IRS mileage rate 2026: 72.5¢, then 76¢ from July 1

There are two business mileage rates for 2026. Miles driven from January 1 through June 30 count at 72.5 cents a mile. Miles driven from July 1 through December 31 count at 76 cents a mile. The IRS raised the rate mid-year in Announcement 2026-11.

Purpose	Jan 1 to Jun 30, 2026	Jul 1 to Dec 31, 2026
Business	72.5¢ a mile	76¢ a mile
Medical, and moving for the military	20.5¢	23.5¢
Charity	14¢	14¢

Mid-year changes are unusual but not new: the IRS has done it before when fuel prices jumped, most recently in 2022.

Work out your 2026 mileage deduction

Enter your business miles for each half of the year. If you only know the year's total, the calculator splits it by days as an estimate.

How to apply both rates

Each trip uses the rate in force on the day you drove. You can't put all of 2026 at 76 cents.

Example. A delivery driver logs 6,000 business miles in 2026: 2,800 before July and 3,200 after.

Period	Miles	Rate	Deduction
Jan 1 to Jun 30	2,800	$0.725	$2,030
Jul 1 to Dec 31	3,200	$0.76	$2,432
Total	6,000		$4,462

Using 72.5 cents for the whole year would give $4,350, leaving $112 on the table. Using 76 cents for every mile would claim $4,560, which is $98 too much.

Who can use the mileage rate

• Self-employed people deduct business miles on Schedule C line 9. That covers freelancers, gig drivers, contractors and single-member LLCs.
• Employees generally can't. Unreimbursed driving for your job isn't deductible on your federal return. The exceptions are Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists and fee-basis state or local government officials, who use Form 2106.
• Employers can reimburse staff up to the rate under an accountable plan. The employee doesn't pay tax on the reimbursement.
• Medical and charity miles use their own rates, in the table above.

Rules for using the standard rate

You must own or lease the car, and:

• Choose it in the first year the car is used for business. After that you can switch between the standard rate and actual expenses year by year, as long as you stay with straight-line depreciation once you switch.
• For a leased car, keep it for the whole lease, including renewals, once you choose it.
• Not run five or more cars at the same time, as a fleet would.
• Not have depreciated the car any other way: no MACRS, no Section 179 and no bonus depreciation on it.

Parking, tolls and the actual-expense method

Business parking and tolls are deductible on top of the mileage rate. Gas, insurance, repairs and depreciation are not, because the rate already covers them.

The alternative is the actual-expense method. Add up what the car really cost, then multiply by the business share of your miles. It can beat the standard rate for an expensive car with few miles. For most people driving an ordinary car a lot, the 2026 rates are hard to beat, and they need far less record-keeping.

What your mileage log needs

The IRS expects a record made at or near the time of each trip, showing:

• the date,
• where you went,
• the business purpose, and
• the miles driven.

Schedule C Part IV also asks for your total miles for the year, split into business, commuting and other. Driving from home to a regular workplace is commuting, which isn't deductible.

Our free mileage log template has those columns. It picks 72.5 or 76 cents from each trip's date and totals the year for line 9 and Part IV. It works in Excel or Google Sheets.

Past IRS mileage rates

Year	Business	Medical or military moving	Charity
2026, Jul 1 to Dec 31	76¢	23.5¢	14¢
2026, Jan 1 to Jun 30	72.5¢	20.5¢	14¢
2025	70¢	21¢	14¢
2024	67¢	21¢	14¢
2023	65.5¢	22¢	14¢
2022, Jul 1 to Dec 31	62.5¢	22¢	14¢
2022, Jan 1 to Jun 30	58.5¢	18¢	14¢

The charity rate is set by law, which is why it never moves.

The 2027 rate

The IRS usually announces the next year's rate in mid to late December. We'll add the 2027 rate here the day it's published, and on our tax numbers page, next to the other 2027 figures released so far. Until then, use the 2026 rates for every mile you drive in 2026.

A log that knows the dates

Many mileage templates still apply a single 2026 rate. The Paid & Filed workbook's mileage tab picks 72.5 or 76 cents from each trip's date, adds parking and tolls, and carries the total to line 9 of your Schedule C. Its dashboard shows how much of each payday to set aside for tax.