The end-of-year checklist: nine things to do before 31 December
Nine things, most of which take under an hour, and all of which are far easier in December than in April.
- Photograph the odometer, dated, on 31 December. Do the same on 1 January.
- Reconcile the log against platform records for the year, month by month.
- Reconstruct gaps now, while the exports, messages and location history still exist.
- Split business miles at 30 June, because 2026 uses 72.5 cents for the first half and 76 cents for the second.
- Total non-mileage expenses: phone share, parking, tolls, bags, mounts, fees.
- Total gross earnings per platform, so the 1099s can be checked rather than trusted.
- Check estimated payments against expected liability.
- Note the vehicle's total annual miles, which is what the odometer photos give you.
- Back up the log somewhere that is not one phone.
The odometer photograph is the highest-value ten seconds of the year. Business miles are meaningful as a share of total miles, and total miles is the number nobody has when it is asked for.
1. The odometer photographs
Two photographs, one at each end of the year, with the date visible or the file's timestamp intact.
This establishes total miles driven. Business use is a proportion of that, and a proportion is what makes a claimed figure credible. A driver who says 22,000 business miles and cannot say what the car did in total has a weaker position than one who can.
If you missed 1 January, take one now anyway and note the date. Something is worth more than nothing.
2. Reconcile against the platforms
Export your earnings and delivery records for the year and go month by month. You are looking for:
- Weeks with earnings and no logged miles. A gap.
- Weeks with logged miles well below what the deliveries imply. A tracker that was asleep. Why apps miss trips.
- Days you know you drove and nothing recorded at all.
Do not adjust numbers to make the totals prettier. Find the gaps, then reconstruct them from evidence, and keep the evidence.
3. Reconstruct the gaps now
In December, you still have: platform delivery histories with timestamps and addresses, bank transaction times, phone location history, and messages that place you somewhere. In April, some of that has aged out.
Reconstruct honestly, note the method, and keep what you used. A reconstruction is weaker than a contemporaneous log and it is far stronger than a guess. What to do if you did not track your miles. · What a log has to contain.
4. Split the year at 30 June
2026 is a split-rate year: 72.5 cents January to June, 76 cents July to December.
Total business miles for each half separately. One annual total multiplied by one rate is wrong in both directions depending on which rate you pick, and it is the most common 2026 error on a gig driver's return.
Check the split now, because separating the halves is trivial while the log is in front of you and annoying once you are working from a single summed figure. The 2026 rate. · The calculator.
5. Total the non-mileage expenses
Deductible in addition to the standard mileage rate:
- Business-use share of phone and data
- Parking and tolls incurred while working
- Insulated bags, coolers, carts
- Phone mount, charger, power bank
- Platform fees and instant-cashout fees
- Supplies bought for the work
Parking, tolls and what else you can deduct.
What the standard rate already covers, and you therefore do not add: fuel, oil, maintenance, tyres, insurance, registration, depreciation.
6. Total gross earnings per platform
So that when the 1099s arrive you are checking them rather than believing them. Forms do get issued with wrong figures, and the thresholds for which form you receive can change; either way your own totals are the reference. 1099-NEC versus 1099-K.
7. Check estimated payments
Rough out net profit: gross earnings minus the mileage deduction minus other expenses. Apply your expected income tax rate plus 15.3 percent self-employment tax to that figure and compare with what you have already paid in.
If there is a shortfall, there are still options with a December edge to them, including adjusting withholding if you also have a W-2 job. A W-2 job and gig driving in the same year. · Quarterly estimated taxes.
8 and 9. Total miles, and a backup
The odometer photographs give you total miles. Write the figure down with the log rather than leaving it in a camera roll.
Then back the log up somewhere that is not one phone. A mileage log that existed and was lost with a handset is, for every practical purpose, a log that never existed. Export it, mail it to yourself, put it in cloud storage. This is the cheapest insurance in the whole list and the one most often skipped.
Then start January clean
Everything above is easier next year if the log is contemporaneous. That means recorded at or near the time of the trip, with date, miles, destination and purpose, and it means the tracker actually being awake when you drive.
The reason to do this in December is that December is when the evidence exists. Why tracking is worth it at all. · What happens if the IRS questions your mileage.
More in this section
- DoorDash mileage: what counts, what does not, and what the app does not track
- The first and last trip of the day
- Grubhub mileage deduction in 2026
- Home office for gig drivers: the deduction, and what it does to the commuting rule
- Does a mileage deduction mean I get 76 cents back per mile?
- Instacart: mileage, and the expenses shoppers forget
About MileTruth
MileTruth is an iOS app from Baker Ventures LLC that tracks deductible business mileage for gig and delivery drivers and shows true net pay: what is left after mileage, fuel and self-employment tax, not what the platform showed you at acceptance. It is built for people driving several platforms in the same shift, and for anyone who needs a mileage log that would hold up if the IRS asked for it. The app is in development.
Everything on this site is free and needs no account: the mileage deduction calculator, the per-platform pay breakdowns, and the answers, each one linked to the IRS publication or platform document it came from. MileTruth publishes the source for every number, including the 2026 split-year standard mileage rate, because a deduction you cannot substantiate is not a deduction.
Questions and answers
What should a gig driver do before the end of the tax year?
Photograph the odometer, reconcile the log against platform records, reconstruct any gaps while the evidence still exists, split business miles at 30 June for the 2026 rates, total non-mileage expenses, and check whether estimated payments cover what is owed.
Why photograph the odometer on 31 December?
Because the deduction is expressed as business miles out of total miles for the vehicle, and total miles is the figure nobody records. A dated photograph at each end of the year establishes it in ten seconds and is worth more than any later reconstruction.
Can I still fix a gap in my mileage log?
Reconstructing from delivery records, bank timestamps and location history is possible and is much easier in December than in April, because the platform exports, the messages and the phone history are all still available. Keep a note of what you used.
What is the 2026 split rate?
72.5 cents per mile for miles driven January through June and 76 cents for July through December. Business miles have to be totalled separately for each half, which is a reason to check the split before the year closes rather than after.
What non-mileage expenses should I total?
Business-use share of phone and data, parking and tolls on jobs, insulated bags and equipment, phone mounts and chargers, platform and cashout fees, and any supplies bought for the work. These are deductible in addition to the standard mileage rate.
When is it too late to reduce this year's tax?
Most of what affects the mileage deduction is a record-keeping question and the records exist now. Anything involving a payment or a purchase decision has a hard 31 December edge, and that is a question for a tax professional rather than a checklist.
MileTruth. “The end-of-year checklist: nine things to do before 31 December.” Baker Ventures LLC, September 7, 2026. https://miletruth.bakerventuresstudio.com/answers/end-of-year-mileage-checklist/