Every business mile you drive is deductible at the IRS standard rate in effect on the day of the trip. Most freelancers never log those miles — and leave hundreds of dollars on the table every year.
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2026 is unusual: the IRS changed the business standard mileage rate partway through the year. It is 72.5¢ per mile through June 30 and 76¢ per mile from July 1, so a single trip is worth whatever rate applied on the date you drove it. Every business mile — to a client meeting, a coworking space, a supply run — reduces your taxable income at that date’s rate.
A freelancer who drives 2,500 business miles — one client visit per week — deducts $1,900.00 at the rate in effect from July 1, 2026. At a 25% effective tax rate that is $475.00 saved from mileage alone. Drive the same miles in the first half of 2026 and the deduction is $1,812.50, because the earlier rate applied. Most freelancers never log the miles at all.
The IRS requires that miles be driven for a bona fide business purpose. Commuting — driving from your home to a regular place of business — does not qualify. But most other client-facing and business-purpose trips do.
The IRS also requires a contemporaneous log — a record made at the time of the trip, not reconstructed later from memory. That means date, destination, business purpose, and miles. A log reconstructed from credit card statements or calendar entries months after the fact is likely to be rejected in an audit.
Tap once when you start driving and SoloDesq logs the trip with GPS while the app is open — your location is only used while you are actively logging a trip, never in the background. Prefer to type it in? Manual mileage entry works too. Either way, the IRS-rate math is done for you, and this year’s deduction total updates with every trip.
Every trip lands in the Mileage tab: a list of every trip you have logged, with two figures at the top — the miles you have driven this year and the deduction those miles have earned so far. The totals cover the current year; the list keeps every year. Open any trip to fix the date, route, purpose, miles, vehicle or notes, or to delete it. The IRS rate is saved onto the trip when you log it, so a correction is re-priced at that saved rate — fix the miles on a June trip and it still deducts at June’s rate, not today’s.
Standard mileage rate is for 2026. Rate may change annually. Verify the current IRS rate before filing. The actual deduction method that maximizes your refund (standard mileage vs. actual vehicle expenses) depends on your specific situation — consult a tax professional.
Log every business mile with SoloDesq — the contemporaneous record the IRS expects, without the spreadsheet. Just the deduction, tracked all year.