Mileage Log Excel - Free Template

1. Open the Instructions sheet first and review the guidance on journeys, evidence, rates, VAT records and approval.
2. Go to Mileage Log and enter one journey per row. Complete the Trip ID, date, employee or driver, department, vehicle registration, journey purpose, From and To fields.
3. Enter Business Miles, Private Miles and Passenger Miles as non-negative numbers. The workbook includes decimal validation for these mileage inputs.
4. Choose Yes or No under VAT Reclaimable? and select Approved, Pending or Rejected under Approval Status.
5. Check the calculated Total Miles, Rate Band, Mileage Rate, Passenger Rate, Mileage Claim, Passenger Claim, Total Claim and VAT Amount columns.
6. Review Summary, edit the internal policy settings in O4:O8 only after confirming suitable values, and use the selected-driver list to inspect individual totals.
7. Reconcile the completed record with supporting receipts, diary evidence and business-purpose details before payment or filing.

A mileage log suits businesses where employees or contractors use vehicles for work journeys and submit expenses for review. Sales staff can record client meetings, procurement teams can document supplier visits, and operations staff can log branch support trips without mixing route details with payroll or general bookkeeping.

Weekly records for travelling staff

Use one row immediately after each journey rather than rebuilding the month from memory. For example, the sample record ML-2026-001 identifies Oliver Bennett, Sales, vehicle LM26 OLV, an 82-mile business journey from London to Reading and 6 private miles. The From, To and Journey Purpose fields make the claim easier to investigate than a single monthly total.

A procurement employee could enter the sample 45 business miles from Manchester to Leeds, with 4 private miles and Supplier visit as the purpose. Keeping business and private mileage in separate columns means the reviewer can see exactly which figure feeds the claim calculation.

Finance and department review

Finance teams can use the Approval Status field to separate Approved, Pending and Rejected claims. A manager reviewing eight staff members can select a driver on Summary and compare the displayed total with the underlying journey rows before approving payment.

The Summary sheet also groups drivers by number of journeys, business miles, total claim and average claim. With 20 rows completed, this gives a practical review point: a driver with 12 journeys and £480 of claims averages £40 per journey, while a single £240 journey warrants checking its route and purpose rather than being hidden in a total.

The Mileage Log sheet distinguishes entered data from calculated outputs. You enter mileage in columns I to K; formulas then calculate Total Miles in L, identify the Rate Band in M, retrieve the Mileage Rate and Passenger Rate in N and O, and calculate the claim values in P to R.

Inputs and controlled choices

Business, private and passenger miles accept non-negative decimal values in rows 2 to 101. Department is restricted to eight listed choices, VAT Reclaimable? to Yes or No, and Approval Status to Approved, Pending or Rejected. This is preferable to free text: Approved and approved would otherwise become separate categories in a review.

The settings area uses an internal first-band limit of 8,000 miles, a first mileage rate of £0.40, a later mileage rate of £0.24, a passenger rate of £0.04 and a VAT element percentage of 0 in the supplied sample. These are editable workbook settings, not universal advice; confirm appropriate values before paying or submitting a claim.

Worked calculation

If a row contains 82 business miles, 6 private miles and no passenger miles, Total Miles is 88. At the sample first mileage rate of £0.40, the mileage claim is £32.80; passenger claim is £0.00, so Total Claim is £32.80.

The rate-band formula uses cumulative business miles, not total miles. Once cumulative business mileage exceeds the setting in Summary O4, later rows use the later rate. The VAT formula only produces an amount when VAT Reclaimable? is Yes and uses the percentage in Summary O8, so a zero setting produces £0.00.

The most expensive errors usually begin with incomplete journey rows. If From, To or Journey Purpose is omitted, the numerical claim may still calculate, but the reviewer has less evidence for deciding whether the journey belongs in the expenses process.

Mixing mileage categories

Putting all travel into Business Miles overstates the figure used by the mileage claim formula. In a hypothetical row containing 82 business miles and 6 private miles, entering 88 as business mileage instead would calculate £35.20 at £0.40 rather than the intended £32.80. The difference is £2.40 for one row; repeated across 25 similar journeys it becomes £60.

Changing the wrong values

Columns L to R and T contain formulas. Replacing one with a typed amount breaks the link between the mileage input and the claim output. For example, changing a £32.80 calculated claim to £30.00 leaves the row inconsistent with its 82-mile input and can distort both the driver's total and the dashboard chart.

Another failure is changing Summary settings without recording the reason. Moving the first-band limit from 8,000 to 7,000 changes the rate-band result for later rows because the formulas use cumulative business miles. Make the decision first, then review affected claims rather than silently altering historical calculations.

Ignoring approval and VAT flags

A Pending claim is not the same as an Approved claim, and a Yes VAT flag does not by itself prove that an amount can be reclaimed. If 10 rows are marked Pending but a payment process reads the total claim without filtering status, the workbook can be used before review is complete.

A mileage log becomes dependable when entry is attached to a fixed event. Ask each driver to update the row after the journey, then set a weekly review time for the line manager. At month-end, finance can filter the 100 prepared rows by date, driver and Approval Status before transferring approved amounts to the relevant process.

Use a short repeatable routine

• Record the route, purpose and three mileage categories immediately after travelling.
• Check that the business mileage total agrees with the driver’s supporting diary or journey evidence.
• Review Pending and Rejected rows separately instead of treating every populated row as payable.
• Confirm Summary O4:O8 before a new reporting period if your internal policy has changed.

Do not overwrite old rows when you need an audit trail. Save a dated copy of the completed workbook, or retain the agreed reporting-period record with the related financial paperwork. The Instructions sheet specifically recommends a consistent reporting period and supporting evidence.

Know when the file is too small

The prepared range ends at row 101, so a business recording 30 journeys each week would fill the available 100 rows in less than four weeks. That is a clear point to adopt a larger controlled system or expense platform rather than extending formulas informally.

Likewise, if 12 managers need simultaneous approvals, attachments, permissions and a history of changes, this workbook may no longer provide enough workflow control. Keep the spreadsheet for a defined, reviewable process and move to a proper system when volume or access requirements make manual reconciliation unreliable.