What should an Uber or DoorDash mileage log include?

A mileage log is how a rideshare or delivery driver proves which part of their driving was work. That share decides how much of the car's costs they can deduct, so it's the record most worth getting right. Canada and the US word it differently but ask for nearly the same things.

What does a mileage log need for each work trip?

For a driver, "purpose" is usually short: "Uber shift" or "DoorDash deliveries". "Destination" is where the trip ended. On a busy shift with dozens of drop-offs, an area or neighbourhood per trip is practical; how much detail your accountant wants is worth asking once.

The year-end figures matter more than they look. Your business share is business distance divided by total distance, and the total has to come from the odometer. The CRA's example: "(27,000 business kilometres ÷ 30,000 total kilometres) x $7,000 = $6,300" (CRA, Motor vehicle expenses). Take a photo of the dashboard in the first days of January each year; it's the cheapest record you'll keep.

Does it have to be written at the time?

The IRS says yes, or close to it: you record the elements "at or near the time of the expense or use," and you can't deduct amounts you "approximate or estimate." A log typed up in April from memory is much weaker than one kept day by day. The CRA's page doesn't use the same words, but a logbook that is plainly reconstructed invites the same doubt (our inference).

App logs count: Publication 463 says "if you prepare a record on a computer, it is considered an adequate record." The publication also adds something useful for delivery drivers: "the nature of your work, such as making deliveries, provides circumstantial evidence" of business use, and "invoices of deliveries establish when you used the car for business." Your platform's trip history is supporting evidence, not a substitute for your own log.

Is the platform's mileage enough?

Usually not on its own. Uber's driver tax summary lists mileage among "potential business expenses" and says the summary "is not an official tax document." A platform only knows the distance its own app saw. It doesn't know:

• your odometer at the start and end of the year;
• trips on another platform when you work two apps at once;
• your personal driving, which you need to work out the business share.

Use the platform's figures as a cross-check against your own log.

Which kilometres count as business?

Clearly business: driving with a passenger or an order, and driving to a pickup you've accepted. Less clear: driving from home to your first pickup and home from your last. IRS Publication 463 says the cost of "driving a car between your home and your main or regular place of work" is a personal commuting expense. How that applies to app work, where there's no fixed workplace, depends on your situation. The time spent cruising between orders is another judgement call. Decide these with your accountant or tax preparer once, then log the same way all year.

Do you have to log every trip, every year?

Not forever:

• Canada. After one full year of logbook (the base year), the CRA accepts a three-month sample logbook in a later year while the result stays "within the same range (within 10%)" of the base year. The CRA's worked example: a base year of 49% business use, 46% in the base year's sample months and 51% in the new sample months gives (51 ÷ 46) × 49 ≈ 54%, which is accepted. Keep the base-year logbook for six years after the last year it supports.
• United States. Publication 463 lets you keep an adequate record for parts of a tax year if you can show those periods represent the whole year.

Gig work changes a lot from month to month (new platforms, a second job, a move), so check that the sample still fits before relying on it.

Standard mileage or actual costs (US)?

US drivers choose between the IRS standard mileage rate, which is business miles times a rate the IRS sets, and actual car costs times the business share. The rate changes, sometimes mid-year as in 2026, so use the IRS standard mileage rates page rather than a figure quoted in an article. One rule worth knowing early: "If you want to use the standard mileage rate for a car you own, you must choose to use it in the first year the car is available for use in your business." Both methods need the same mileage log.

Canadian drivers don't have a standard rate option: they deduct actual costs times the business share (see taxes for Uber, DoorDash and Skip drivers in Canada).