Why Timeero Is the Best Mileage Tracker for QuickBooks Users
Andjelka Prvulovic
Last update on:
September 16, 2025 11:35 AM
Published on:
TL;DR
If you use QuickBooks, you already know its mileage tracker has gaps: only admins can log miles, reports lack detail, and Time Elite costs too much.
The truth is, QuickBooks wasn’t built to handle mileage for growing teams with employees on the road. That’s why many SMBs turn to Timeero for GPS-verified mileage, team-friendly logging, and seamless QuickBooks integration.
If you’re using QuickBooks, you’ve probably tried its mileage tracker and noticed the gaps. QuickBooks Online only allows admins to log miles. QuickBooks Self-Employed works fine for freelancers, but not for teams. And QuickBooks Time pushes you to sign up for the most expensive plan just to unlock mileage tracking.
The truth is, QuickBooks wasn’t built with mobile teams in mind. When reports lack detail, approval workflows are missing, or costs keep climbing, it means extra work for managers and less confidence in the process.
In this article, we’ll walk through how QuickBooks mileage tracking works, where it falls short, and why Timeero is the better choice for QuickBooks users who need GPS accuracy, fair reimbursements, and seamless integration.
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QuickBooks Online: Good for one person, not a team
QuickBooks Online (QBO) includes a mileage tracker that comes in handy for solo business owners or admins. You can let the mobile app automatically detect trips in the background, or log them manually by entering start and end points, distance traveled, and trip purpose.
Trips can be classified as business or personal with a swipe, and totals can be exported for tax deductions.
Where QuickBooks Online mileage tracking falls short is in team use. In QBO, only the account admin can track mileage. Employees don’t have the ability to log their own trips, which makes it impractical for companies with multiple drivers.
The multiple admin workaround in QuickBooks Online
Some businesses ask: “Can I just add more admins in QuickBooks Online so multiple people can track mileage?”
Technically, you can. QuickBooks allows you to assign the Company Admin role to more than one user. Each admin can install the QuickBooks mobile app and log their own mileage.
But here’s the catch:
Each admin only sees their own trips. There’s no central dashboard for managers to review or approve mileage across the team.
A Company Admin has near-total access to sensitive financial data, including bank balances, reports, and books. Granting this level of access just to let someone log miles is a major security risk.
Each admin is logging expenses independently. There’s no oversight process to check accuracy before reimbursements.
So, while multiple admins can track their own miles, it’s not a practical mileage solution for teams. It creates risks without solving the problem of centralized, secure mileage management.
Even if you manage to track mileage in QBO, reimbursing employees is just as clunky. Intuit’s help docs say you need to set up vendor profiles, special accounts, and manual billing.
Timeero replaces this time-consuming process with automatic mileage logs that sync with QuickBooks in one click.
QuickBooks Self-Employed: Great for freelancers, not teams
QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) was designed with freelancers and gig workers in mind. It makes tracking mileage for tax deductions simple:
The mobile app automatically detects drives using your phone’s GPS.
Each trip can be categorized as Business or Personal with a quick swipe.
You can add multiple vehicles and track expenses, such as gas or insurance.
The app applies the IRS standard mileage rate and syncs with TurboTax to simplify the Schedule C filing process.
For a one-person operation, this works well. A consultant or rideshare driver can easily keep mileage logs and maximize deductions at tax time.
But QBSE doesn’t scale beyond that.It doesn’t support multiple users, which doesn’t make it a preferred choice for businesses with multiple employees.
QuickBooks Time (Workforce): Better, but costly and incomplete
QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets, now Workforce) has expanded mileage tracking, allowing employees, not just administrators, to log trips. With the Elite plan, workers can track mileage while clocked in, and managers can review totals alongside timesheets.
The good news is that the accuracy of this feature has improved over time (check our QuickBooks mileage tracker review for details, including test results). Trips are only logged during work hours, which helps keep records IRS-compliant. Managers can also see a route trail if they need to double-check where an employee traveled.
The problem we noticed with QuickBooks Time mileage tracking is its cost and feature gaps.
For one, mileage tracking is locked behind QuickBooks Time Elite, which has a cost of $40 (base fee) as well as an additional $10 per user each month, on top of a QuickBooks Online subscription. For a team of 10, that adds up to around $175/month just to track mileage.
And even then, the tool stops short of what many teams need:
You can’t split mileage across multiple client visits in a day (no segmented tracking).
You can’t compare actual routes to the most efficient path (no suggested mileage).
Commute miles aren’t excluded automatically, you have to adjust them by hand.
Reports are designed for tax purposes, not for detailed audits or client billing.
While QuickBooks Time is a step up from QuickBooks Online in terms of tracking mileage, the cost is steep, and the reporting detail remains limited.
Note: If you are a very small team already paying for QuickBooks Time Elite to use its other features, the app’s built-in mileage tracker may be sufficient. However, if tracking mileage is your primary pain point, the cost and feature gaps of QuickBooks Time Elite are bound to become a significant issue as your business grows.
Timeero: Mileage tracking built for teams
Unlike QuickBooks, where mileage is just an add-on, Timeero was built from the ground up to get mileage tracking right.
If your team also wants to log work hours, breaks, PTO, or create schedules within the same app, Timeero is equipped with those fetures so you won’t have to juggle multiple tools later.
GPS-verified routes
Every trip is tracked in detail, with breadcrumbs and route replay available to confirm the exact driving route an employee took. No more disputes about mileage claims: it’s all there, verified by GPS.
Team-friendly logging
Unlike QuickBooks Online, every employee can log mileage on their phone. Managers simply review and approve logs in a central dashboard.
Advanced features that save money
Segmented Tracking
Instead of showing one big mileage total, Timeero breaks trips into smaller segments. This makes it simple to allocate mileage to the right client or job, ensuring reimbursements and billing are accurate.
Suggested Mileage
Timeero compares the actual route an employee drove with the most efficient route. This helps managers spot unnecessary detours and control mileage costs.
Commute Mileage
To keep reimbursements fair, Timeero can automatically exclude commute miles. You just need to set a daily mileage cap and choose whether it’s deducted from the first trip, last trip, or split between both, so only true business miles are counted.
Mileage reporting
A QuickBooks user on Reddit shared their experience while dealing with a lawsuit. On the QuickBooks mobile app, they could see detailed trip logs with GPS coordinates and timestamps, which provided good evidence of their work.
But when they exported a report from QuickBooks Online, it only showed the project name and total miles. As they put it:
“It’s missing the timestamps and the GPS info. In my mind, I can see some pretty big weaknesses in that information because it’s vague, especially because it doesn’t show ‘Trip Start’ and ‘Trip End’ times.”
Another user replied:
“QBO’s mileage module exists so Intuit can put ‘mileage’ on their feature list. I won’t waste your time listing all the ways it fails to meet the lowest possible standard of functional.”
Even Intuit support confirms this limitation. As of late 2022, exported mileage reports from QuickBooks Online do not include trip start and end times, leaving businesses to add those details manually if they need them for compliance or audits.
That’s where Timeero’s Mileage Reporting comes in. The app’s “Report by Mileage” includes employee names, job or client, dates, start and end addresses, notes, total miles, and mileage cost. This way managers can verify trips at a glance, issue fair reimbursements, and provide IRS-compliant logs without extra work.
Instead of vague mileage totals, Timeero gives you clear, trip-by-trip documentation, making audits smoother, reimbursements accurate, and client billing straightforward.
Affordable pricing
With QuickBooks, mileage tracking is locked behind the Time Elite plan, driving costs up as your team grows.
Timeero includes mileage tracking in every plan, starting at $4 per user. Advanced tools are available in Pro and Premium plans, but still at a fraction of QuickBooks’ cost.
How Timeero + QuickBooks integration works
Timeero’s QuickBooks Online integration lets you sync mileage and time data directly into QuickBooks, eliminating manual entry and simplifying billing and reimbursements.
Once employees log their mileage and managers approve it, data can be synced with QuickBooks in one click. Mileage appears in Expenses, and time entries flow into Timesheets, so no duplicate entry is required.
Setting up and using Timeero with QuickBooks Online is simple:
1. Connect accounts
In Timeero, go to Integrations and link your QuickBooks Online account.
2.Track mileage in Timeero
Employees log their mileage automatically with the Timeero mobile app, so every trip is captured with GPS verification.
3. Review and approve
Managers see mileage by employee, date range, or client. Trips can be approved, adjusted, or annotated as needed.
4. Sync to QuickBooks
With one click, mileage data (and time entries if desired) sync into QuickBooks Online. Mileage shows in Expenses, and time entries flow into Timesheets.
5. Reimburse and report
Once in QuickBooks, reimbursements are processed quickly, and mileage records are stored for expense reporting or IRS audits.
The result?
No duplicate entry, no messy spreadsheets, and no disputes! Just accurate, location-verified mileage flowing seamlessly into QuickBooks.
Timeero: the best mileage tracker for QuickBooks users
QuickBooks’ mileage tools may cover freelancers, but they’re either too limited (QBO, QBSE) or too expensive for teams (QB Time Elite).
Timeero gives you GPS-verified mileage tracking that’s accurate, affordable, and built for teams, with one-click sync into QuickBooks for fast and hassle-free reimbursements.
And if your needs grow, Timeero also includes time and location tracking, scheduling and PTO tools, so you won’t need to add another app later.
FAQs
Does QuickBooks have a mileage tracker?
Yes. QuickBooks includes mileage tracking, but the feature varies by the solution. QuickBooks Online (QBO) offers a basic tracker limited to account admins. QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) is designed for freelancers, with automatic GPS trip detection and simple mileage tracking. QuickBooks Time is the most advanced option, allowing multiple employees to log trips with GPS, but it comes at a higher cost and still lacks some advanced features.
How does Timeero integrate with QuickBooks?
Timeero syncs mileage and time data directly into QuickBooks Online. The app tracks employees’ trips, managers approve them, and with one click, the data flows into QuickBooks for reimbursement, without manual entry.
Why do advanced mileage tracking features matter?
They save time, prevent overpayment, and ensure fairness. Segmented tracking splits mileage between clients, suggested mileage highlights inefficient routes, and commuter exclusion removes non-reimbursable miles automatically.
Why do I need GPS verification for mileage?
GPS verification provides proof of the routes employees take. This prevents inflated claims, ensures reimbursements are accurate, and creates IRS-compliant logs you can rely on during an audit.
Is Timeero IRS-compliant for mileage tracking?
Yes. Timeero generates detailed, timestamped mileage logs that meet IRS documentation requirements, making audits and reimbursements stress-free.
Ready to stop fighting QuickBooks mileage workarounds?
Andjelka is a researcher and writer with 6+ years in digital marketing. Her background in social work and journalism has sharpened her skill in connecting with people from all walks of life. For the past 3 years, she’s specialized in time, location, and mileage tracking. Outside work, she enjoys yoga, swimming, and unwinding with her cats while listening to Leonard Cohen’s music.
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