IRS Mileage Deduction
Calculator 2026
The IRS raised the business rate to 76¢/mile from July 1, 2026 — up from 72.5¢. Enter your miles for each half of the year and get your exact split-year deduction.
What is the IRS mileage rate for 2026?
76 cents per business mile from July 1, 2026 — up from 72.5 cents in the first half of the year, after the IRS raised rates mid-year in Announcement 2026-11 citing fuel prices. Medical and moving miles rise from 20.5¢ to 23.5¢ at the same time; charitable miles stay at the statutory 14¢ all year. Your 2026 return uses BOTH business rates: 72.5¢ for miles driven January-June, 76¢ for July-December.
Last updated: July 14, 2026 · IRS Announcement 2026-11, July 13, 2026
Sources: IRS Announcement 2026-11 (IRB 2026-29) · IRS Notice 2026-10 · 2026 rates: business 72.5¢ → 76¢ · medical/moving 20.5¢ → 23.5¢ · charity 14¢ (IRC §170(i), unchanged)
📋 Educational tool only. Not financial, tax, or investment advice. Consult a qualified tax professional or financial planner for personalised guidance.
Self-employed, 1099 contractors and gig workers (Schedule C). W-2 employees generally cannot deduct — see the FAQ.
Same monthly pace all year?
Enter one annual total and it splits evenly — six months at each rate.
First-half rate: 72.5¢/mile (Notice 2026-10).
Second-half rate: 76¢/mile (Announcement 2026-11, effective July 1).
Tax saved ≈ deduction × marginal rate. An estimate: it ignores state tax, itemizing thresholds, and the extra self-employment-tax saving Schedule C filers also get.
Jan–Jun deduction (H1)
$4,350
6,000 mi × 72.5¢ (Notice 2026-10)
Jul–Dec deduction (H2)
$4,560
6,000 mi × 76¢ (Announcement 2026-11)
Total 2026 deduction
$8,910
12,000 miles across both rate periods
Est. tax saved at 22%
$1,960
estimate — SE-tax effect not included
The July 1 rate hike adds $210 to your deduction
Had the IRS left the 72.5¢ rate alone, your 12,000 miles would deduct $8,700. The higher 76¢ second-half rate is worth an extra 3.5¢ on every July–December mile — $210 here, and roughly $350 per 10,000 second-half miles. Miles driven later in the year are literally worth more in 2026.
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Total 2026 deduction
$8,910
Est. tax saved at 22%
$1,960
Jan–Jun deduction (H1)
$4,350
Jul–Dec deduction (H2)
$4,560
IRS standard mileage rates: 2024, 2025 and split-year 2026
| Period | Business | Medical / Moving | Charity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 (full year) | 67¢ | 21¢ | 14¢ | Notice 2024-8 |
| 2025 (full year) | 70¢ | 21¢ | 14¢ | Notice 2025-5 |
| 2026 Jan 1 – Jun 30 | 72.5¢ | 20.5¢ | 14¢ | Notice 2026-10 |
| 2026 Jul 1 – Dec 31★ new | 76¢ | 23.5¢ | 14¢ | Announcement 2026-11 |
★ Announcement 2026-11 (IRB 2026-29), announced July 13, 2026, effective for miles driven on or after July 1, 2026. Charity is fixed at 14¢ by IRC §170(i) — only Congress can change it, and it has sat at 14¢ since 1998.
Employer reimbursement: 76¢ is the new tax-free ceiling
From July 1, 2026, employers can reimburse up to 76¢ per business mile tax-free under an accountable plan (72.5¢ for miles driven before July 1). Reimbursement above the IRS rate becomes taxable wages; below it, nothing tops you up — W-2 employees can no longer deduct the shortfall. No federal law forces employers to pay the IRS rate, but California, Illinois and Massachusetts require reasonable expense reimbursement, and the IRS rate is the standard safe harbor. If your employer pegs its policy to the IRS rate, check that it moved on July 1 — the 3.5¢ bump is worth about $350 tax-free per 10,000 miles.
⚠ Keep a log — the IRS requires it, and 2026 doubles the stakes
Mileage deductions live or die on substantiation (IRC §274(d)): a contemporaneous record of the DATE, MILES and BUSINESS PURPOSE of each trip, plus start-of-year and end-of-year odometer readings. Estimates reconstructed at filing time are routinely thrown out in audits. In 2026 the date does double duty — it also proves whether a mile belongs to the 72.5¢ or the 76¢ period. A notes app, a paper logbook or a mileage-tracking app all work; what matters is that entries are made at or near the time of the trip.
Who can actually deduct business miles in 2026
Self-employed people, sole proprietors, single-member LLC owners, 1099 contractors and gig workers — anyone reporting business income on Schedule C (or a farm on Schedule F) — deduct business mileage directly against that income, no itemizing required. W-2 employees generally cannot: the TCJA suspended unreimbursed employee business expenses for 2018-2025, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the suspension permanent, so the deduction did not return in 2026. Four narrow groups still deduct on Form 2106: Armed Forces reservists traveling over 100 miles for duty, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state and local officials, and workers with impairment-related expenses. If you have both a W-2 job and a side business, only the side-business miles count — and commuting to either never does. Source: OBBBA (P.L. 119-21, 2025); IRS Publication 463; Form 2106 instructions.
The gig-driver playbook: which miles count
For DoorDash, Uber, Lyft, Instacart and similar work, the mileage deduction is usually the single biggest tax lever — but only some miles qualify. Deductible: miles driven with a passenger or delivery on board, miles to a pickup after accepting a job, and miles between gigs while you are actively working with the app on and waiting for the next request. Not deductible: commuting from home to your first staging area and back home after your last trip (commuting is personal, even for gig work), personal errands mid-shift, and miles with the app off. At 2026 rates the stakes are real: a driver logging 20,000 working miles split evenly across the year deducts $7,250 + $7,600 = $14,850 — cutting both income tax and the 15.3% self-employment tax base. The platforms' own mile totals typically capture only en-route-to-pickup and on-trip miles, so drivers who keep a complete log usually deduct meaningfully more. Source: IRS Publication 463 (transportation rules); Schedule C instructions.
Standard mileage vs actual expenses: the lock-in rules
You cannot mix the two methods arbitrarily. To ever use the standard mileage rate for a car, you must choose it in the first year the car is placed in business service. From year two onward you may switch between methods — but after standard mileage, actual-expense depreciation must be straight-line, and if you started with actual expenses and claimed MACRS or Section 179 depreciation, the standard rate is generally off the table for that vehicle permanently. Also remember the standard rate is not pure profit: a per-mile depreciation component is built in and reduces your basis every year, which can create taxable gain when you sell the car. Rule of thumb — economical, reliable, high-mileage cars favor the 76¢ standard rate; expensive, fuel-hungry or rapidly-depreciating vehicles (and low-business-mileage situations) favor actual expenses. Tolls and parking are deductible on top under either method. Source: IRS Publication 463; Notice 2026-10.
Medical and moving miles: the fine print
The medical rate (20.5¢ Jan-Jun, 23.5¢ Jul-Dec 2026) covers driving primarily for and essential to medical care — trips to doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, therapy — for you, your spouse or dependents. But it flows into Schedule A medical expenses, which are deductible only to the extent your TOTAL medical costs exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income, and only if you itemize rather than take the standard deduction. In practice that means medical mileage helps mainly in high-medical-cost years: for someone with $80,000 AGI, the first $6,000 of medical expenses earn nothing. The moving rate is the same cents-per-mile figure but nearly extinct: since the TCJA, only active-duty members of the Armed Forces moving under permanent change-of-station orders may deduct moving mileage — for everyone else the moving deduction is gone. Source: IRC §213 (7.5% floor); IRC §217(g); IRS Announcement 2026-11.
Why mid-year changes are rare — and what to do about this one
The IRS normally sets mileage rates once, each December, from an annual study of fixed and variable vehicle costs. It reaches for a mid-year special adjustment only when a major input — almost always fuel — moves too sharply to ignore: 2008, 2011, July 2022 (58.5¢ to 62.5¢, Announcement 2022-13), and now July 2026, with Announcement 2026-11 citing recent increases in the price of fuel. Three practical moves follow. First, make sure your mileage log has dated entries so every mile lands in the right rate period. Second, if you invoice clients for mileage or your employer reimburses at the IRS rate, update the figure to 76¢ for travel from July 1. Third, if you are self-employed and pay quarterly estimates, the higher second-half rate slightly raises your deduction and lowers your September and January estimated payments — small per mile, real at gig-driver volumes. Source: IRS Announcement 2026-11; Announcement 2022-13; Forbes, July 13, 2026.
2026 quick reference: business 72.5¢ (Jan 1–Jun 30) → 76¢ (Jul 1–Dec 31) · medical/moving 20.5¢ → 23.5¢ · charity 14¢ all year (statutory) · 76¢ = max tax-free employer reimbursement from Jul 1 · log required: date + miles + purpose (IRC §274(d)). Source: IRS Notice 2026-10; IRS Announcement 2026-11 (IRB 2026-29, July 13, 2026).
Last reviewed 10 October 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Felix, Richify's AI CFO — an AI author, presented as one.
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The IRS raised the standard mileage rates mid-year in Announcement 2026-11 (July 13, 2026), effective July 1 — the first mid-year change since 2022, driven by fuel prices. That splits 2026 into two rate periods, and this calculator applies each one to the miles you drove in it:
- Business: 72.5¢ then 76¢ — Notice 2026-10 set 72.5¢/mile for January 1 - June 30; Announcement 2026-11 raises it to 76¢/mile for July 1 - December 31. Available to the self-employed, 1099 contractors and gig workers on Schedule C; the same 76¢ is the maximum tax-free employer reimbursement rate from July 1.
- Medical/moving: 20.5¢ then 23.5¢ — medical miles count on Schedule A only above the 7.5%-of-AGI floor; moving miles are deductible only for active-duty military under permanent change-of-station orders.
- Charity: 14¢ all year — fixed by statute (IRC §170(i)), so the IRS could not raise it. Unchanged since 1998.
- W-2 employees: still no deduction — the TCJA suspension of unreimbursed employee expenses was made permanent by OBBBA (2025). Reservists, performing artists, fee-basis officials and impairment-related expenses are the only exceptions. What hourly W-2 workers can deduct from 2025 through 2028 is the premium part of their overtime, on Schedule 1-A: see the no tax on overtime calculator.
Math: first-half miles × first-half rate + second-half miles × second-half rate = your 2026 deduction. The optional tax-saved figure multiplies the deduction by your marginal bracket — an estimate that ignores the AGI floor on medical miles, itemizing thresholds, state tax, and the self-employment-tax interaction on Schedule C. What controls which rate applies is the date each mile was driven, which is why the IRS-required log (date, miles, purpose) matters more than usual this year. Source: IRS Announcement 2026-11 (IRB 2026-29); IRS Notice 2026-10; irs.gov newsroom.
How to use this calculator
- Pick the purpose of your miles: business (self-employed/1099 — Schedule C), medical/moving, or charity. Each purpose has its own 2026 rates, and business is the only one that got the full 3.5-cent mid-year increase.
- Enter your miles for January-June and July-December 2026 separately — the IRS applies 72.5¢ to first-half business miles and 76¢ to second-half miles, so the split matters. If you only track an annual total and drive at a steady pace, flip on the 'same monthly pace' toggle to split it evenly.
- Optionally pick your marginal federal tax bracket (10-37%) to see roughly what the deduction is worth in tax actually saved — deduction × rate, an estimate, not a quote.
- Read the results: the deduction each half-year earns at its rate, your total 2026 deduction, and the estimated tax saved. Business deductions also reduce self-employment tax base for Schedule C filers, which the estimate does not include.
- Check the rates table and the record-keeping callout below — the IRS requires a contemporaneous log (date, miles, business purpose) under §274(d), and in a split-rate year dated entries are what let you prove which half each mile belongs to.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IRS mileage rate for the second half of 2026?
76 cents per mile for business use, effective for miles driven July 1 through December 31, 2026, under IRS Announcement 2026-11 (published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 and announced July 13, 2026). The medical and moving rate rises at the same time from 20.5 to 23.5 cents per mile, while the charitable rate stays at 14 cents because it is fixed by statute (IRC §170(i)) and the IRS cannot change it administratively.
The first-half rates from Notice 2026-10 — 72.5 cents business, 20.5 cents medical/moving — continue to apply to every mile driven January 1 through June 30, 2026. The 76-cent figure matters twice: it is the deduction rate for self-employed drivers on Schedule C, and it is also the maximum per-mile rate an employer can reimburse tax-free under an accountable plan from July 1 onward.
Miles are assigned to a rate by the date driven, not the date you file or get paid. Source: IRS Announcement 2026-11; IRS Notice 2026-10.
Why did the IRS change the mileage rate mid-year?
Fuel prices. In Announcement 2026-11 the IRS said the increase 'results from recent increases in the price of fuel.' The standard mileage rate is built from an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating a vehicle — depreciation, insurance, repairs, maintenance, and gas — and when a big input moves sharply after the annual rate is set in December, the IRS can issue a special mid-year adjustment rather than let the rate lag reality for a full year.
Mid-year changes are rare: before 2026 the last one was July 2022 (Announcement 2022-13), when pump prices spiked and the business rate jumped from 58.5 to 62.5 cents; 2011 and 2008 saw similar moves. The practical consequence is a split tax year: your 2026 return will apply 72.5 cents to first-half business miles and 76 cents to second-half miles, which is exactly the math this calculator does — and why keeping a dated mileage log matters more in 2026 than in a normal year.
Source: IRS Announcement 2026-11; Forbes, July 13, 2026.
Can W-2 employees deduct mileage?
Generally no. Unreimbursed employee business expenses — including mileage — were miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2%-of-AGI floor, and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended that entire category for 2018-2025.
The suspension was scheduled to expire after 2025, but the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, enacted July 2025) made the disallowance permanent, so W-2 employees still cannot deduct business mileage in 2026 no matter how many miles they drive for work. Narrow statutory exceptions survive: Armed Forces reservists traveling more than 100 miles for duty, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses can still deduct on Form 2106.
For everyone else the only tax-advantaged route is employer reimbursement under an accountable plan — reimbursements up to the IRS rate (76 cents from July 1, 2026) are tax-free to you and deductible for the employer, so the real move is asking your employer to reimburse at the new rate, not hunting for a deduction. Source: TCJA §11045; OBBBA (P.L. 119-21); IRS Form 2106 instructions.
Do I use one rate or two for my 2026 taxes?
Two — one for each half of the year. Because Announcement 2026-11 took effect July 1, 2026, your 2026 return (filed in early 2027) applies 72.5 cents to business miles driven January 1 through June 30 and 76 cents to miles driven July 1 through December 31; medical/moving miles likewise split 20.5/23.5 cents, and charitable miles use 14 cents all year.
What controls is the date each mile was driven — not when you invoiced, got paid, or filed. That makes 2026 record-keeping stricter than usual: a single annual odometer total is not enough, because you (or your tax software) must be able to show how many miles fall in each half.
If your log has dated entries, this is automatic. If you only have an annual total and drove at a roughly even pace, a proportional split (six months each) is the reasonable approach — this calculator's 'same monthly pace' toggle does exactly that — but dated, contemporaneous records are what the IRS actually asks for under §274(d).
Source: IRS Announcement 2026-11; IRS Notice 2026-10; IRC §274(d).
Standard mileage vs actual expenses — which is better?
It depends on the vehicle and how you use it, but the rules constrain the choice. The standard mileage method multiplies business miles by the IRS rate (72.5¢/76¢ in 2026) and replaces deductions for gas, insurance, repairs, maintenance and depreciation — one number, minimal paperwork, plus you can still separately deduct business-portion tolls, parking and loan interest.
The actual-expense method deducts the business-use percentage of every real cost, including depreciation (Section 179/bonus rules may apply). Actual tends to win for expensive, thirsty or heavily-depreciating vehicles; the standard rate tends to win for economical cars driven many business miles — a high-mileage gig driver in a Corolla usually beats their actual costs at 76 cents.
You cannot mix freely: to ever use standard mileage on a car you must elect it in the FIRST year that car is in business service; after that you may switch to actual (using straight-line depreciation), but starting with actual/MACRS generally locks you out of the standard rate for that vehicle. Note the standard rate embeds a depreciation component that reduces your basis each year, which matters when you sell.
Source: IRS Publication 463; Notice 2026-10.
Does my employer have to reimburse the new 76-cent rate?
No federal law requires it. The IRS rate is a ceiling, not a mandate: under an accountable plan an employer can reimburse anywhere from zero up to 76 cents per business mile (from July 1, 2026) tax-free — amounts above the IRS rate become taxable wages, and reimbursements below it are simply less generous, with no federal deduction available to make up the gap since W-2 mileage deductions are permanently gone under OBBBA.
State law is the exception: California (Labor Code §2802), Illinois and Massachusetts require employers to reimburse necessary business expenses, and paying the IRS rate is the standard safe harbor there. In practice most employers that reimburse mileage peg their policy to the IRS rate and update it when the IRS moves, so the July 1 increase is a natural moment to check whether your employer's rate followed — a 3.5-cent bump is worth about $350 per 10,000 business miles, tax-free.
Employers using the fixed-and-variable-rate (FAVR) method or fleet cards have their own rules and are not tied to the cents-per-mile figure. Source: IRS Announcement 2026-11; Rev.
Proc. 2019-46; California Labor Code §2802.
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