Federal Government Mileage Rate: Eligibility, Rules, and Recordkeeping

The federal government mileage rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile for business driving, up from 70 cents in 2025. The IRS also set three other rates for the year: 20.5 cents per mile for medical travel, 20.5 cents per mile for active-duty military moves, and 14 cents per mile for charitable volunteer driving.¹ The business, medical, and moving figures are adjusted each year based on a study of vehicle operating costs. The charitable rate is fixed by statute and has not moved since 1998.² All four apply the same way to gas, diesel, hybrid, and electric vehicles.

The 2026 Rates at a Glance

Business driving: 72.5 cents per mile.
Medical travel: 20.5 cents per mile.
Military moves (active duty, permanent change of station only): 20.5 cents per mile.
Charitable volunteer driving: 14 cents per mile.¹

The moving rate is worth flagging as a boundary. The moving expense deduction is suspended for civilian taxpayers through 2026, so only active-duty Armed Forces members relocating under a permanent change-of-station order can use the 20.5-cent moving figure.³

What Driving Qualifies

Business Trips

Business mileage covers driving between two work locations, visits to clients, trips to a temporary job site, and work-related errands. The trip from your home to your regular workplace does not qualify. That is commuting, and commuting is never deductible regardless of distance.⁴

Two exceptions matter. If your home office qualifies as your principal place of business, driving from home to another work location in the same trade or business is deductible. And when you work at two places in the same day, the miles between them count, even if the two jobs are for different employers.⁴

Travel to a temporary work location is deductible if the assignment is realistically expected to last one year or less. If you learn partway through that the assignment will exceed a year, the mileage stops being deductible on the date your expectation changes, not when the year actually runs out.⁵

Medical Trips

The 20.5-cent medical rate applies to driving for diagnosis or treatment: doctors, dentists, hospitals, and pharmacies. A trip to pick up a prescription counts. A trip to the gym because your doctor recommended exercise does not, unless those gym visits themselves qualify as deductible medical care.

Charitable Driving

The 14-cent rate is for volunteer driving on behalf of a qualified nonprofit. Hauling supplies to a food bank, driving to a volunteer shift, or shuttling people to a charity event all fit. You cannot use the rate if you are paid for the driving itself.

Who Can Actually Deduct the Miles

Having deductible miles is not the same as being allowed to claim them. Your employment type controls whether the mileage produces any federal tax benefit.

Self-employed taxpayers can deduct business mileage on Schedule C, Line 9, subject only to the documentation and rate rules.⁶
Most W-2 employees cannot deduct unreimbursed mileage at all. The deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses has been eliminated, so if your employer does not reimburse you, there is no federal tax benefit.
A narrow group of employees can still claim unreimbursed expenses on Form 2106: Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with disability-related work expenses.⁷

For everyone else on a W-2, the practical route to a benefit is employer reimbursement.

Standard Rate or Actual Expenses

The per-mile rate is one option. The other is deducting the actual cost of running the vehicle: fuel, insurance, repairs, tires, registration, and depreciation, prorated by business use. The standard rate is simpler. Actual expenses sometimes produce a larger deduction, particularly for costly vehicles.

The first-year rule catches people. You must use the standard mileage rate in the first year you place a vehicle in service for business. Choose actual expenses that first year and you are locked out of the standard rate for that vehicle for as long as you own it.⁶ After the first year, if you started with the standard rate, you can switch methods year to year.

Leased vehicles work differently. If you use the standard mileage rate on a leased vehicle, you must use it every year of the lease. Switch to actual expenses once and you cannot go back to the standard rate for that lease.⁶

When the Standard Rate Is Off Limits

Some taxpayers cannot use the per-mile rate at all. You are disqualified if you:

Operate five or more vehicles at the same time for business. Alternating between vehicles does not trigger the rule; it applies only to simultaneous fleet use.⁴
Have claimed accelerated depreciation on the vehicle, including MACRS, a Section 179 deduction, or the special depreciation allowance (bonus depreciation).⁴
Claimed actual expenses on a leased vehicle after 1997 and then tried to switch to the standard rate for the same lease.

The five-vehicle rule reaches more small operators than expected. A contractor running a pickup, a sedan, a van, and two work trucks on the same day has already hit it.

Employer Reimbursements

An employer that reimburses mileage at or below the IRS rate under an accountable plan pays the money tax-free. Nothing appears on the W-2, and no withholding applies. For most W-2 workers, this is the only realistic way to get value from the mileage rate.

Treasury Regulation 1.62-2 sets three requirements for an accountable plan:⁸

The expenses must relate to work performed as an employee (business connection).
The employee must document the mileage to the employer within a reasonable time (substantiation).
Any advance beyond documented expenses must be returned (return of excess).

Miss any one of these and the whole reimbursement becomes taxable wages, subject to income tax withholding and payroll taxes. A flat car allowance with no mileage substantiation lands in the same place, even at a reasonable dollar amount, because the missing documentation makes it non-accountable.

Parking and Tolls

Business-related parking fees and tolls are deductible on top of the standard rate. The per-mile figure does not cover them. Parking at your regular workplace does not count, because that is a commuting cost.⁹

Recordkeeping the IRS Expects

The IRS expects a contemporaneous log, meaning records created at or near the time of each trip rather than reconstructed at year-end. Each entry should show the date, the destination, the business purpose, and the miles driven.⁴

Also record the odometer on January 1 and December 31. The total annual figure is what the IRS uses to check your business-use percentage. A paper notebook or a smartphone app both work if the records are complete. Keep them for at least three years from the date you file, which is the standard assessment period for most taxpayers.¹⁰

Missing or reconstructed logs are the usual reason mileage deductions fail in an audit. An agent does not need to prove you drove fewer miles than you claimed. The absence of documentation is enough to disallow the deduction outright.

Doing the Math

Multiply your qualifying miles by the applicable rate. Twelve thousand business miles in 2026 comes to 12,000 × $0.725, or $8,700. Add business parking and tolls to that figure.

Self-employed filers report the total on Schedule C, Line 9, which reduces both income tax and self-employment tax.⁶ The narrow group of employees still eligible for unreimbursed expenses uses Form 2106, which flows into Schedule 1.⁷

If you are using the standard rate, do not also deduct depreciation, lease payments, insurance, or repairs. Those costs are already inside the per-mile figure. Only parking and tolls for business trips get added on.⁶

1
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Standard Mileage Rates
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
3
Internal Revenue Service. Moving Expenses to and from the United States
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
5
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 511, Business Travel Expenses
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025)
7
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2106
8
Internal Revenue Service. Nonresident Aliens and the Accountable Plan Rules
9
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car
10
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 305, Recordkeeping