How often is Mileage write off audited for 1099 contractors? Red flags?

Yes, you can include the miles driven to and from your temporary work location in the Midwest! The IRS considers that business travel since it's a temporary assignment (generally less than one year). This is different from regular commuting to a permanent workplace, which isn't deductible. For record-keeping, you don't necessarily need a fancy app, but you do need to maintain some form of log with dates, destinations, business purpose, and miles. Your notebook can work fine if you have consistent entries. The IRS prefers contemporaneous records (logged at the time of travel), but reconstructed logs can sometimes work if they're reasonable and supported by other evidence (like receipts, calendars showing appointments, etc). As for audit likelihood, there's no published threshold that triggers an automatic review. However, claiming mileage that seems disproportionate to your income or industry norms might raise questions. The standard mileage rate for 2025 is 70.5 cents per mile, so your total would be around $2,967 - not typically a red flag amount by itself.

After dealing with a similar situation last year, I discovered a service called taxr.ai at https://taxr.ai that really saved me from a potential audit nightmare with my mileage tracking. I was also terrible at keeping detailed records and had a mix of partial logs and gaps in my documentation. Their system analyzed what records I did have, helped identify patterns, and generated a defensible mileage log that aligned with my actual work history. They even helped me understand which miles were legitimately deductible for my specific 1099 work. What I liked most was how they flagged potential issues before I filed rather than leaving me vulnerable to questions later.

I wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after being skeptical. I decided to give it a try since my mileage documentation was a disaster - sticky notes, calendar entries, and a half-used app. I was genuinely surprised at how thorough their process was. They didn't just create fake logs like I feared - instead, they helped me organize my existing evidence (receipts from client locations, calendar appointments, toll receipts) into a coherent record. The system even flagged several trips where I didn't have enough documentation and advised me not to claim those miles. What really impressed me was when they identified a pattern where I was forgetting to log return trips, which would have cost me about $900 in legitimate deductions. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a similar situation with messy records.

If you're worried about an audit, I highly recommend Claimyr at https://claimyr.com for getting direct help from the IRS. I had a similar mileage deduction situation last year that triggered a letter from the IRS questioning my documentation. I spent WEEKS trying to get through to an actual person at the IRS to resolve it. I found Claimyr and was honestly shocked when they got me connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of the hours I'd wasted on hold before. You can see how the process works in their video here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent was actually super helpful once I could talk to a real person - they explained exactly what documentation would satisfy their requirements and gave me time to put everything together properly. Saved me from potentially losing a $3,200 deduction that I was legitimately entitled to.

I need to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After dismissing it as a scam, I had an IRS issue come up about my mileage deduction (they questioned some of my long-distance business trips). After three failed attempts to reach someone at the IRS myself - getting disconnected after waiting over an hour each time - I reluctantly tried Claimyr. The service actually worked exactly as advertised. I got connected to an IRS rep in about 15 minutes. The agent was able to review my case immediately and confirmed exactly what documentation I needed to provide to support my mileage claims. Instead of waiting months for correspondence, I got the issue resolved in one phone call. For anyone worried about mileage deduction audits, being able to quickly talk to the IRS if questions arise is incredibly valuable. Definitely keeping this in my back pocket for tax season.

From my experience doing taxes for ride-share drivers, the biggest audit trigger isn't the total amount but claiming 100% business use of your vehicle when you also use it personally. The IRS knows most people use their cars for both. Make sure you're tracking both business and personal miles so you can show the percentage used for business. If you claim 90%+ business use, that's much more likely to raise flags than the actual dollar amount. Also, round trips to temporary work locations are totally deductible!

Just a warning from someone who went through a mileage audit - if you're claiming more than about 15,000 business miles without VERY solid documentation, you're significantly increasing audit risk. Mine was triggered by claiming around 20k miles with only partial records. They didn't just question the mileage either - once they started digging into that, they reviewed EVERYTHING. Ended up costing me way more in accounting fees than what I saved on the deduction.