CRA Mileage Excel - Free Template

1. Open Mileage_Log and enter each business trip on its own line. Put in the date, the employee name, the trip route, and the purpose while the trip is still fresh.
2. Enter the odometer start and end readings. The template uses those numbers to calculate distance in kilometres and the claim amount.
3. Check the CRA_Rates sheet before you start using the file for a new period. That keeps your per-kilometre amount aligned with the current allowance.
4. Add parking, tolls, and any note that explains the trip. If a receipt exists, mark the receipt field so the record is easy to support later.
5. Review the Approved? field before reimbursement or month-end posting. If you handle payroll, this is the point where you confirm the claim belongs on an expense report, not on the employee's pay.
6. Use Summary_Dashboard to review total claims by trip type or by employee. That gives you a quick check before filing, reimbursement, or year-end review.
7. At month-end, copy the completed log to your archive. Keep it with your other supporting records for the six-year CRA retention period.

The Mileage_Log sheet is for the person who drives for work and needs a clean record by the time reimbursement or filing comes around. That can be a sole proprietor on T2125, a bookkeeper at an incorporated business, an office manager at a plumbing company, or a volunteer treasurer who needs to show why the cheques went out.

When the need shows up

The pressure point is usually month-end, payroll run, or year-end. If you have 4 employees visiting job sites and each one submits 12 trips a month, you are already checking 48 lines before you even look at parking or tolls.

Why the route details matter

This is not just a distance list. The sheet asks for date, city from, city to, purpose, odometer start, and odometer end, which is exactly what you want when someone asks why a $184.80 claim was paid for a week of calls in Mississauga and Oakville.

Image 1 shows the log laid out across 17 columns, with room for allowance, receipts, approval, and notes. That structure is practical when one employee drives 300 km in a week and another only logs two short visits to a supplier.

The CRA expects business vehicle records to be complete enough to support the claim, and you keep them for six years. For 2026, the current mileage allowance rate shown on the CRA_Rates sheet should be used consistently for the period you are claiming.

Allowance versus reimbursement

If you pay an employee $0.68 per kilometre for 150 km, the claim is $102.00 before parking and tolls. If the trip also had $18.50 in parking, the total claim becomes $120.50, and that is the number that should land in your expense record.

What the sheet helps you separate

For a sole proprietor, the mileage log supports vehicle expenses on T2125. For an employer, it helps distinguish an allowance from a separate reimbursement so you do not blur kilometre pay, parking, and receipt-based costs into one messy line.

The spreadsheet keeps the rate visible instead of buried in memory or in an email thread. That matters when you review 20 trips at once and need to prove the allowance was built from distance, not from a rounded estimate.

The usual failure is a log that shows a total distance but no route, no dates, and no odometer start or end. On audit, that can turn a legitimate-looking $1,200 annual claim into a partially denied expense because the support is too thin.

Missing receipts and weak approval

Parking and tolls are the easy part to lose. If 16 parking slips at $9.00 each go missing, that is $144.00 gone, and if the claim was pushed through without approval, you also spend time recreating who authorized it and when.

Double counting the same trip

Another common error is paying the kilometre allowance twice: once in payroll and once from accounts payable. On a file with 8 drivers and 2 pay periods per month, that kind of duplication can create a $300 to $600 overpayment before anyone notices.

The template reduces those errors by keeping Receipt Provided? and Approved? beside the claim itself. You are not relying on memory, and you are not trying to sort the receipts after the month has already closed.

Once those claim checks are in place, the same month-end discipline extends to a rental income statement for separating income, expenses, and supporting records before filing time.

The easiest way to keep this alive is to tie it to one fixed moment: payroll cut-off, month-end closing, or the last Friday before the GST/HST filing work starts. If the log is updated every Friday for 10 minutes, you avoid the pile-up that turns 6 trips into 26 half-remembered ones.

Small habits that keep the file usable

• Copy the prior month’s sheet and clear the trip lines instead of rebuilding the workbook.
• Use the same naming pattern for employees and locations so the summary stays consistent.
• Check the approval box before reimbursement so missing sign-off is caught early.

When the spreadsheet is no longer enough

If you are tracking 500+ trips a month, paying multiple crews, and matching vehicle claims to dispatch software, you may need a fleet or expense system. Until then, this workbook is the practical middle ground: simple enough for a small office, but structured enough for CRA support.

When mileage and crew reimbursements outgrow this workbook, the next step is a business expense tracker for CRA support.