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3
Steps to
Setup BizMile Tracker
BizMile Tracker reconstructs your mileage and calculates
your mileage deduction automatically using the appropriate
IRS mileage deduction schedule.
A. Percentage Use Odometer Calculator
Alternatively, and as your tax professional may tell you, you are allowed to
deduct a percentage of your total car expenses such as gas, car maintenance,
oil etc. BizMile Tracker calculates this mileage percentage from the Beginning
and Ending odometer entries.
Simply enter the January 1st totals and December 31 ending totals from
your carÕs odometer at the top of the BizMile Tracker program screen .
BizMile Tracker will do the rest. Then you and your tax pro can decide.
B. Tax Year
Since the IRS mileage rates differ each year, you use 2006 BizMile
Tracker, for example, for trips taken that year.
Audit
Tools
If you need a prior year, you can
purchase them as Audit Tools.
If you know
anyone being audited, please tell them it is not too
late to have
accurate IRS compliant backup
for their mileage
deductions. It will make
their life easier.
C. Setting up your Address Book
New locations may be added anytime to the Address Book at any time.
The Address Book is invoked by clicking on the button at the bottom of the screen.
You have to enter your addresses for BizMile Tracker to find them.
ThatÕs the bad news. The good news is you only have to do it once
and we save them for you to reuse next year too.
Simply fill in the fields. Addresses can be
1) Entered either as a number-street pair
2) Or as an intersection of two streets
Similarly, you can also enter a zip code if you don't know the exact address.
However, this gives you a less accurate trip distance because the zip
code centerpoint is used.
When you
are done, select the "Verify Address" Button
that will check that it is a valid address and save it.
The latitude and longitude map coordinates for the address will be saved
in your Address Book.
NOTE:
á Spelling is critical
á Capital letters arenÕt.
If BizMile Tracker cannot find the address, or if it thinks the address
is misspelled, it will pop up a message either prompting you to
correct the mistake or some other, hopefully, helpful message.
MS OUTLOOK ADDRESS IMPORT BETA
To make this process even easier we are working on ways to automatically import
addresses from your MS Outlook folder. If anyone wants to try this, we have a
Beta import that we are testing. Contact us at info@BizMile.com
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Using BizMile Tracker
Important to remember --- All cells are editable
by clicking on them - except the summary miles
and tax deduction fields.
A. Begin your trip:
Once
the 
button is selected,
a 12 month calendar will open.
Simply click on the day you want and then
select the ÒDoneÓ button.
This will move you to a new entry where a dialog box will
open called ÒTrip FromÓ.
B. Trip From: Begin your trip 
a destination
A trip is a pair of ÒFromÓ and ÒToÓ locations.
Whenever a pair is entered, BizMile Tracker calculates the distance and shows
it in your spreadsheet.
After you have selected a date, BizMile Tracker automatically opens
the FROM box where you must select the beginning
all your addresses.
Once an address has been selected, click on the green ÒCloseÓ button.
To do this, simply click on the desired address or, if no
addresses have been previously entered, select
ÒCreate New LocationÓ and enter an address in the
C. Trip To Finishing your trip 
a destination
ÓTrip ToÓ is completed just like ÒTrip FromÓ which began
your trip pair.
Follow the steps that are laid out in Trip FromÓ
by selecting an address from your Address Book and clicking
the green ÒFinish TripÓ
You should now see your first business deduction tallied at
the bottom of the screen. If you do not see the tally,
then one of the address fields is empty. Go back and fill
in the missing information and you will see your deduction.
The Multi-Stop Trip
ÒTrip ToÓ differs from ÒTrip From in one way : it offers the
ability to ÒAdd another legÓ. The ÒAdd another legÓ option
allows you to create additional stops for the trip deduction.
For example, you may want to make a detour to drop off some
clothes at the Salvation Army on your way to an appointment
from the office. You can designate this trip ÒsegmentÓ for charity
if that is appropriate and BizMile Tracker will tally those miles at the
proper rate.
D. Editing a trip:
Any trip may be edited. Simply click on that cell
to edit and select the green ÒFinish TripÓ button.
Or if your are editing an existing Multi-Stop trip the green button
shows as ÒUpdate 'To' LocationÓ :
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Other columns:
Type (of miles)
BizMile
Tracker defaults to
a business deduction rate .
But if all of your entered trips are not just for business,
BizMile Tracker allows you to select another setting.
For other choices, simply click on the desired row under the
ÒTypeÓ column. A list of choices will appear, select one
(for example charity, medical, moving etc). and BizMile
Tracker will automatically recalculate the deduction.
See the IRS rules on what type of trips are deductible
Round Trip
BizMile Tracker defaults to ÒRound TripÓ. If the trip is one-way,
you can change it by clicking on that cell under this column. BizMile
Tracker will automatically recalculate the mileage and the deduction.
Parking and Tolls
Enter your trip parking and toll expenses manually here. BizMile
Tracker will tally it for you at the bottom of the page.
For travel, entertainment, gift or transportation expenses, up to $75 is
allowed without receipts, except for lodging or transportation
expenses where a receipt is not readily available (a good example
of this is a parking meter as long as an expense log is maintained.
For more actual rules See IRS publication
Account / Description
This is a field the IRS wants you to use to note the reason
for the trip. You can also identify which client(s) you saw.
Repeat Trip
A Repeat Trip is one that reoccurs several times throughout the year.
Instead of re-entering it each time, BizMile Tracker allows you to
select the dates on which this trip repeats and it fills out the
spreadsheet. This tool saves time in properly documenting frequent trips.
Click on the Repeat Trip cell associated with a trip. A calendar
pops up for you to select the days that you repeated this trip, then
click the green "Done" button.
Miles
This is an automatically generated column that reflects the
shortest distance between your stops according to standard
and accepted digital mapping algorithms.
Tax Deduction
This is an automatically generated column that takes the mileage
figure and multiplies it with the IRS mileage rate in effect for that day
for the "Type" of deductible mile.
Delete Row
Click on this to delete either the trip segment or the entire trip. A popup
window will prompt you as to which of these choices you would like.
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Other features:
(always located in the lower portion of the screen)
Add a Trip
This button is identical in function to the ÒClick Here to Add a TripÓ above.
Address Book
You need to enter the addresses of your trips in the Address Book.
The Address Book may be accessed directly from this button or
when editing existing data.
The Address Book may also be accessed from within the ÒTrip
FromÓ and ÒTrip ToÓ dialog boxes.
Save and Log Out.
BizMile Tracker automatically does not save changes to your data
automatically. Please, hit the "SAVE and LOGOUT" button regularly
within a session to avoid data loss.
Once a session is completed, selecting the ÒSave and Log OutÓ
button causes all of the unsaved data entered during that session
to be saved. It is a good and prudent thing to do when you finish
your BizMile Tracker session, to ensure that you preserve all your data.
BizMile Tracker will not allow multiple sessions to run concurrently
(e.g. from 2 different computers) on the same account.
Help Button.
If this failed to resolve your questions, please contact us at
techsupport@bizmile.com and we will be happy to assist.
When you select ÒPrintÓ, BizMile Tracker will provide you with two
options. The first is a ÔPrinter friendly formatÕ that shows all of the
street addresses (not just the name as the screen does) or a
comma separated value (csv) format for exporting to a spreadsheet.