Return with vehicle claim
- $75–$250Hourly preparer rate
- LessSimple return without business schedule
Walk-in chains such as H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt and Liberty Tax typically charge less for a simple return. Prices climb once a Schedule C or a vehicle claim appears.
Ask for the fee before the work starts. Ask what happens if the return needs amending.
Most complaints about mileage services come from buying the first and expecting the third.
The pitch, taken apart
"We maximize your mileage deduction." A deduction is a function of miles driven for business and the method the vehicle is on. Nobody can enlarge either from outside. A good service stops you losing miles you actually drove.
"Our users claim more on average." Averages across other people's driving say nothing about yours, and the comparison is usually against people who kept no records.
"Automatic classification, no work needed." Automatic classification is a first guess. If nobody reviews it, you have swapped a missing record for a confident wrong one.
"We handle the IRS for you." Ask who would represent you, under what credential, and get it in writing. Representation rights are not a customer service promise.
"Guaranteed audit protection." Ask what the guarantee pays, who decides whether it applies, and what it excludes. Read the exclusions first.
The signature test
A paid preparer signs the return they prepared. A person who prepares a return, will not sign it, and hands it back for you to file as self-prepared is a pattern the IRS warns about by name in its annual Dirty Dozen list. Read that list once a season before you hire anybody.
Signature Test
Will your name be on this return?
Paid preparer signs and takes responsibility
You file as self-prepared and carry the risk
The same test in plainer form: ask "will your name be on this?" The answer tells you how much of the risk is yours.
What a good service refuses to do
- It refuses to tell you which method your vehicle may use without seeing prior returns.
- It refuses to reconstruct a year of trips you did not record and present it as a log.
- It refuses to classify your home office question from a description over the phone.
- It refuses to promise an outcome before it has looked at anything.
- It refuses to let you claim the per-mile bundle and its contents at the same time.
A refusal is a good sign. It means someone understands where their answer stops.
The interview
Five questions, asked before money changes hands.
Five Questions Before Hiring
- Who signs the return, and what credential?
- How many vehicle claims last year?
- What evidence would you ask for if questioned?
- How does home office change which trips count?
- What will you not do, and where is the boundary?
- What credential do you hold, and who issues it?
- How many business vehicle claims did you prepare last year?
- What will you look at before you tell me which method my vehicle may use?
- What do you need from me, and in what format?
- Will your name be on the return you prepare?
Question five separates a professional from a salesperson. Question three tells you whether they think in terms of evidence.
Checking what you are told
| Claim | How to verify it |
|---|---|
| "I am an enrolled agent" | The IRS publishes how to confirm an enrolled agent's standing |
| "I am a CPA" | The state board of accountancy that issued the license |
| "We can represent you" | Ask which credential carries the right, then check that credential |
| "This is what the rules say" | The IRS page for your filing year, read yourself |
The IRS explains how to check an enrolled agent's standing, and a state board does the same job for a CPA. Neither check takes long, and neither is rude.
How to Verify Claims
- Enrolled agentcheck IRS status page
- CPAcheck state board of accountancy
- Representationask which credential carries the right
- Rulesread the IRS page for your filing year
The mileage rates overview describes the work any of these services is supposedly helping with, and business deductions puts the vehicle claim next to everything else on the return. If an entity owns the vehicle, entity tax treatment is the groundwork, and whatever you buy, tax records and audits is what the service's output has to survive.
Common questions
Is tracking software worth paying for?
If it means the log exists, yes, easily. A $60 to $300 year of subscription is small next to a lost deduction. Review its classifications monthly rather than trusting them.
Can a bookkeeper handle my vehicle claim?
A bookkeeper can keep the record beautifully. Whether a claim is allowed is a different job, done by someone who signs. Ask your preparer before you assume the bookkeeping fee covers it.
Do I need a service at all?
No. A notebook and a preparer is a complete answer.
Someone quoted me a refund figure over the phone. Should I engage them?
Treat it as a warning rather than an offer. A number produced before anyone has seen your records was not calculated from anything. Ask instead what they charge and who signs.
