IRS standard mileage rates for 2026

Two business rates in one year

A mid-year revision is rare. The IRS last did it in 2022, when the business rate went from 58.5 to 62.5 cents on July 1, and before that in 2011. In 2026 it happened again: Notice 2026-10 set 72.5 cents on January 1, and Announcement 2026-11, published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin of July 13, 2026, moved it to 76 cents for transportation costs paid or incurred on or after July 1. The announcement is explicit on one point that payroll teams often get wrong: an allowance paid after July 1 for miles driven before July 1 stays at the old rate.

In practice, keep the date of every trip. A yearly total of business miles is not enough to apply the right rate, which is why the reimbursement calculator asks for the miles of each half of the year and the mileage log applies the rate line by line.

Who uses which rate

The business rate serves three groups. The self-employed use it to deduct car costs on Schedule C instead of adding up gas, insurance and repairs. Employers use it as the ceiling of a tax-free mileage allowance under an accountable plan. And a few employees can still deduct unreimbursed driving as an adjustment to income: members of a reserve component of the armed forces, state and local officials paid on a fee basis, certain performing artists and eligible educators. Other employees lost that deduction in 2018 and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the loss permanent, as Notice 2026-10 recalls.

The medical rate (23.5 cents since July 1) counts toward medical expenses, which are deductible only above 7.5% of adjusted gross income for people who itemize. The moving rate is the same figure, but only active-duty military moving under orders and, from 2026, certain members of the intelligence community may use it. The medical and charity page works through both.

Federal employees: the GSA rate is the same, with a twist

Civilian federal employees driving their own car on official travel are paid by GSA, not by the IRS table, but GSA followed the IRS on both dates: $0.725 then $0.76 a mile (GSA POV rates). If a government car was authorized and available and the traveler chose to drive their own, GSA pays only $0.235. Motorcycles get $0.74 and private planes $1.935 a statute mile.

What the rate is made of

The business rate rests on an annual study of fixed and variable costs that an independent contractor runs for the IRS; the medical and moving rate uses only the variable part, which is why it is so much lower. The depreciation share of the business rate has climbed from 26 cents in 2022 to 35 cents in 2026. If you sell a car you used at the standard rate, that amount per business mile has been taken off its basis, which raises the gain or shrinks the loss. The car depreciation page shows the effect.

The rate is optional. Taxpayers may track actual costs instead, but whoever owns the car must choose the standard rate in its first business year to be allowed to switch later, and a leased car that starts on the standard rate keeps it for the whole lease, renewals included. The business mileage deduction calculator compares both methods.

Rates since 2018