Why it exists, how it works, and who is behind it.
Most people who travel for work do not keep a mileage log. They mean to. They download an app in January, use it for three weeks, and forget. Then tax season arrives and the honest answer to “how many business miles did you drive?” is “no idea.”
The standard advice at that point is that you cannot claim it and should do better next year. That advice quietly costs freelancers and 1099 contractors thousands of dollars a year in deductions they actually earned.
But most people's phones have been keeping the record the whole time. Google Maps Timeline logged the job sites, the client visits, the three days in Denver. The data exists. It is simply sitting in a format nobody can hand to an accountant.
WriteOffRoad turns that into a usable record.
You export your Google Maps Timeline from your phone. Since 2024 that data lives on-device rather than in Google Takeout, so the export comes straight from your handset.
WriteOffRoad reads it and finds every trip more than 50 miles from your tax home. For each one it calculates:
Calculated from your actual recorded driving, using the IRS standard mileage rate for the relevant tax year.
Official GSA rates for 8,620+ CONUS locations, plus DoD and State Department rates for 228+ countries, going back to FY2014.
The IRS rules are applied automatically: the 75% partial-day rule for first and last travel days, multi-day trip grouping, and excluding lodging on the final day. You get an Excel, CSV, or PDF export to hand your tax preparer.
If you want to track going forward, use MileIQ or Everlance. They are good at that. WriteOffRoad fills the gap those apps cannot: the year you forgot, the year you quit halfway through, the prior years you would like to amend.
We calculate; your tax professional decides. Every export is meant to be reviewed by someone qualified before it goes on a return.
Your location history is the most personal data you own, and we treat it that way. Uploaded files are processed for your session and not stored between visits. Come back next month and you will upload again. That is deliberate — we would rather ask you to re-upload than hold a database of everyone's movements.
Full detail is in our Privacy Policy.
WriteOffRoad was built by John Gribben, a software developer who got tired of watching self-employed friends leave real money on the table over a record-keeping problem that was already solved — just in the wrong file format.
Questions, feedback, or a bug to report: contact@writeoffroad.com
Disclaimer: WriteOffRoad is an educational and informational tool for estimating travel-related tax deductions. It does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Per diem calculations are based on publicly available IRS, GSA, DoD, and State Department data. Always consult a qualified tax professional before filing your return.
Read the full guide →
Read the full guide →
Read the full guide →
Read the full guide →
Read the full guide →
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