To expense mileage on your 2026 taxes, you multiply your eligible miles by the IRS rate for that type of driving — 72.5 cents for business, 20.5 cents for medical or military moves, and 14 cents for charitable work — or you track every real cost of running the vehicle and deduct the business-use share.1Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Standard Mileage Rates The first method is simpler; the second sometimes yields a bigger deduction. Which one wins depends on your vehicle, your mileage, and a first-year election you cannot undo later.
Who Can Claim It
Self-employed people are the main audience for this deduction. Freelancers, independent contractors, and sole proprietors report vehicle expenses on Schedule C alongside the rest of their business income.2Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss from Business (Sole Proprietorship) Farmers use Schedule F.
If you’re a regular W-2 employee, the federal deduction for unreimbursed business driving has been suspended since 2018. Only four narrow groups can still file Form 2106: Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses.3Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 2106 Employee Business Expenses Everyone else on a W-2 has to ask their employer for a reimbursement program; the tax return isn’t the place to recover those miles.
What Driving Actually Counts
Business Miles
Deductible business trips include driving between work locations, visits to clients or customers, meetings held away from your regular office, and trips from home to a temporary work site when you have a regular office somewhere else.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses Your ordinary commute between home and your main workplace is never deductible, no matter how far it is. The IRS classifies commuting as a personal expense, full stop.
Medical Miles
Miles driven mainly to receive medical care — appointments, hospital visits, other healthcare trips — count at the medical rate. They go on Schedule A and are subject to the same adjusted gross income floor as your other medical expenses, so you only benefit if you itemize and clear that threshold.
Charitable Miles
Driving you do for a qualified charity counts at the statutory 14-cent rate, and the miles must be unreimbursed and directly tied to your volunteer service.5Internal Revenue Service. Tax Tips You Should Know if You Have Charity-Related Travel Expenses The value of your volunteer time isn’t deductible, but your out-of-pocket costs are. Parking and tolls on charitable trips also come off on Schedule A.
The Standard Mileage Rate Method
This is the simpler path. You keep a mileage log and multiply by the rate. For 2026:
- Business driving: 72.5 cents per mile
- Medical and military moving: 20.5 cents per mile
- Charitable driving: 14 cents per mile
A consultant who drives 15,000 business miles in 2026 gets a deduction of $10,875. Parking fees and tolls tied to business trips are deducted separately on top of the per-mile amount; they’re not baked into the rate.6Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 511, Business Travel Expenses
When the Standard Rate Isn’t Available
You can’t use the standard rate if any of the following is true:
- You didn’t choose the standard rate in the first year the car was used for business.
- You operate five or more vehicles at the same time (fleet use).
- You previously claimed MACRS depreciation, a Section 179 deduction, or the special depreciation allowance on the vehicle.
- You switched to actual expenses after 1997 on a leased car.
The first-year rule is the one that traps people. Claim actual expenses in the year you first put the car into business use and you’re stuck with actual expenses for the life of that vehicle. Start with the standard rate and you keep both options open for future years. That asymmetry alone is a reason to run both calculations before you file that first return.
The Actual Expense Method
Actual expenses means tracking every operating cost and then applying your business-use percentage. Deductible categories include gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration fees, and depreciation.7Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car
Business-use percentage is business miles divided by total miles for the year. Drive 20,000 miles total with 12,000 for business and your business-use share is 60%. You then deduct 60% of every qualifying expense.
The tradeoff is paperwork. You need receipts or records for every category, not just a mileage log. This method tends to favor drivers with expensive vehicles or unusually high operating costs, where the flat per-mile rate would leave money on the table.
Depreciation Caps
If you go the actual expense route, the IRS caps annual depreciation on passenger vehicles. For a car placed in service in 2026:
- First year with bonus depreciation: $20,300
- First year without bonus depreciation: $12,300
- Second year: $19,800
- Third year: $11,900
- Each year after: $7,160
These caps apply to standard passenger cars and lighter SUVs. Heavier vehicles rated above 6,000 pounds gross vehicle weight fall under different rules and can qualify for a larger Section 179 deduction.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
Picking a Method
Run the numbers both ways in the first year the car is used for business. That’s the only year you get to preserve future flexibility, and it’s usually the year the gap between the two methods is widest because of first-year depreciation.
As a rough guide: the standard rate tends to win for fuel-efficient, lower-cost cars with modest maintenance. Actual expenses tend to win for newer, pricier vehicles where depreciation alone can exceed what the per-mile rate would give you.
One data point to plug into that comparison: the 2026 standard rate includes 35 cents per mile attributable to depreciation.1Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Standard Mileage Rates On 15,000 business miles, that’s $5,250 of depreciation baked into the standard method. Compare it against the 280F caps above to see which method treats your car better.
Keeping a Mileage Log
The log is where most audits are won or lost, and the IRS is specific about how it wants you to keep one: record each trip at or near the time it happens.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses A weekly log covering that week’s driving works. A spreadsheet you assemble from memory in April does not.
Every entry should show:
- The date of the trip
- Starting and ending odometer readings
- The destination
- The business or charitable purpose
Mileage-tracking apps do most of this automatically by using your phone’s GPS and generate reports at year-end. Whatever tool you use, the standard is the same: if the IRS asks, you have to produce adequate records for every mile. Without them, the whole deduction can be disallowed.
Where the Deduction Goes on Your Return
The form depends on your situation:
- Self-employed filers report vehicle expenses on Schedule C, which flows into overall business profit or loss.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025)
- Farmers use Schedule F instead.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025)
- The four eligible categories of employees use Form 2106.3Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 2106 Employee Business Expenses
- Medical and charitable miles go on Schedule A, so they only help if your itemized deductions beat the standard deduction.
Each form asks for total miles broken into business, commuting, and personal buckets. The totals on your return should match your log exactly. Mismatches between the two are exactly the kind of inconsistency that draws an examiner’s attention.
How Long to Keep the Records
Hold onto mileage logs, receipts, and copies of your filed returns for at least three years from the date you filed. That’s the standard IRS assessment window.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 305, Recordkeeping
If you claimed depreciation under the actual expense method, keep those records for as long as you own the car, and then three more years past the return where you report the sale or disposition. The depreciation you took affects your tax basis and the gain or loss when the car leaves the business, so those files need to outlive the deduction itself.