Business miles vs. personal miles: what actually counts

The short answer

Purpose decides, not the vehicle and not what you were wearing. A drive counts as business mileage when its primary purpose is work — visiting a client, moving between job sites, picking up supplies, running a delivery.

What generally counts

Driving between job sites, to a client meeting, to pick up materials or inventory, and between gig or delivery pickups and drop-offs all generally count as business miles.

The commuting trap

The drive from home to your first regular workplace — and back — is commuting, not business mileage, even if you're self-employed and even if you're thinking about work the whole way. Errands and personal detours along the way don't count either.

Mixed trips

Gig and trade work makes this genuinely hard: a single day can mix client visits, personal errands, and a supply run, often with no clean line between them. That's the actual problem a mileage log has to solve — not capturing the drive, but sorting it.

Examples by profession

Realtor— driving to a listing or a client showing counts; the drive from home to the office each morning doesn't.

Electrician— driving between job sites during the day counts; the first drive from home to the first job site usually doesn't.

Delivery driver— miles between pickups and drop-offs count; a personal errand squeezed in between shifts doesn't.

How to keep them separated without spreadsheets

An app that classifies each drive as it happens — and shows you the reason behind the call — turns this from a manual sorting chore into something you only check when it's genuinely unclear.

This is general information, not tax advice. Consult a qualified professional for your specific filing decisions.

Related: How to keep a mileage log for taxes. Back to MileClerk.