The 2026 IRS Mileage Rates (and the Mid-Year Increase to 76 Cents)

The IRS sets a standard mileage rate each year: a single per-mile figure that stands in for gas, oil, tires, maintenance, insurance, registration and depreciation. Claim it and you do not have to keep a receipt for any of those costs. You still have to keep the miles.

2026 is unusual. The rate normally holds for the whole calendar year, but a mid-year adjustment raised the business rate on July 1, 2026. That means one tax year with two rates, and a log that has to be split by date.

The 2026 rates

The charity rate does not move with the others because it is fixed in statute rather than recalculated from cost data — it has sat at 14 cents for decades while the business rate has roughly doubled.

How the rates have moved

2022 was the last split year, for the same reason: fuel prices moved far enough mid-year that the IRS did not wait for January.

What a split year means for your log

The rate that applies to a trip is the rate in force on the day you drove, not the rate on the day you file. A courier who drives 12,000 business miles evenly across 2026 does not multiply 12,000 by one number:

• 6,000 miles driven January through June × 72.5¢ = $4,350
• 6,000 miles driven July through December × 76¢ = $4,560
• Total deduction: $8,910

Using 76 cents for the whole year would overstate the deduction by $210 on those numbers — small enough to look like rounding, large enough to be wrong. Using 72.5 cents for the whole year quietly gives away the same amount.

Who can actually use the business rate

The standard mileage rate is for people who drive for a trade or business they carry on themselves: sole proprietors and single-member LLCs filing Schedule C, gig and delivery drivers, real estate agents, contractors, consultants, and partners driving for the partnership. Farmers use Schedule F.

Employees with a W-2 generally cannot deduct unreimbursed mileage on a federal return — that deduction is suspended for most people, with narrow exceptions for Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local officials and impairment-related work expenses. A few states still allow an itemized version on the state return, so check yours.

What the rate already includes — and what it does not

The per-mile figure covers the running costs of the car. It does not cover business tolls and parking, which you deduct on top of the mileage. Nor does it cover the personal share of anything: only the miles you drive for business count, and commuting from home to a regular workplace is not one of them.

You also get a real choice of method. The standard rate is simple and needs no receipts; the actual-expense method tracks what the car really costs and can be worth more on an expensive vehicle. That decision has a first-year lock-in, so it is worth understanding before you file — see standard rate vs. actual expenses.

Rates are announced, not guessed

The IRS publishes the figures in a notice, usually in mid-December for the year ahead. Anything you read before that — including projections from tracking apps — is an estimate. The official table lives on IRS.gov, and that is the page to check before you file.