Overview
Valzotra tracks business mileage for your short-term rental properties. The IRS allows you to deduct mileage driven for rental property management, and keeping an accurate log is essential if you are ever audited. Valzotra gives you a structured place to record every trip so your records are ready at tax time.
How it works
- Each time you drive for property-related business, open Mileage in the sidebar and click Log Trip.
- Fill in the trip details: date, origin, destination, miles driven, purpose, and the property the trip relates to.
- The trip is saved to your mileage log and associated with the selected property.
- At any time, you can view your mileage summary to see totals by property, by time period, or across your entire portfolio.
Deduction methods
The IRS offers two methods for deducting vehicle expenses:
- Standard mileage rate — Multiply your business miles by the IRS standard rate for the tax year. This is the simpler approach and the one most hosts use. Valzotra tracks the miles; you apply the rate at tax time.
- Actual expense method — Track all vehicle costs (gas, insurance, maintenance, depreciation) and deduct the business-use percentage. You would track these costs as expenses in Valzotra, not in the mileage log.
You choose one method per vehicle per year. Valzotra records the miles driven regardless of which method you use, but the mileage log is most directly useful for the standard mileage rate method.
Material participation
Trips logged in the mileage tracker can also help document your material participation in the rental activity. If the purpose of a trip is property management (inspections, maintenance, guest interactions), it counts toward the hours the IRS uses to determine whether you materially participate in your rental business.
Limits & requirements
- Mileage tracking is available on all plans (Comply, Host, Portfolio, and Trial).
- You must have an active subscription to create new mileage log entries.
- Miles must be a positive number.
- A trip date is required for every entry.
- Assigning a property is optional but recommended for accurate per-property reporting.
FAQ
What qualifies as deductible mileage? Trips between your home (or regular workplace) and your rental property for management, maintenance, cleaning, guest check-in, supply runs, and similar business purposes. Commuting to a regular job is not deductible.
Should I log every trip? Yes. The IRS expects a contemporaneous log — meaning you record trips close to when they happen. Valzotra makes this easy by letting you log trips from any device.
What if a trip covers multiple properties? Log it as a single trip and assign it to the primary property. You can note the additional properties in the purpose or notes field.
Can team members log mileage? Yes. Owners, admins, and members with the Manager or Bookkeeper property role can create mileage log entries. Cleaners, maintenance members, and viewers cannot create mileage entries.