Standard Government Mileage Rate: Rules, Records, and Basis

The standard government mileage rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile for business driving, 20.5 cents per mile for medical travel or qualified military moves, and 14 cents per mile for charitable service.¹ Multiply your qualifying miles by the rate that matches the purpose, and you have your deduction or reimbursement figure without tracking every gas receipt.

The 2026 Rates and What Changed

The IRS published the new figures in Notice 2026-10. The business rate climbed 2.5 cents from 2025, reaching 72.5 cents per mile.² The medical rate slipped half a cent to 20.5 cents. That same 20.5-cent rate covers moving expenses, but only for active-duty members of the Armed Forces relocating under a permanent change-of-station order.¹

The charitable rate stays at 14 cents. It doesn’t move with fuel prices because 26 U.S.C. § 170(i) fixes it by statute; only Congress can change it.³ The business and medical rates, by contrast, come from an annual IRS-commissioned study of what it costs to own and operate a vehicle, including fuel, insurance, depreciation, and maintenance.

How to Calculate Your Deduction

The math is simple. Take the miles you drove for a qualifying purpose and multiply by the rate for that category. A self-employed consultant who logs 12,000 business miles in 2026 calculates 12,000 × $0.725 = $8,700.⁴ Someone who drove 200 miles to medical appointments gets 200 × $0.205 = $41 toward medical expenses on Schedule A.

If your driving spans more than one category, run each calculation separately. Business miles use 72.5 cents, medical miles use 20.5 cents, and charitable miles use 14 cents. Don’t blend them. Business-related parking fees and tolls are deductible on top of the mileage figure, so add those in as a separate item. Parking at your regular workplace is a commuting cost and doesn’t qualify.⁵

Who Can Use the Rate

Self-employed filers use the business rate directly on Schedule C. You must own or lease the vehicle to claim it.⁶

Employees are a more complicated case. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended the miscellaneous itemized deduction employees used to claim for unreimbursed business mileage. That suspension was scheduled to expire after December 31, 2025, which means employees who itemize may again be able to deduct unreimbursed mileage for 2026, subject to the 2% of adjusted gross income floor.⁷ Legislation in this area is actively moving, so confirm the current status before you rely on it for your return.

Employers can reimburse workers at or below the federal rate under an accountable plan, and those payments stay tax-free to the employee, with nothing added to the W-2. Reimbursement above the IRS rate becomes taxable income for the excess portion.⁵

Standard Rate or Actual Expenses

You have two ways to deduct vehicle costs. The standard rate bundles fuel, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation into one number per mile. The actual expense method requires you to total what you really spent on gas, oil, insurance, repairs, tires, registration, and depreciation, then deduct the business-use percentage.

The standard rate is easier and usually the better fit for fuel-efficient vehicles with modest upkeep. Actual expenses can pay off when the vehicle is expensive to run and your business-use percentage is high. A heavy truck with high fuel and repair costs may generate more deduction under actual expenses than 72.5 cents per mile would.

The Rules That Lock You In

Choosing the standard rate is a first-year decision for owned vehicles. If you don’t elect it the first year you put the car into business service, you’re on actual expenses for that vehicle permanently. For leased vehicles, the rule is stricter: if you use the standard rate at the start of the lease, you must use it for the entire lease term.⁵

Several situations disqualify the standard rate outright:

Operating five or more vehicles for business at the same time. Alternating between vehicles at different times doesn’t count as fleet use.⁵
Having already claimed a Section 179 deduction, a special depreciation allowance, or MACRS depreciation on the vehicle.⁶
Having claimed actual expenses on a leased vehicle after 1997; you can’t then switch to the standard rate for that lease.⁵

You can switch from the standard rate to actual expenses in a later year, but only with straight-line depreciation over the vehicle’s remaining useful life; no MACRS or accelerated methods allowed, and the annual depreciation limits still apply.⁵

Records the IRS Wants to See

For each deductible trip, document the date, starting and ending points, distance, and business or charitable purpose. A mileage-tracking app is the practical answer, though a written log works. The records need to be contemporaneous, not reconstructed months later.

Also note your odometer reading at the start and end of the tax year. That establishes total annual mileage, which lets you show the business-use percentage. Without a total, there’s no way for the IRS to check that your claimed miles are proportional to actual use. Trips between home and your regular workplace are commuting, and commuting is not deductible.⁸

The Basis Reduction You Shouldn’t Forget

Every mile you deduct at the standard business rate chips away at your vehicle’s adjusted cost basis through a built-in depreciation component. For 2026, that piece is 35 cents of the 72.5-cent rate.¹

Drive 15,000 business miles in 2026 and your basis drops by $5,250 (15,000 × $0.35) for the year. Over several years, the reduction stacks up. When you sell or trade in the vehicle, a lower basis produces a larger taxable gain. Track the cumulative basis reduction each year so the eventual disposal doesn’t produce a surprise tax bill.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2026-10 – 2026 Standard Mileage Rates
2
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
4
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040)
5
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 – Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 510, Business Use of Car
7
Congressional Research Service. Expiring Provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA, P.L. 115-97)
8
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15-B – Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits