THE STRIDE TRACKER

                  

The Stride: Mileage & Tax Tracker app is a popular and powerful tool that has revolutionized how self-employed professionals, from landscapers and cleaners to delivery drivers and freelancers, handle their finances. In the world of small business, time is money, and the manual process of tracking expenses and mileage for tax purposes is a major time sink. This is where Stride steps in, offering a free, all-in-one solution that not only simplifies bookkeeping but can also save you a significant amount on your tax bill.

Here’s a detailed look at how the Stride app can transform your approach to small business expense tracking and tax preparation.

1. Automated Mileage Tracking: The Cornerstone of Your Deductions

For many small business owners, mileage is their single biggest tax write-off. Manually logging every trip with a pen and paper is tedious and prone to errors, leading to missed deductions. Stride solves this with its core feature: automatic mileage tracking.

• How it Works: The app uses your phone’s GPS to intelligently detect when you're driving. On iOS, it can send reminders to start tracking when it senses you are in motion and charging your phone. Once you’re finished with a trip, you get a notification to categorize it with a simple swipe—business or personal. It logs the start and end locations, the total miles, and calculates the tax deduction based on the current IRS standard mileage rate.

• What You Can Deduct: Remember, any driving done for your business is a potential write-off. This includes trips to meet clients, pick up supplies, travel between job sites, or drive to a business-related training session.

2. Effortless Expense Logging and Receipt Management

The dreaded shoebox of paper receipts is a thing of the past with Stride. The app turns your smartphone into a portable expense logger, ensuring every purchase is documented and categorized correctly.

• Snap and Save: You can take a photo of a physical receipt directly through the app. Stride then stores this digital copy, so you never have to worry about losing a receipt again.

• Smart Categorization: When you log an expense, you can assign it to a category. Stride provides a list of common deductions for self-employed individuals, such as:

  • Tools & Equipment: Supplies for your trade (e.g., landscaping tools, cleaning supplies).

  • Vehicle Expenses: Fuel, repairs, and maintenance (if you choose the "actual expenses" method instead of the standard mileage rate).

  • Home Office: A portion of your rent/mortgage, utilities, and internet bills, provided you have a dedicated space used regularly and exclusively for business.

  • Professional Fees: Payments to accountants, lawyers, or for certifications and licenses.

  • Advertising: Business cards, website hosting, and online ads.

• Bank Integration: For even greater efficiency, Stride can securely link to your bank account. It will then automatically flag transactions from your statement that look like potential business deductions, allowing you to categorize them with a tap and save a huge amount of time.

3. IRS-Ready Reports: Making Tax Season a Breeze

The true value of Stride comes at tax time. Instead of spending hours or even days gathering documents, you have everything organized and ready to go with a few taps.

• Comprehensive Tax Summary: The app generates a detailed tax report that includes a full breakdown of your mileage, expenses, and estimated tax savings.

• Easy Integration: Stride’s reports are designed to be "IRS-ready," meaning they contain all the necessary information for you or your accountant. You can easily export this data and even import it directly into popular tax software like TurboTax, simplifying the entire filing process.

4. Beyond Expenses: Unlocking Additional Benefits

Stride isn't just an expense tracker. It’s a tool built to support independent workers in other ways.

• Deduction Discovery: The app provides a tax deduction guide that helps you discover write-offs unique to your profession, ensuring you don't miss out on any savings.

• Free to Use: The core expense and mileage tracking features are completely free. Stride's revenue comes from its other services, like helping independent workers find and enroll in affordable insurance plans, which means you get powerful financial tools without a subscription fee.

The Bottom Line

For any small business owner or self-employed individual who feels overwhelmed by tracking expenses and preparing for taxes, the Stride app is a game-changer. It takes a time-consuming, complex, and error-prone process and automates it, freeing you up to focus on what you do best: running and growing your business. By consistently using the app, you can ensure you're maximizing your tax deductions and keeping your financial records audit-proof and organized all year long.

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