Travel-Expense Apps That Go the Extra Mile
These mobile apps can help keep track of business expenses by logging each trip and creating IRS-friendly reports.
Iker Ayestaran
For every mile you drive for business this year, you can deduct 55.5 cents on your federal income taxes. These mobile apps can help by logging each trip and creating IRS-friendly reports. —Adam Baer
BizXpenseTracker
This app, available for the iPhone and iPad, logs the starting and stopping points for trips using your mobile device's GPS. Then, it calculates mileage based on Google Maps coordinates. For each trip, you can create an expense report, to which the app will automatically add the date and mileage. You can save the reports as PDFs or Excel-compatible CSV files and e-mail them or export them to an iCloud, MobileMe, or Dropbox account. You can store trip entries on the app, which also tracks expenses and work hours, and sort them by date, client, and category.
Cost: $5.99
MileBug
Like BizXpenseTracker, MileBug logs starting and stopping points using your phone's GPS. For more accurate logs, you can set it to record your location every tenth of a mile, which results in more accurate logs but also drains your phone's battery. The app, which works on Android phones, Windows 7 phones, and iPhones, lets you set up favorite trips for regular routes to automatically add the correct mileage. You can back up files on iTunes or Microsoft SkyDrive and e-mail them as HTML or CSV files.
Cost: $2.99
