QuickBooks - Tracking Vehicle Mileage for Accurate Write-Offs

Accurately tracking vehicle mileage is often overlooked in small business accounting and tax preparation. Often, either mileage is underreported due to lack of records or a fear of being audited, or it's over-reported, also due to lack of records, or a "I know how much I drove" attitude.
Although it's best if taxpayers have a small notebook in the car to record actual odometer readings each time a business trip is made, this is cumbersome, and most people don't want to do it. Accurate records are a must, because mileage deductions must be able to stand up to scrutiny in the event of an IRS audit.
QuickBooks can help. Use the following steps to generate and record vehicle mileage.
1. If you do not have any mileage records already recorded in QuickBooks, proceed to step 2. If you do have a few mileage records recorded in QuickBooks, go through them and make certain each one has the trip destination recorded in the Notes field, such as "ABC Printing" (from the Company menu, select Record Vehicle Mileage, then page through the records to check them). Then, generate a Mileage by Vehicle Detail report (from the Reports menu, select Jobs, Time, & Mileage, then select Mileage by Vehicle Detail). In the Dates field, select This Tax Year to Date. Using the Modify button, eliminate all columns except Vehicle, Trip End Date, Total Miles, and Notes. Print this.