Every drive to the market, every delivery run, every trip to the restaurant supply store puts deductible miles on your car, and at 2026's rates those miles add up to real money off your tax bill. The catch is that the IRS won't take your word for it. You need a mileage log, kept as you go, that shows the date, where you went, why, and how far. This guide shows you exactly how to track mileage for your farmers market drives, with a log template you can copy and the apps that do it automatically, so you actually claim what you're owed.
The short version: To deduct your business driving, log every business trip with four things: the date, your destination, the business purpose, and the miles. Keep it as you go, since the IRS values a timely log far more than one you reconstruct in April. For 2026, the standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile for the first half of the year and 76 cents for the second half, so a split-year log matters. You can track it in a free or cheap app or on a simple paper sheet, and either works as long as it captures those four fields. Keep your records for three years.
This guide covers the 2026 rate, which drives count, what a log needs, the template, apps versus paper, the two deduction methods, and common mistakes. This is general information, not tax advice, so confirm your situation with a tax professional.
The 2026 standard business mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile for miles driven from January through June, and 76 cents per mile for July through December. That mid-year change is unusual, so 2026 is a year where you genuinely need to split your log into two periods.
Here's what to know about the rate:
This is the single thing most mileage articles will get wrong this year, since anything written before the mid-year change only shows 72.5 cents. The rule to remember: for 2026, track your dates carefully and split the year at July 1, or you'll shortchange your second-half deduction. The broader mileage deduction for food vendors guide covers how the deduction fits your whole return.
Business miles are the drives you make for your food business, like going to the market, making deliveries, or picking up ingredients, while your commute from home to a single fixed workplace does not count. Getting this line right is what keeps your deduction both maximized and defensible.
Drives that generally count as deductible business miles:
Drives that don't count:
There's a nuance worth understanding: if your home kitchen is your regular place of business, driving from there to a market is business travel, not commuting. But if you work out of a separate fixed commissary, the drive from your house to that commissary can be commuting. It's a judgment call worth confirming with a tax pro. The crisp rule: if a drive has a genuine business purpose beyond just getting to your fixed workplace, log it.
A mileage log has to show four things for each business trip: the date, your destination, the business purpose, and the miles driven. The IRS requires records for these deductions, and it specifically does not accept estimates or amounts you approximate later.
What every entry needs, per IRS Publication 463:
Two rules matter as much as the fields. First, keep it timely: the IRS explicitly values a contemporaneous log over one reconstructed at year-end, and a log you update weekly counts as timely kept. Second, keep your records for three years from the date you file the return that claims the deduction. The IRS's own Publication 463 on travel and car expenses contains the official recordkeeping rules and even a sample log. The takeaway: date, destination, purpose, miles, logged as you go and kept for three years.
A simple mileage log is a table with a row for each trip and columns for the required fields, and you can rebuild the IRS's own format in any spreadsheet or notebook. Here's the template to copy:
| Date | Destination | Business purpose | Start odometer | End odometer | Miles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/14 | Downtown farmers market | Sell at market | 40,210 | 40,228 | 18 |
| 6/16 | Restaurant supply store | Buy flour and packaging | 40,228 | 40,241 | 13 |
| 7/03 | Customer delivery, Maple St | Drop off order #114 | 40,395 | 40,402 | 7 |
A few tips on using it:
The rule: one row per trip, all four fields filled, updated as you go. Whether it lives in a notebook in your glovebox or a spreadsheet on your phone, a log with these columns is a compliant log.
Use whichever you'll actually keep up with, because the IRS doesn't require a specific format, only that your log captures the required fields. Apps track miles automatically using your phone's GPS, while a paper log costs nothing and never needs a subscription.
Popular mileage apps and their rough costs, current as of this writing:
App pricing changes, so check the current plan before you commit. The TripLog pricing page is one example of what these tools cost. The takeaway: an app removes the discipline problem by tracking automatically, but a paper log in your car works perfectly if you're diligent. Pick the one you won't abandon, because the best log is the one you actually keep.
You can deduct your vehicle costs two ways: the standard mileage rate (cents per business mile) or actual expenses (your real gas, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation, apportioned to business use). For most low-mileage local vendors, the standard mileage method is simpler and often the better choice.
How the two compare:
The IRS even suggests figuring your deduction both ways once to see which is larger. For a part-time vendor putting modest miles on a personal car, standard mileage usually wins on simplicity. The rule: default to standard mileage unless your actual vehicle costs are high, and if you're unsure, run both. Either way, your mileage log is what makes the deduction possible, and it ties into your broader tax deductions as a home food vendor.
The most common mistakes are reconstructing the log at year-end, leaving out the business purpose, counting your commute, and estimating miles. Each one either weakens your records or inflates your deduction in a way that won't hold up.
Avoid these:
The rule: log real trips as they happen, always note why, and never estimate. The whole point of a good log is that it turns a legitimate deduction into one you can actually defend. Keep it clean and it's money in your pocket, backed by records that hold up.
A mileage log needs a business purpose for every trip, and your delivery drives are only as defensible as your ability to show what they were for. Homegrown is a $10-per-month online storefront, with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing, where every order is a dated, itemized record tied to a customer, so when you log a delivery run, you have the order behind it that proves the trip was for business.
That connection is quietly useful at tax time. A log entry that says "delivery, order #114 to a customer" is far stronger than a bare mileage number, and your storefront is where that order record lives. Compare that to trying to remember months later which drives were deliveries and which were personal errands. Your order history essentially timestamps the business purpose behind your delivery miles.
To be clear about what Homegrown does not do: it is not a mileage tracker, it won't record your odometer or your drives, and it won't file your deduction. A mileage app or paper log does the tracking, and a tax preparer handles the return. What Homegrown gives you is the order and delivery record that substantiates the business purpose your log requires, turning "I think I drove there for a delivery" into a documented order. If you want your delivery miles backed by real records, set up your Homegrown storefront so every delivery trip has an order behind it. For the numbers side, pair it with solid bookkeeping for food vendors.
For 2026, the standard business mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile for January through June and 76 cents per mile for July through December. That mid-year increase means you should total your business miles in two buckets, before and after July 1, and apply the matching rate to each. The rate applies the same to a part-time food vendor as any other business driver.
Generally yes, if the market isn't your single fixed regular workplace. Driving to sell at a market, make deliveries, or pick up ingredients is deductible business travel. The main exception is commuting from home to one fixed place of business, which is never deductible. A mobile vendor working from a home kitchen usually has a strong case that market and delivery drives count, but confirm your specific setup with a tax pro.
You need a log. The IRS does not accept estimated or approximated mileage, so a round guess at tax time won't hold up if questioned. You must record the date, destination, business purpose, and miles for each business trip, ideally as you go. Estimating is one of the fastest ways to lose the deduction in an audit, so keep real records instead.
Four things per trip: the date, the destination, the business purpose, and the miles driven, which you can capture as trip mileage or start and stop odometer readings. The business purpose is a separately required element, so an odometer-only log isn't enough. There's no mandated format, so a spreadsheet, notebook, or app all work as long as they capture those fields.
A weekly log counts as timely kept, so you don't have to write down every trip the moment it happens. What matters is that you record trips close to when they occur rather than reconstructing months later, since a contemporaneous log is far stronger evidence than one built from memory at tax time. Updating your log once a week is a reliable, realistic habit.
The IRS doesn't require any particular format, so an app and a paper log are equally valid as long as either captures the date, destination, business purpose, and miles. Apps track automatically with GPS, which removes the discipline problem, while a paper log costs nothing. Choose the method you'll actually maintain, because a consistent log beats a fancy one you stop updating.
Tracking your mileage is one of the easiest deductions a food vendor can claim, and it comes down to logging four fields for every business trip, as you go. Split your 2026 miles at July 1, keep your records for three years, and use whatever tool you'll stick with. Start your Homegrown storefront so your delivery drives come with the order records that prove they were for business.
