Automatic mileage tracking with a CRA-ready log
Every business kilometre you don't record is deduction money left on the table — and reconstructing a year of driving from memory in April is exactly the kind of log the CRA distrusts. InvoiceFast puts a mileage tracker inside the same app you invoice from: your phone detects when you drive and logs the trip automatically, or you record it yourself in a few taps. Each trip captures the fields a CRA mileage log requires, your business-use percentage is calculated for you, and at tax time the kilometres flow straight into your T2125 vehicle deduction. Trip tracking works anywhere in the world; the tax mapping is built for Canada.
How Automatic Trip Detection Works
Turn on auto-tracking once, and your phone does the logging. InvoiceFast uses your phone's motion and location signals to notice when a drive starts and ends — no need to open the app, press start, or remember anything at the end of a client visit.
For every detected trip, the app records:
- Date of the trip
- Start and end time
- Start and end locations, reverse-geocoded to readable addresses
- Distance driven
Notice what's not on that list: your route. InvoiceFast records where a trip started and where it ended — not a continuous trail of every street in between. That's deliberate. A CRA mileage log needs the endpoints, the distance, and the purpose; it does not need surveillance-grade location history.
Background tracking on a phone is subject to the operating system's moods — aggressive battery savers and some manufacturers' power settings can suppress background apps. InvoiceFast is honest about this: a tracking-health check warns you when a phone setting could interfere and walks you through fixing it, and if the app suspects a drive happened during a gap, it surfaces a "possible missed trip" card so you can add it in seconds rather than lose the kilometres.
Automatic detection runs on iOS and Android. On the web app you can log and manage trips manually — same log, same tax math.
What the CRA Actually Wants in a Mileage Log
For self-employed Canadians, the mileage log exists to prove one number: your business-use percentage — business kilometres divided by total kilometres for the year. To support it, each business trip needs:
| CRA log field | How InvoiceFast captures it |
|---|---|
| Date | Logged automatically, or picked with one-tap date chips |
| Starting point & destination | Auto-detected addresses, or typed with recent-address suggestions |
| Purpose of the trip | Purpose presets plus a client/job field ("Meeting — Acme Corp") |
| Kilometres driven | Measured on detected trips; typed or doubled for round trips on manual ones |
Year-end odometer readings complete the picture: InvoiceFast's vehicle summary records your start and end odometer (or total kilometres), so the business-use percentage always reconciles against total driving — one of the first things an auditor checks. For the full rulebook, including the detailed-vs-simplified log methods and the commute exception, see our CRA mileage log requirements guide.
Manual Trips in Seconds
Not every trip needs a robot. Prefer to log drives yourself — or need to add one after the fact? The manual entry screen is built for speed:
- Last-route recall — one tap re-fills your most recent from/to pair (most freelancers drive the same handful of routes)
- Round-trip doubling — enter one-way distance, toggle round trip, done
- Kilometres or miles — log in either unit
- Purpose presets — client meeting, site visit, supplies run, and more
- Client/job field — tie the trip to the client, the way an auditor likes to see it
- Date chips — today, yesterday, or any date in two taps
Classify Trips Without Thinking About It
Every trip gets classified as business, personal, or commute — the distinction that decides your deduction. Swipe through unclassified trips as they come in, or set time-of-day rules like "weekdays 8:00–16:00 → business" and let the app classify routine driving for you. Rules can also apply retroactively to unclassified trips from earlier in the year.
The commute category matters more than most freelancers realize: drives to a regular workplace are personal in the CRA's eyes, and misclassifying them inflates a business-use percentage in a way audits catch. Keeping commute as its own category keeps the log defensible.
From Kilometres to a T2125 Deduction
Here's the part most mileage apps get wrong for Canada: self-employed Canadians do not claim a per-kilometre rate. The per-km rate you see quoted is the CRA's reimbursement allowance for employees. Sole proprietors claim actual vehicle expenses — fuel, insurance, maintenance, lease or loan interest, and the rest — multiplied by the business-use percentage from the mileage log, on T2125 line 9281.
Business km ÷ Total km = Business-use % → applied to your actual vehicle costs
InvoiceFast does this math natively. Your classified trips produce the business kilometres, your odometer readings produce the total, and the resulting percentage is applied to the vehicle expenses you've tracked — flowing into the same T2125 summary as the rest of your deductions. No spreadsheet reconciliation in April, and no accidentally using the employee method.
Export Your Log When Tax Time Comes
With Pro + Tax, your mileage log and vehicle summary export as clean PDF and CSV files — the log itself, the odometer readings, the business-use percentage, and the deduction snapshot — ready to hand to your accountant alongside your T2125. Everything stays visible in the app on the free tier; exporting is where the paid tier begins.
Free to Start, One Price for Everything
| Free | Pro + Tax | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $19/month or $169.99/year (CAD) |
| Trips | First 25 trips (plus 25 expenses) | Unlimited |
| Automatic trip detection | Included within your trip allowance | Full auto-tracking controls and classification rules |
| Manual logging & classification | Included | Included |
| Mileage log & vehicle exports (PDF/CSV) | — | Included |
| T2125 summary export | View in app | PDF + CSV export |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the mileage tracker work outside Canada?
Yes — trip detection, manual logging, and km/mi tracking work anywhere in the world. The tax mapping (expense categories, the vehicle deduction, the T2125 summary) is built around Canadian CRA rules, so that side is most useful to Canadian freelancers.
Does InvoiceFast record my full driving route?
No. It records the trip's start and end — date, times, addresses, and distance — not a continuous trail of your route. That's all a CRA mileage log needs.
Do I need a paid plan to track mileage?
No. Your first 25 trips (and 25 expenses) are free, including automatic detection and classification. Pro + Tax removes the limits and adds exports and full auto-tracking controls.
Will auto-tracking drain my battery?
Detection is motion-based and designed to stay idle until you drive, rather than running GPS constantly. Impact varies by phone and settings; if a battery saver interferes with background tracking, the app's tracking-health check flags it and shows the fix.
Can I claim the CRA per-kilometre rate with this log?
Not as a sole proprietor — that rate is for employee reimbursements. Your log determines a business-use percentage that applies to your actual vehicle expenses on T2125 line 9281, and InvoiceFast calculates it that way for you.