IRS Mileage Rate 2026: Business, Medical and Charity Miles

The 2026 rates

The IRS sets three standard mileage rates: one for business driving, one for medical and military moving, and one for driving you do as a volunteer for a charity. In 2026 there are two sets. The IRS announced the first in December 2025, then raised the business and medical rates from July 1, 2026, citing recent increases in the price of fuel.

All rates are per mile and come from the IRS table of standard mileage rates. They apply to cars, vans, pickups and panel trucks, and the IRS says they cover fully electric and hybrid cars as well as gasoline and diesel ones.

Which half of the year counts is set by the date. The IRS announcement says the new rates apply to expenses paid or incurred on or after July 1, 2026, and to mileage allowances an employer pays from that date. Anything before July 1 stays at the rates from Notice 2026-10.

Business miles

The business rate is the one most people mean. It is meant to stand in for everything a car costs to run for business: the IRS sets it from an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating a car. You multiply your business miles by the rate and add business parking fees and tolls, which Publication 463 lets you deduct in addition to the standard rate.

Example: a self-employed year with the mid-year change

You drive 4,000 business miles from January to June 2026 and 4,000 from July to December.

• 4,000 × $0.725 = $2,900.00
• 4,000 × $0.76 = $3,040.00
• Total: $5,940.00, plus your business parking and tolls

At the first-half rate alone the same 8,000 miles would have been $5,800.00, so splitting by date is worth $140.00 here. That is why your log needs dates, not just a yearly total.

Who can use it

If you are self-employed or run a business, you can use the rate for your business driving. If you are an employee, the picture is different. Unreimbursed employee travel generally cannot be claimed as a deduction any more. Publication 463 names the exceptions: Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists and fee-basis state or local government officials, plus employees with impairment-related work expenses. For most employees the rate matters as the amount an employer uses to reimburse mileage.

Rules for choosing the standard rate

• It is optional. You can deduct your actual car costs instead, under the IRS rules for that method.
• Choose it in the first year. For a car you own, you must use the standard rate in the first year the car is used for business. In later years you can choose either method. If you choose the standard rate for a leased car, the IRS says you must use it for the whole lease period, renewals included.
• Five or more cars at once. If you use five or more cars for business at the same time, you cannot use the standard rate for any of them. Cars you use one after the other do not count.
• Earlier depreciation. You cannot use the standard rate for a car on which you claimed a section 179 deduction or depreciation by any method other than straight line.
• Commuting is never business. The drive between home and your regular workplace is not deductible however long it is, and parking at that workplace is a commuting cost.

Part of the business rate counts as depreciation. Notice 2026-10 puts that part at 35 cents a mile for 2026, after 33 cents for 2025 and 30 cents for 2024. It reduces the car's basis, which matters when you sell it.

Medical miles

Driving that is primarily for, and essential to, medical care, such as trips to a doctor or a hospital, can be a medical expense. For 2026 the rate is 20.5¢ a mile through June and 23.5¢ from July 1. The IRS figures the medical and moving rate from the variable costs in its study only, which is why it is much lower than the business rate. Tolls and parking are added on top, or you can use your actual gas and oil costs instead of the rate.

The catch is the threshold. Medical expenses only help if you itemize on Schedule A, and only the part of your total medical costs above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income is deductible. Example: 300 medical miles in the first half and 300 in the second come to $61.50 + $70.50 = $132.00. That counts toward your medical total. With an adjusted gross income of $60,000, the first $4,500 of medical costs is not deductible.

The same rate is used for moving. Moving expenses are only deductible for members of the Armed Forces on active duty who move under military orders for a permanent change of station, and, for moves after December 31, 2025, certain members of the intelligence community.

Charity miles

When you drive for a charity as an unpaid volunteer, you can deduct 14¢ a mile, or your actual gas and oil costs if you prefer. Parking fees and tolls are deductible with either method. Repairs, maintenance, depreciation, registration, tires and insurance are not. To deduct a charitable contribution you generally must itemize.

The rate is low because it is written into the law. Section 170(i) of the Internal Revenue Code fixes it at 14 cents, so the IRS cannot raise it when fuel prices go up, which is exactly what happened in July 2026. Example: 500 miles delivering meals for a food bank come to $70.00.

The records you need

Publication 463 is strict about proof. You cannot deduct amounts you approximate or estimate. For a car the IRS wants a written record of:

• the date of each business use and the date you started using the car for business,
• the destination,
• the business purpose,
• the mileage for each business use and the total miles for the year.

The record should be made at or near the time of the trip. A log kept weekly that accounts for that week's driving counts as timely. A list written up in April for the whole previous year carries much less weight. Odometer readings at the start and end of each trip, as in the sample logs in the publication, make the miles easy to prove. Keep the records for 3 years from the date you file the return, and for the whole recovery period of the car if you depreciate it. For charity driving, Publication 526 asks for reliable written records of your car expenses as well.

The IRS rate against what your car really costs

The standard rate is an average. Your own car can cost more or less per mile. The cost per mile calculator adds up insurance, registration, depreciation, loan interest, parking, fuel, maintenance and tires and divides by your miles. Its example car, driven 12,000 miles a year, costs 74.9¢ a mile: 53.3¢ of fixed costs and 21.6¢ of driving costs.

Two things stand out. The total is close to the 76¢ business rate, which also covers fixed and variable costs. And the driving costs alone, 21.6¢, are close to the 23.5¢ medical rate, which the IRS bases on variable costs only. If you drive few miles, the fixed costs are spread over fewer of them and your real cost per mile rises well above the rate. If you drive a lot in a cheap, efficient car, it can fall below.

Fuel is only a slice of it. A 300-mile round trip at 28 mpg and $3.50 a gallon uses $37.50 of fuel, which the trip fuel cost calculator works out for any car. At the 76¢ business rate the same trip is worth $228.00. That gap is the reason a business reimbursement at the IRS rate is not the same as splitting the gas money. For a shared ride among friends, the carpool cost splitter can split fuel only or use a per-mile rate you set, and the MPG calculator gives you the fuel economy to start from.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• IRS, Standard mileage rates (table of rates by year)
• IRS, IR-2025-128: IRS sets 2026 business standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile, up 2.5 cents (December 29, 2025)
• IRS, Notice 2026-10, 2026 standard mileage rates, in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-04
• IRS, Announcement 2026-11, optional standard mileage rates from July 1, 2026, in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29
• IRS, Publication 463, Travel, gift, and car expenses
• IRS, Topic no. 502, Medical and dental expenses
• IRS, Publication 526, Charitable contributions

Written by Tobias Kurth, designer. Updated October 20, 2026.