5 Mileage Reimbursement Checks to Make Before Year’s End 

The end of this year is quickly approaching (too quickly, even. Wasn’t it just May?), and it’s time to start wrapping everything up and getting ready for the next one. 

What does this mean for businesses in industries like sales and healthcare, with mobile workforces that use their personal vehicles for their work-related travel? To keep it simple, CompanyMileage has compiled an easy, 5-step year-end checklist  for your Finance and HR teams. 

1. Catch Up On Mileage Submissions

Make sure that all expense reports and mileage logs that have been submitted are processed and up-to-date. If any mobile employees have any outstanding business-related trips, it’s best to clear them now, before you really hit the year-end rush. 

It’s also important to remember that the IRS Accountable Plan, which establishes the rules for keeping reimbursements accountable (nontaxable), mandates that trips get submitted in a “timely manner” (usually a period of about two months). Don’t let important documentation get left behind!

2. Review Reimbursement Policies

Are your company’s policies around mileage reimbursement clear, concise and straightforward? Do they explain everything your employees need to know about tracking, logging, and submitting mileage? 

Are you sure? If not, there’s no better time than now to update your policies with vital info for employees including:

• What trips are and are not eligible for reimbursement
• How to keep mileage logs and submit expense reports
• Deadlines for submission

3. Check Mileage Records

If your company uses manual methods (such as spreadsheets or paper mileage logs) for its mileage records, that’s definitely a list you’ll want to check twice.

It’s easier than you think for fraudulent reporting (and honest mistakes) to end up in expense reports, damaging compliance and driving up the totals on reimbursement payments. The next time you go over mileage records, be on the lookout for:

• Missing trip details: Accountable Plan rules dictate that mileage logs contain the date, time, location, mileage, and business purpose of each trip. If logs don’t include this information, the company might have to pay taxes on the reimbursement in question. 
• Duplicate reporting: Sometimes it’s an intentional act of expense fraud, and sometimes employees simply submit the same report twice by accident. Either way, if you don’t catch it, you might end up reimbursing the employee double what they actually earned. 
• Inconsistent reporting: If your mobile workforce doesn’t consistently submit accurate, compliant logs in a timely manner, that’s a problem. Inconsistent logs and expense reports make it that much harder to prove a trail in the event of an IRS audit. Inconsistency also puts compliance at risk, and leaves your business more vulnerable to fraud. 

4. Evaluate Your Processes

The end of the year is a great time to stop and take stock of the workflows your company uses. What’s working well?

What isn’t? And be honest! 

Does report approval take way too long? Are frauds and errors showing up in expense reports? Is compliance suffering? Do employees complain that it’s a hassle to keep up with mileage logs? 

When you have a clear idea of what’s wrong, you get a better idea of what steps will be needed to fix it. 

5. Plan for Next Year (and Let CompanyMileage Help!) 

Now it’s time to build your road map for next year! You’ve identified where your weak points are, and which processes need fixing, so next comes deciding on your plan of attack in the new year. Maybe your plan includes more training for mobile employees, or some policy changes.

You might also consider implementing tools into your mileage reimbursement processes that make tracking, verification, and reimbursement easier and intuitive for everyone. 

CompanyMileage and its suite of digital solutions for accurate, automated solutions for mobile expense management can make next year’s road map your reality. 

Our mileage reimbursement software, SureMileage, uses a unique, Point-to-Point method for tracking mileage, wherein employees enter the start and end points of each trip, and the system calculates the mileage and amount for reimbursement. 

This method keeps mileage accurate and organized, while keeping ineligible mileage, fraud, and calculation errors out of your employee’s expense reports. Once submitted, those reports move through an automatic approval workflow, which can be eastily customized to meet the unique needs of your business.

CompanyMileage’s software also integrates with all major accounting and approval software, guaranteeing a smooth, efficient process from start to finish. 

CompanyMileage makes your year-end mileage management simple. To learn more about how, schedule a demo today!