How to Accurately Capture Mileage Driven for Work
Considering mileage is one of the largest categories of employee spend -- U.S. businesses spent more than $1.95 billion on mileage reimbursement in 2017 -- you would think it would be easier to capture.
On the face of it, its not always clear what the problem is. What can be so hard? Just make a note of your car’s odometer before and after each journey, or simply use the mileage shown by your navigation app of choice?
But life isn’t always so black and white. Employees can sometimes forget to note their mileage or stray from the original route, and then its all too easy to guess the mileage driven when it comes to submitting the expense claim. It’s also a known issue that, relying on the complexity of submitting mileage claims, some employees pad out their claims.
SAP Concur offers an option to self-capture mileage with Concur Drive, our business mileage tracker app. It provides an easy way for employees to claim mileage expenses without the ambiguity. It also gives the finance team peace of mind around compliance.
It’s part of the Concur mobile app, which is where users access their expenses, travel, and invoice tracking. In the bottom right hand corner of the home screen there’s a mileage icon and Concur Drive is accessed from here. Let's see how it works:
How to capture mileage with Concur Drive
Employees can choose to track their mileage in one of two ways.
The first is the automatic way. They tell the app the set times when they regularly travel for business. Then, whenever they travel within those timeframes, their mobile phone’s GPS tracking and mobile sensors measure the distance traveled in the background and without the employee needing to be in the app.
The second way for employees to track mileage is manually. Using the app, they simply select when they want to start and stop tracking their trip. As before, their mobile phone’s GPS tracking and mobile sensors measure the distance traveled.
Whichever way they choose to track their mileage, employees don’t have to worry about draining their mobile’s battery. Concur Mobile is optimized to use less battery while the app is running in the background than other location tracking apps that keep the GPS turned on.
The quick and easy way to compile a mileage expense claim
Whether the mileage is captured automatically or manually, each journey is automatically added to a draft expense claim. The employee reviews the draft claim and selects the trips that need to be reimbursed. The Concur Drive integrates with Google Maps, so it is easy for employees to remind themselves of individual journeys and remember what they were for. Eligible trips are submitted as “personal car mileage” on the expense claim and your company’s reimbursement rate is automatically applied.
Peace of mind around mileage compliance
The integration with Google Maps also makes compliance much easier. You can see the exact route driven and exact mileage for each trip, plus you have a transparent audit trail at your fingertips. It means the opportunities for discrepancies are greatly reduced and you can be confident you’re not at risk of fines or of overpaying or underpaying employees.
VAT reclaim on mileage claims is made simple
The level of detail that’s automatically provided by Concur Drive means you can also confidently and easily reclaim the right amount of VAT on mileage, creating an additional source of revenue for very little cost.
Ready to learn more? Download the Concur Drive brochure.