The 30-second pitch
You drove 38 miles to Home Depot for the master bathroom faucet. Another 22 to drop linens at the cleaner. Another 47 to meet the HVAC guy. By the end of the year you have driven somewhere between 1,800 and 4,200 miles for the property, and you remember almost none of them.
The IRS allows the standard mileage rate per business mile on Schedule E. At the 2026 rate of 70¢/mile, 3,000 miles is $2,100 in deductions. Most hosts take zero, because reconstructing a year of trips from memory feels like fraud and feels like work.
This template makes it 30 seconds per trip. Date, purpose, miles. The rate auto-applies. The Schedule E rollup auto-builds. End of year you print one page and hand it to your CPA.
Math that earns the price
Three properties, 75 trips/year, 65 miles avg → 4,875 business miles × $0.70 = $3,412 deduction. At a 24% federal bracket: $819 in tax saved. Plus state tax savings depending on your state. Workbook costs $17 — returns its cost 48× in year one.
Related
- STR mileage: what actually counts (and what your CPA will throw out)
- The Schedule E Workbook
- Home Office Deduction Allocator
- Per-Diem Meal Deduction Tracker
- The P&L Tracker
What's inside
- Start dashboard — YTD deduction, trip count, average miles per trip.
- Trip Log — date, from, to, purpose, business and personal miles. 1,000-row capacity.
- Schedule E Export — auto-built monthly rollup, print-ready single page.
- Audit-Defense Pack — what the IRS actually wants in a mileage log.
- Settings — active tax year, IRS rate per year (2024/2025/2026 pre-loaded).
FAQ
- Is the IRS rate updated automatically?
- The active rate cell on Settings is editable. Pre-loaded with the 2024, 2025, and 2026 IRS published rates. When the IRS publishes the next year's rate, change one cell.
- What counts as a business mile?
- Travel between properties, supply runs, vendor meetings, contractor coordination, banking related to the rental, inspections, in-person tax-prep meetings. Does NOT include personal errands or scenic drives.
- Do I need GPS proof?
- No. The IRS wants a contemporaneous record — meaning logged at or near the time of the trip, not reconstructed at year-end. The template includes a contemporaneous-record stamp so the audit-defense pack reads cleanly.
- Schedule E or Schedule C?
- Standard rental income → Schedule E. STR with average stay under 7 nights and material participation can flip to Schedule C (with self-employment tax implications). The template's Audit-Defense tab shows both. Default is Schedule E.
- Does it work in Google Sheets?
- Yes. The IRS-rate auto-apply and the SUMIFS-based Schedule E rollup all work natively in Sheets.
- What's your refund policy?
- 14 days, no questions. Email hello@thestrledger.com.
Get the workbook
Format: Excel .xlsx + how-to PDF. Excel 2016+, Excel 365, Google Sheets compatible. Instant download after checkout. 14-day refund, no questions. Lifetime updates within v1.