2026 Mileage Reimbursement Rates: Business Rate, Charitable Rate, and the Log

The most expensive sentence in tax filing is "I did not keep a log." The IRS mileage rate is generous in 2026 — 72.5 cents per business mile — but the rate only exists on paper until the log proves the miles. The rate is the headline; the log is the deduction.

The 2026 rates

The charitable rate is different by design. Congress set it at 14 cents, and it stays there while the business rate changes with the cost of driving. The business rate is revised each year — 72.5 cents for 2026.

Medical and moving miles

Medical miles use a separate rate set in the annual IRS notice, and they only help taxpayers who itemize and whose medical costs clear the 7.5% of adjusted gross income floor. Moving miles apply to a much smaller group: active-duty military moves are the one moving deduction that survived the 2018 tax law, and the rate for those miles also comes from the annual notice.

The charitable rate is the outlier in the family. It is fixed by Congress at 14 cents, it does not track fuel prices, and it only helps itemizers — a shrinking group with the 2026 standard deduction at $16,100 for single filers.

The 12,000-mile example

A driver with 12,000 business miles multiplies:

12,000 × $0.725 = $8,700

That is the deduction — not a reimbursement, the deduction. At a 22% marginal rate, $8,700 of deduction is worth about $1,914 of tax saved. The mileage reimbursement calculator runs the multiplication and shows the tax value of the miles.

Standard rate vs actual expenses

The standard rate bundles everything: gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration, and the depreciation of the vehicle. Actual expenses require receipts for the same categories, multiplied by the business-use percentage of total miles.

The standard rate wins on simplicity and usually matches real costs for high-mileage drivers. Actual expenses can win when vehicle costs run well above average — a heavy truck, unusual repairs — because the rate is an average, not your car's number.

The choice carries a lock-in. For a leased vehicle, the standard rate is mandatory for the lease term. For an owned vehicle, the first-year choice binds how the vehicle is depreciated, so the decision belongs in the first year the vehicle is used for business.

The trip that is not one trip

A trip that mixes business and pleasure counts only the business portion. The primary purpose rule governs: when the main reason for a trip is business, the travel to the destination counts in full; once there, only the business miles count. A personal detour splits the log into its own entry — miles to the detour are personal, miles back to the work route are business again.

The same discipline applies to a single errand day. A driver who visits three client sites and a grocery store logs the client miles and the store separately. The rule is not about the total; it is about the purpose of each mile.

When your employer pays the rate

An employer that reimburses at the standard rate under an accountable plan keeps the reimbursement out of taxable income, and the employee cannot deduct the same miles again. Reimbursements above the standard rate are taxable wages. Reimbursements below it leave a difference that only the rare qualifying employee — reservist, performing artist, fee-basis official — can deduct on a federal return.

Who can deduct business mileage

Self-employed drivers deduct mileage on Schedule C against business income. Employees are the exception to know: unreimbursed employee mileage is generally not deductible on federal returns, except for specific roles — military reservists, qualified performing artists, and fee-basis state or local officials. Most W-2 drivers cannot deduct business miles. What your salary actually pays you shows what a W-2 earner can actually change about a paycheck.

Charitable miles work differently again: the 14-cent rate only helps taxpayers who itemize, and with the 2026 standard deduction at $16,100 for single filers, most households do not. The 2026 tax changes guide covers the deduction landscape for the year.

Commuting never counts

The trip between home and a regular workplace is commuting, and commuting is never deductible — for employees or for the self-employed. Business mileage starts after the commute ends: a drive from a home office to a client site is business miles; the morning drive to a fixed office is not. The distinction is the most common mileage mistake on Schedule C.

The log that protects the deduction

The IRS wants four things per trip: date, miles, destination, and business purpose. A contemporaneous log — kept as you drive, not reconstructed in April — is the difference between a deduction and a gamble.

Apps, notebooks, and odometer photos all work; the requirement is the record itself. A log built at filing time from memory is the fastest way to lose the deduction in an audit, because the IRS knows reconstruction when it sees it.

The strongest log is the simple one: odometer readings at the start and end of the year, an entry per trip with the four required items, and a total that matches the year's odometer movement. When the log's total and the odometer's movement disagree by more than a few percent, the deduction starts answering questions it should never have been asked.

Bottom line

The 2026 business rate is 72.5 cents a mile, the charitable rate is 14 cents, and neither works without the log. Track as you drive, multiply at year end, and run the mileage reimbursement calculator with your real trips. The taxes and payroll hub holds the rest of the deduction math.