and now we will learn all about tracking mileage also called vehicle usage per jobs mileage slips
are not transactions they are documents of events that will affect future transactions they have
their own separate set of reports they behave exactly the way time slips do this means you
have to choose a service item if you mark the mileage as billable to a client to set up and
prepare QuickBooks to be able to build clients for mileage we have to make a service item for miles
driven we have to choose or make an income account to track the income from billable vehicle mileage
we will make an account called income from billed mileage we will also make a service item on the
items list called billable miles driven and since we're advanced in QuickBooks we can make both of
these at the same time from the main menu click list item list in the bottom left of the item
list click item new now this goes on the list as a service and it's billable miles driven ok we leave
the rate blank and then in the account field we see that there is no account called income from
build miles so we have to make one click here scroll up and click add new notice QuickBooks
knows this is an income account and we type the name income from Build miles ok then save and
close now we have everything we need for the new item click OK and now our item is on the
items list waiting to be used when we bill clients for mileage the second part of the setup involves
putting the vehicles names and descriptions on the vehicle list in our example we have vehicle
one Toyota Corolla 2015 donated by the owner on June 20th of 2015 from the main menu click lists
customer and vendor profile list and go down to the bottom where it says vehicle list now in
the bottom left of the vehicle list window click vehicle new the name of it in this case will be
Toyota - car because it's not a minivan and you can put anything in the description you like we
will put donated on donated on June 20 of 2015 and you can put whatever other information you think
is helpful to identify the particular vehicle that you're using when we click OK we see it's added to
the vehicle list and the next vehicle we will add is a Ford minivan donated by the owner on
July 20 of 2016 again in the bottom left of the vehicle list click vehicle new and the name of it
will be Ford mini-van donated July 20 of 2016 you could put the beginning mileage or the mileage at
the moment it was donated or any other relevant information you think is necessary right here
in the description click OK and you have finished the second part of the setup adding the vehicles
to the vehicle list and of course the last part of the setup is putting up the mileage related
reports for mileage tracking the two best reports are the mileage by vehicle summary and the mileage
by job detail where there's also a summary and a detail but we will work with the detail from
the main menu click reports jobs time and mileage mileage by vehicle summary make sure in the top
left you push a for all and then when this is the active window click view add mileage by vehicle
summary to the icon bar and click OK now we'll do the other report reports jobs time and mileage
mileage by job detail and of course the pulldown menu in the top left should say a for all and then
we have to modify this so that we could add the notes remember because this is not a transaction
you have to record as much detail as possible for each event in the top left click customize report
and then make sure the display tab is showing in the modify report mileage by job detail window
scroll down to where it says notes and click in the left margin then click OK and you see a
column has been added for notes you should click to the right of the word notes on the three dots
to get the double arrow click and drag to make it wider so that you can see as much of the notes as
possible in the report believe me this is going to be helpful to you now that it looks the way
we need it to look click view add mileage by job detail to the icon bar and click OK notice if you
run out of room in the icon bar QuickBooks gives you a double arrow with the pull down menu where
you can click for the extra icons that don't fit in the icon bar and now we're ready to record our
first set of mileage let's imagine on April 19th we drove the Toyota car for the Hansen
place job and the starting mileage was seventeen thousand six hundred ten and the ending mileage
was seventeen thousand nine hundred twenty and it does not say that this is billable to the job
let's take a look at how to record it from the main menu click company enter vehicle mileage
the vehicle was the Toyota car the date was April 19th of 2017 the trip date the trip ended on the
same day April 19th of 2017 but of course if it ended on different days you would put the
beginning date in the ending date now the odometer start in the instructions say seventeen thousand
six hundred ten no problem seventeen thousand six hundred ten pushed the tab key to save it
the odometer finish was seventeen thousand nine hundred twenty so seventeen thousand nine hundred
twenty push tab and you see QuickBooks tells you the difference in mileage the job in this case was
the hansen place job but we will not put an item because this particular vehicle mileage is not
billable we just want to know where the miles went which job even though we're not going to
bill it and the notes are very important you can type anything you think is helpful Wow this was
a long trip or whatever else you would like to put after you click Save and close you can open
up mileage by vehicle summary and see that the total miles so far for just this one vehicle is
three hundred and ten miles if you open the other report mileage by job detail you can see the notes
you can see all the details about that particular entry and that particular trip that was entered
as mileage for April 19th and by the way if you double-click right here on this line you will
go back to the original entry of the vehicle miles entered and you can change anything you
want and now let's see one that's billable let's imagine on April 21 we drove the Ford van for the
South Woods Road job and the starting mileage was four thousand nine hundred ninety and the
ending mileage was five thousand two hundred twenty again from the main menu click company
enter vehicle mileage the vehicle in this case was the Ford minivan the start date of the trip
was April 21 and the end date of the trip was also excused me April 21 and the end date of the trip
was also April 21 vo dominus start was forty nine ninety and the odometer end was fifty two
twenty QuickBooks calculates two hundred thirty miles now the job was the South Woods Road job
and in this case it is billable so because it's billable you should click the item and choose
billable miles driven then you should put in the notes whatever you think is helpful Kirschbaum
was happy that we took the van or whatever whatever else you need to type that was helpful
information for you when we click Save and close we can ignore all the spelling suggestions and
then we can open up the mileage by vehicle summary and you can see the Ford minivan had 230 miles and
the Toyota car had 310 miles you may well ask what is this mileage expense and I do promise
at the end of the video I will be explaining what mileage expense means in the meantime let's take
a look at the other report mileage by job detail and you will see all the information about this
particular trip is written here across this line it's under the Kirschbaum South Woods
Road job and you could see how many miles it is and the date and if it's billable or not and now
the conclusion of our little story happens when we finally bill Kirschbaum for the miles let's
imagine on April 23 we build Kirschbaum for the April 21 work that required driving there in the
minivan and we charged Kirschbaum $5 per mile from the icon bar we open the invoice window we
choose the South Woods Road job under Kirschbaum now we do have an available estimate where we can
take the information and put it on an invoice with these miles but to keep things simple we won't use
the estimate we'll just use the billable cost or the billable miles when we click OK you can see
in the choose billable time and cost window that the only thing available to bill is one event of
mileage and this is the one we just entered to select it we click the check mark in the margin
and then click OK notice it has all of the miles driven and all we have to do is put the price per
mile that were charging Kirschbaum and on the left of your keyboard push tab now this invoice
is asking him to pay one thousand one hundred and fifty dollars for all of the miles that we
had to drive to be able to service him after we click Save and close of course we're going to
ignore this riki default save and close' ignore all the spelling and ignore the credits that
are available for now now that we finally saved that invoice we can open up the profit and loss
by job and you can see for the southwards Road Kirschbaum job we now have income from build miles
$1,150 now of course many of you are asking what does it mean mileage expense and how
did that get there on this mileage by vehicle summary well it's very interesting you see the
IRS allows you to take a certain amount of deduction from your taxes for miles driven
that relate to business the money amount that you see on the report means nothing it is not
a transaction it is not affecting your chart of accounts your general ledger and it has not been
added or subtracted to any area of QuickBooks all it is is a suggestion for the amount that
QuickBooks believes that you are allowed to deduct from your taxes for miles driven by vehicles that
relate to business for more information about the mileage expense and how it affects your
QuickBooks records and how it affects your taxes please discuss the issue with your tax accountant