IRS Mileage Deduction Calculator for 2026

IRS business standard mileage rate, 2023 to 2026

The IRS sets a single business rate per mile for every car, fully electric and hybrid cars included (IR-2025-128). Notice 2026-10 set 72.5 cents for 2026. Announcement 2026-11, published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 on July 13, 2026, raised the rate to 76 cents for expenses paid or incurred on or after July 1, 2026, citing recent increases in the price of fuel; driving before July 1 keeps 72.5 cents. The IRS usually publishes the next year's rate in December, and the 2027 rate was not yet known on October 25, 2026.

Official sources

• Standard mileage rates Internal Revenue Service
• Notice 2026-10, 2026 standard mileage rates Internal Revenue Service
• Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29, Announcement 2026-11 (76 cents from July 1, 2026) Internal Revenue Service
• IR-2025-128, IRS sets 2026 business standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile Internal Revenue Service

How the deduction is calculated

Only business miles count. Commuting between home and your main or regular workplace is personal whatever the distance, and a private detour during a business trip comes out of the business miles. Each trip takes the rate in force on its date, so a 2026 total combines miles at 72.5 cents and miles at 76 cents. Business parking fees and tolls are added on top of the rate. Parking at your regular workplace stays nondeductible. With 4,000 business miles from January 1 to June 30, 2026, 5,000 from July 1 to December 31, 2026 and no parking or tolls, the deduction is 4,000 × $0.725 = $2,900.00 plus 5,000 × $0.76 = $3,800.00, or $6,700.00.

Conditions

• Travel from home to a temporary work location (expected to last, and lasting, one year or less) counts as business when you also have a regular work location away from home in the same trade or business.
• A temporary work location outside the metropolitan area where you live and normally work also turns the trip from home into business travel.
• When your home is your principal place of business (home office), trips to another work location in the same trade or business, regular or temporary, count as business.

Official sources

• Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) Internal Revenue Service
• Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses Internal Revenue Service
• Notice 2026-10, 2026 standard mileage rates Internal Revenue Service

Who can use the standard mileage rate

The deduction is open to self-employed people, sole proprietors and the employee categories the law still allows. Other W-2 employees cannot deduct unreimbursed car costs: section 70110 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the disallowance of miscellaneous itemized deductions permanent, and Notice 2026-10 (section 3) applies it to the 2026 rate.

Conditions

• Self-employed and Schedule C filers: allowed for a car they own or lease.
• Employee exceptions: Armed Forces reservists, fee-basis state or local government officials, certain performing artists and eligible educators can still use the rate for unreimbursed travel.
• Owned car: choose the standard rate in the first year the car is available for business use; later years can use either method.
• Leased car: once chosen, the standard rate applies for the entire lease period.
• Fleet cap: the rate is not allowed for any car when five or more cars are used for business at the same time.
• Depreciation claimed: the rate is ruled out on a car after MACRS depreciation, a section 179 deduction or bonus (special) depreciation was claimed on it, or after any depreciation method other than straight line.

Official sources

• Notice 2026-10, 2026 standard mileage rates Internal Revenue Service
• Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses Internal Revenue Service
• Topic no. 510, Business use of car Internal Revenue Service

Employer reimbursement and company cars

An employee driving their own car for work can receive a per-mile allowance up to the standard rate, free of tax, under an accountable plan that pays for substantiated business miles (Rev. Proc. 2019-46, referenced in Notice 2026-10). Any amount above the rate counts as wages. A fixed and variable rate (FAVR) allowance is another option, with a maximum standard automobile cost of $61,700 for 2026. When the employer provides the car, personal use, commuting included, is a taxable fringe benefit valued under Publication 15-B and added to wages on Form W-2.

Conditions

• Announcement 2026-11 keeps the other provisions of Notice 2026-10 in effect and does not say whether the vehicle cents-per-mile valuation moves to 76 cents on July 1, 2026; ask your payroll provider or tax adviser which rate to apply.

Official sources

• Publication 15-B, Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits Internal Revenue Service
• Notice 2026-10, 2026 standard mileage rates Internal Revenue Service
• Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29, Announcement 2026-11 (76 cents from July 1, 2026) Internal Revenue Service
• Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses Internal Revenue Service

Electric Tesla specifics

The IRS applies the same standard mileage rate to an electric Tesla as to a hybrid, gasoline or diesel car (IR-2025-128), and no separate electric vehicle rate exists. Tax choices made in the car's first business year and the depreciation part of the rate still change the outcome for a business Tesla.

Conditions

• Same rate per mile for fully electric, hybrid, gasoline and diesel cars (IR-2025-128, IR-2024-312).
• Each 2026 business mile claimed at the standard rate includes a 35-cent depreciation part that reduces the car's basis, so a later sale shows a larger gain or a smaller loss.
• Taking section 179 or bonus depreciation on a Tesla in its first business year rules out the standard mileage rate for that car for good.
• Clean vehicle credits (30D for new, 25E for used and 45W for commercial vehicles) are not available for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025.
• Publication 15-B does not say whether employer-paid charging of a company Tesla counts as fuel for the 5.5-cent reduction or for the separate fuel value.

Official sources

• IR-2025-128, IRS sets 2026 business standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile Internal Revenue Service
• IR-2024-312, standard mileage rate for business use in 2025 set at 70 cents per mile Internal Revenue Service
• Notice 2026-10, 2026 standard mileage rates Internal Revenue Service
• Clean vehicle tax credits Internal Revenue Service
• Publication 15-B, Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits Internal Revenue Service

Depreciation part of the standard rate

Part of each business mile claimed at the standard rate counts as depreciation. Notice 2026-10 (section 4) sets that part per year, and Announcement 2026-11 left the 2026 figure unchanged for driving from July 1. The total reduces the car's basis, so a later sale shows a larger gain or a smaller loss. With 9,000 business miles in 2026, the basis falls by 9,000 × $0.35 = $3,150.00.

Official sources

• Notice 2026-10, 2026 standard mileage rates Internal Revenue Service
• Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29, Announcement 2026-11 (76 cents from July 1, 2026) Internal Revenue Service

Records and where to report

IRC section 274(d) bars a car deduction unless you substantiate the amount, the time and place, and the business purpose with adequate records or sufficient evidence corroborating your own statement. Publication 463 asks for the mileage of each business use, the total miles for the year, the date, the destination and the business purpose, recorded at or near the time. A weekly log counts as timely, a computer record is adequate, and estimated amounts cannot be deducted.

Conditions

• Line 9 of Schedule C: business miles × rate of the period, plus business parking fees and tolls.
• Schedule C, Part IV (lines 43 to 47b): for standard-rate filers not otherwise required to file Form 4562, with business miles on line 44a, commuting miles on line 44b and other miles on line 44c.
• Form 4562, Part V, Section B: required when you claim depreciation on the car, with business miles on line 30 (commuting excluded), commuting miles on line 31, other personal miles on line 32 and total miles on line 33.
• Retention: 3 years from the date the return is filed; for a depreciated car, business-use records for each year of the recovery period, and property records until the limitation period ends for the year you dispose of the car.

Official sources

• Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses Internal Revenue Service
• Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) Internal Revenue Service
• Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization Internal Revenue Service
• How long should I keep records? Internal Revenue Service