The Realtor's Guide to Mileage Deductions (and Getting Them Into QuickBooks)

Last updated: July 1, 2026

Few professions put more business miles on a personal car than real estate. Showings, listing appointments, open houses, sign runs, photographer meetings — it adds up fast, and as an independent contractor, so does the deduction. This is the realtor mileage deduction in plain English: which drives count, what your log must show, and how to get it into QuickBooks without an April archaeology project.

Which of an agent's drives count

Business miles for a self-employed agent typically include driving to and between:

• Showings and buyer tours
• Listing appointments and market-analysis visits
• Open houses you host, including trips to place and collect signs
• Closings, inspections, appraisals, and photographer or stager meetings
• Business errands — lockboxes, marketing materials, the county records office

What generally does not count: a regular commute between home and your brokerage office, and personal detours folded into a business day. The gray zone is the first and last trip of the day. If your home is your principal place of business — a genuine home office where you handle your admin, marketing, and scheduling — trips from home to appointments can generally count as business miles. That's a fact-specific call, so talk to your tax professional about your specific situation.

The four things every log entry needs

The IRS expects records made at or near the time of the trip — "contemporaneous" is the standard. Each entry should capture:

1. Date
2. Destination — the property address or place you drove to
3. Business purpose — "buyer showing, 412 Elm St" or "sign pickup, Maple Ave open house"
4. Miles driven

Add odometer readings at the start and end of the year to establish total miles and your business-use percentage. And keep the corroboration: your showing schedule, MLS appointment confirmations, and client notes are exactly the kind of records that make a mileage log hold up under examination. An agent's calendar is naturally full of proof — the trick is keeping the log in the same place.

Standard rate or actual expenses?

You can deduct vehicle costs one of two ways. The standard mileage rate — a per-mile amount the IRS sets each year (see the current rates on IRS.gov) — rolls fuel, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation into one number, and it's usually the simpler choice for an agent putting heavy miles on an ordinary car. The actual expense method instead deducts the business-use share of real costs — fuel, repairs, insurance, depreciation or lease payments — and can come out ahead for an expensive vehicle with lower business mileage. Note that the choice carries commitment rules across years, and actual expenses still require the mileage log to prove the business-use percentage. Have your tax professional compare both before you file.

A clean QuickBooks routine

The realtor mileage deduction only turns into money if it lands in your books. A routine that works:

1. Keep the per-trip log daily — date, destination, purpose, miles.
2. Once a week, convert the week's miles to dollars at your chosen rate.
3. Post the amount to a dedicated auto/mileage expense category in QuickBooks.
4. Archive the trip detail with the entry so the proof stays attached to the number.

Better yet, make the log a byproduct of the plan. Terravai already knows your showing route — it built the day's schedule — so it logs the mileage automatically at your chosen rate and exports it to QuickBooks Online as an expense in one tap, with each trip's destination and purpose preserved underneath.

The best mile is the one you don't drive

A last thought: deducting a mile recovers part of what it cost you, but a tighter route recovers the whole mile — the fuel, the wear, and the twenty minutes you'd rather spend on a listing call. If your showing days still zigzag across town, start with our guide to planning a day of showings. Plan tight, log daily, deduct everything you're entitled to.