How to Build a Mileage Log App for Tax
A mileage log app for tax needs one-tap trip start and stop, GPS distance with manual override, business or personal classification, and a date-range CSV or PDF export. The export is the entire reason it exists. Background location permissions need careful handling on iOS.
Genuinely tedious, genuinely valuable at year end, and the existing apps mostly want a subscription for something quite simple.
What version one needs
- Start and end a trip in one tap each. If logging is slower than that, you will stop.
- Automatic distance from GPS, with a manual override for when you forgot to start it.
- Business or personal on each trip — the only classification that matters for tax.
- Purpose and client as optional free text.
- A date-range export to CSV or PDF. This is the entire reason the app exists.
Starting prompt
Build a mileage logging app for iOS and Android. Users start a trip with one tap, and the app records distance travelled using GPS until they end it. Each trip is classified as business or personal and can have an optional purpose and client name. Users can also add a trip manually with a distance they type in. Show total business miles for a selected date range, and export those trips to CSV and PDF including date, distance, classification and purpose.
The honest hard part
Background GPS drains battery and needs careful permission handling. iOS is strict about background location and users are rightly suspicious of it. Ask for the permission at the moment it is needed, explain plainly why, and make manual entry a first-class option rather than a fallback.
Also: tax authorities have specific record requirements that vary by country. Check what yours needs before you rely on the export.
Cost
Subscription $25/month · Equivalent developer quote $10,000–25,000 Honest alternative: several established mileage apps have free tiers adequate for low volumes.
(affiliate link)