Claiming mileage on taxes for driving to and from work is not allowed: the IRS treats your daily trip between home and a regular workplace as a personal commuting expense, no matter the distance or how often you make it.1Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Rul. 99-7 Self-employed people and a small group of qualifying employees can deduct other kinds of business driving, but the commute itself is off the table for everyone.
Why the Commute Itself Is Never Deductible
Revenue Ruling 99-7 sets the rule: trips between your home and your regular place of work are personal, not business. It doesn’t matter whether you drive five miles or fifty, whether you go in five days a week or two, or how long you sit in traffic.
You also can’t convert a commute into business travel by doing work along the way. Taking client calls, listening to work voicemails, or driving a vehicle with a company logo doesn’t change the character of the trip.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses The drive from your driveway to a fixed office stays personal.
Who Can Still Deduct Business Mileage in 2026
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made that elimination permanent.3Tax Policy Center. How Did the TCJA and OBBBA Change the Standard Deduction and Itemized Deductions? For most W-2 employees, business mileage of any kind can no longer be written off on a federal return.
A few narrow employee categories still qualify for above-the-line deductions under 26 U.S.C. § 62:4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 62 – Adjusted Gross Income Defined
- Armed Forces reservists traveling more than 100 miles from home for service.
- Qualified performing artists who work for at least two employers in the performing arts and meet specific income thresholds.
- Fee-basis state or local government officials paid partly or entirely through fees rather than a salary.
- Eligible K-12 educators, who starting in 2026 can deduct unreimbursed business expenses beyond the existing above-the-line deduction for classroom supplies.
Self-employed workers are a different matter. Freelancers, independent contractors, sole proprietors, and gig workers were not affected by the TCJA change and continue to deduct business mileage on Schedule C, or on Schedule F for farming.5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car The commuting rule still applies to them, though. If you drive for a rideshare or delivery app, the miles from your home to your first pickup are generally personal; the miles you rack up while actively working, between rides or deliveries, are business.
Trips That Do Count as Business Travel
For those who can still deduct, the IRS recognizes several types of driving that go beyond an ordinary commute.
Between Two Work Locations
Driving from one work location to another during the same day is deductible. A consultant who meets a client across town in the morning and then heads to her regular office can deduct that second leg. If you run a personal errand in between, only the mileage the direct route would have covered counts.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
Temporary Work Locations
Travel to a temporary work location is deductible when the assignment is realistically expected to last one year or less. If you already have a regular work location elsewhere, trips between your home and the temporary site are deductible regardless of distance. If your expectations change and you start to anticipate the assignment running longer than a year, the deduction stops at that point, even before you’ve actually been there a full year.6Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 511, Business Travel Expenses
When Your Home Is Your Principal Place of Business
If your home qualifies as your principal place of business under Section 280A, trips from home to any work destination — a client meeting, a supply store, a job site — count as business travel rather than commuting. To qualify, you must use part of your home regularly and exclusively for business. A space that doubles as a guest bedroom or a playroom doesn’t meet the standard. The home office can also qualify if you use it for administrative or management work and have no other fixed location where you handle substantial administrative tasks.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 280A – Disallowance of Certain Expenses in Connection With Business Use of Home
If You’re a W-2 Employee: Ask About an Accountable Plan
Since the federal deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses is gone for most workers, employer reimbursement is often the only way to get a tax benefit for business driving. Reimbursements made through an accountable plan stay off your W-2 and out of your taxable income. Payments made under a nonaccountable plan — for instance, a flat monthly car allowance with no substantiation required — get added to your wages and taxed as income.
An accountable plan requires a business connection for the expenses, adequate accounting by the employee within 60 days, and return of any excess reimbursement within 120 days.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses If your employer expects you to drive for work, it’s worth asking whether the reimbursement setup meets those conditions.
How to Calculate the Deduction
Self-employed taxpayers and the qualifying employees above choose between two methods. The method you pick in the first year the vehicle is available for business use can limit your options later.
Standard Mileage Rate
The standard mileage rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile.8Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Standard Mileage Rates Multiply your business miles by that rate and add any business-related parking fees and tolls. The rate already accounts for fuel, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation, so those costs are not deducted separately.9Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040)
You have to elect the standard rate in the first year the vehicle is placed in service for business. You can’t use it if you operate five or more vehicles at once, if you’ve already claimed accelerated depreciation or a Section 179 deduction on the vehicle, or if you leased the vehicle and switched to actual expenses.5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car For a leased vehicle, once you pick the standard rate you have to stay with it for the whole lease.
Actual Expense Method
The actual expense method totals what you spend on the vehicle — gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration, and depreciation — and applies your business-use percentage.5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car That percentage is your business miles divided by total miles for the year. Drive 20,000 miles total with 12,000 for business, and you deduct 60% of vehicle costs. This method takes more paperwork but can pay off for expensive vehicles or those with high upkeep.
What to Keep in Your Records
The IRS wants a written record made at or near the time of each trip. Estimates put together at tax time will not hold up if you’re audited. For each business trip, log:
- The date.
- Where you started and where you went.
- The business purpose, in a short note like “met with client about project proposal.”
- Miles driven for the business portion of the trip.
Also record your odometer at the start and end of each tax year. Those readings anchor your total annual mileage and let you calculate the business-use percentage, which matters especially for the actual expense method.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses If inadequate records lead the IRS to disallow your deduction and that creates an underpayment, you may owe an accuracy-related penalty of 20% of the underpaid amount for negligence.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6662 – Imposition of Accuracy-Related Penalty on Underpayments
Check Your State Return
The federal deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses is gone for most workers, but roughly eight states still let W-2 employees deduct unreimbursed business mileage on the state return. Rules, limits, and forms vary. If you live in an income-tax state and drive for work without reimbursement, it’s worth looking up whether your state kept the deduction; it could lower your state bill even when it does nothing federally.