Is the Google Sheets mileage log free?
Yes. The CSV download is free, needs no account, and imports into a spreadsheet you own. Google Sheets itself is free with a Google account.
Free Google Sheets template
Mileage Log Template for Google Sheets
A free CSV you import into Google Sheets: date, route, purpose, distance, rate and amount columns, plus the formulas that turn the log into a tracker.
9 columns and 3 example rows · Plain CSV: no formulas, no macros, no account · Imports into Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers, and LibreOffice
What the download looks like
The whole file: a header row and three example rows. Keep the header, replace the rows.
| Date | Start Location | Destination | Purpose | Distance | Unit | Rate | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-03 | Office | Client Site | Business meeting | 24.5 | mi | 0.725 | 17.76 | Quarterly review |
| 2026-01-05 | Home | Hospital | Medical visit | 12.0 | mi | 0.205 | 2.46 | Follow-up appointment |
| 2026-01-08 | Warehouse | Charity Center | Charity delivery | 18.2 | mi | 0.140 | 2.55 | Donation transport |
The example rows carry the US rates in force for January 2026: 72.5 cents per mile for business, 20.5 cents for medical, and the fixed 14 cents for charity. They show what belongs in a row; replace them with your own trips and the rate that applies to you.
Download the CSVImport the CSV into Google Sheets
A plain CSV goes in through one menu. The labels below are the ones Google Sheets shows in that dialog.
- Download the CSV above and keep it where you can find it. It is the same table you see in the preview.
- Open a blank spreadsheet at sheets.google.com, or open the log you already keep if you are continuing one.
- In Google Sheets, choose File → Import.
- On the Upload tab, choose the CSV you downloaded.
- Set the import location. Replace current sheet overwrites the sheet you are on, Create new spreadsheet starts a clean file, and Insert new sheets adds the log as a tab beside your existing data.
- Check the separator character. This file is comma-separated, so Comma is right, and Detect automatically normally reaches the same result.
- Choose Import.
- Rename the tab for the period it covers, freeze the header row with View → Freeze → 1 row, and delete the example rows as you add your own trips.
Before you rely on the numbers
- File → Import is a desktop browser action. Once the log is in your Google Drive, the Sheets app on a phone or tablet is fine for adding trips.
- The import brings in values, not formulas. The example rows arrive as plain numbers in the Amount column.
- If Distance, Rate, or Amount arrive as text, the column is left-aligned and totals stay at 0. Select the column and set Format → Number, or Currency for Amount.
What each column is for
The file is only as good as the entries in it. These are the values reviewers and tax authorities look for.
| Column | What to enter | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Date | The day of the trip. | Keep one date format for every row. The month totals below read this column. |
| Start Location | Where the trip began: an address, a city, or a site name. | Use the same wording for places you drive to often, so a filter still groups them. |
| Destination | Where the trip ended. | A round trip with a stop gets one row per leg. The return leg has its own date and distance. |
| Purpose | The reason for the trip. | Write what the trip was for. A reviewer who was not there should be able to follow it. |
| Distance | How far that trip was, in the unit the sheet uses. | A number only. The unit lives in its own column so the amount formula stays simple. |
| Unit | mi or km, the same in every row of the sheet. | Mixing miles and kilometers in one sheet makes the total in the Amount column meaningless. |
| Rate | What you claim for each mile or kilometer of that trip. | Use your employer's policy rate, or the official rate for the country and year the trip falls in. |
| Amount | The distance multiplied by the rate for that trip. | Type the amount formula below in the first data row and drag it down instead of working out each row by hand. |
| Notes | What a reviewer might ask about: tolls or parking handled separately, passengers, an approval reference. | One trip per row. A second trip hidden in the notes is a trip the totals will miss. |
Turn the log into a tracker
One extra column gives the sheet the totals a claim or a deduction needs, by category and by month.
- Insert one column between Purpose and Distance, and name it Category. Entries such as Business, Personal, Commuting, or Medical are what the summary counts.
- Insert it before you type any formula. Every formula on this page is written against the letters below, which assume the Category column is in place.
- Add a second tab for the summary: one row per month, or one row per category, depending on what you have to report. Paste the formulas below into it.
Column letters after the insert
A Date · B Start Location · C Destination · D Purpose · E Category · F Distance · G Unit · H Rate · I Amount · J Notes
Add the formulas once
The download carries values, so the arithmetic is yours to add. Type these into the sheet after the import and they keep working as the log grows.
Amount for one trip
=F2*H2
Type it in the first data row of the Amount column and drag the fill handle down, so each row multiplies its own distance by its own rate. F is Distance and H is Rate with the Category column in place; without it the file's own letters are one to the left, E and G.
Total distance
=SUM(F2:F1000)
A range that stops at row 1000 keeps counting new trips, which a range that ends on the last trip does not.
Total amount
=SUM(I2:I1000)
This is the figure a reimbursement claim or a deduction starts from. Check that the sheet holds one unit before you use it.
Business distance
=SUMIFS($F$2:$F$1000,$E$2:$E$1000,"Business")
Divide it by the business plus personal distance for the business-use share of your driving.
Business amount
=SUMIFS($I$2:$I$1000,$E$2:$E$1000,"Business")
Uses the Amount column, so trips with different rates still add up correctly.
Distance for one month
=SUMIFS($F$2:$F$1000,$A$2:$A$1000,">="&DATE(2026,1,1),$A$2:$A$1000,"<"&DATE(2026,2,1))
Replace both DATE values with the first day of the month you are summarizing and the first day of the month after it. Swap $F for $I to get that month's amount instead of its distance.
Keep a log that holds up
A log is evidence, and the entries are what a reviewer reads. These are the habits that keep the sheet usable months later.
- Enter each trip close to the day it happened. A log filled in months later is harder to defend than one kept as you go, and the details you would have written are gone.
- Write the purpose so someone who was not on the trip can follow it. A named meeting or job answers more questions than the word work.
- Add odometer readings at the start and end of the trip if you want a stronger record, and set the distance to the difference. The printable monthly log already has those columns.
- This file records what you type. It does not decide whether a trip is reimbursable or deductible, and it does not convert miles and kilometers.
- Keep the log together with the rate you applied and the approval you received, so the whole claim can be read as one file.
Where this comes from
The menu names and import options on this page follow Google's import documentation. The recordkeeping notes come from the source below; your own tax authority or employer may ask for more.
Frequently asked questions
Does the CSV include formulas?
No. A CSV file holds values, so the Amount column arrives as plain numbers and no formula is stored in the download. Type =F2*H2 in the first data row after you delete the example rows, then drag it down the column; the total formulas take about a minute to paste.
Can I import the file on my phone?
File → Import is in the desktop browser version of Google Sheets, so run the import on a computer. After the log is in your Drive, the Sheets app is fine for adding trips.
How do I add trips as the year goes on?
Type them in the row after the last trip. Totals written against ranges like $F$2:$F$1000 keep counting new rows, which is why the formulas on this page use a fixed 1000-row window instead of a range that ends on the last trip.
Can I log kilometers instead of miles?
Yes. Set the Unit column to km and enter both the distance and the rate in kilometers. Keep one unit per sheet: an Amount column that adds miles to kilometers is not a figure you can claim or deduct.
Can my manager or accountant see the log?
Share the spreadsheet the way you share any Google Drive file: use the Share button, add the person, then choose Editor or Viewer. If each driver keeps their own log, copy the file per driver so the rows stay separate.
Is this an official IRS mileage log?
No. MileagePilot publishes this template, it is not an IRS form, and it does not establish whether a trip is deductible. IRS Publication 463 sets out the records behind a US car expense claim, and your own tax authority or employer may ask for something different.
How is this different from the Excel and PDF versions?
This CSV imports into Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers, and LibreOffice, and it is the shortest path into Google Sheets. The Excel workbook holds the same columns as a ready workbook — a table whose Amount column calculates itself, a summary sheet with the month totals, and the instructions — and the printable PDF logs are laid out for pen and paper, with odometer columns and a monthly business, personal, and commuting split.
Use the log with the next tool
Price the trips you recorded, check a distance, or move to the form when the log is ready to submit.