Substantiation depends on your employer's requirements. Chances are that your employer will want a log of your business travel. However, you do have the correct understanding of tax law requirements. What will be necessary is to meld what tax law requires with your company's policy to substantiate the travel. This substantiation is so that:
- Your company pays you reimbursement for travel, and
- The reimbursement is not taxable to you (and still deductible to the company).
If you are salaried-exempt, undoubtedly your company will want substantiation that there was a legitimate business reason for the travel (even if it is something like picking up/dropping off files at work location C), and when the travel occurred. This same substantiation will (or should) also satisfy IRS requirements. (In these cases, it is more likely that the IRS would question the company's books first. If reimbursements were found out to not follow rules, then the company would send you a corrected W-2 that the reimbursement is now considered to be taxable wages, and you would amend your personal return to show the increased taxable income).
If you are an hourly employee, the substantiation likely will be scrutinized even more, because in addition to the reimbursement, the company would have to pay you for your travel time between the work places. Again, this is more of a company issue as compared to a tax issue. However, there's no doubt that your company wants to make sure they are paying you for legitimate work (and reimbursing accordingly).
Still, you are correct that as long as the travel is between A and C (even though C is close to home), you can claim reimbursement for this travel as long as there is a legitimate business purpose for the travel. Travel between B and A (home and main office) or B and C (home and second office), are never deductible or reimbursable. But, if you can legitimately substantiate your travel, this is one tax provision that works in your favor, since this type of travel is no longer deductible on your personal return, due to the tax law changes brought in by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018.
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