Claiming Mileage on Your Taxes: 2026 Guide

Claiming a mileage deduction can meaningfully reduce your tax bill — but the rules genuinely differ depending on who's driving and why. A self-employed contractor, a W-2 employee, and someone driving to chemotherapy appointments are all subject to entirely different rules, and mixing them up is one of the most common mileage-deduction mistakes at tax time.

Self-employed: Schedule C

If you are self-employed, a sole proprietor, or an independent contractor, you can deduct business miles directly on Schedule C. The 2026 IRS standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile for business through June 30, rising to 76 cents per mile from July 1 after a mid-year adjustment — split your log at that date and apply the correct rate to each half of the year. For a deeper, procedure-level walkthrough specific to self-employed filers, including how to report on Schedule C and the actual-expense alternative, see our guide to mileage tax deductions for the self-employed.

Employees: a limited deduction

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 suspended the federal deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses for tax years through at least 2025, and that suspension has generally continued. For most W-2 employees, unreimbursed mileage is simply not deductible on your federal return, no matter how much driving the job requires. Some states — including California, New York and New Jersey — still allow the deduction on state returns even though the federal deduction is suspended, so it's worth checking your specific state's rules before assuming the mileage is a dead loss at tax time.

Medical mileage

You can deduct miles driven to receive medical care on Schedule A (itemised deductions), but only the portion of your total medical expenses — including this mileage — that exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income is actually deductible. The 2026 medical mileage rate is 20.5 cents per mile through June 30, rising to 23.5 cents from July 1 alongside the mid-year business-rate adjustment.

Charitable mileage

Miles driven in service of a qualified charity are deductible on Schedule A at 14 cents per mile, a rate fixed by statute rather than adjusted annually by the IRS, which is why it doesn't move even when the business and medical rates change mid-year.

“You can deduct the cost of operating an automobile to the extent used in rendering gratuitous services to a charitable organization.”

— Internal Revenue Service, IRS Publication 526, irs.gov

Standard mileage vs. actual expenses

• Standard mileage: multiply miles × the applicable IRS rate. Simple, no receipts needed for vehicle running costs.
• Actual expenses: track gas, insurance, depreciation, repairs and multiply the total by your business-use percentage. Better when your vehicle running costs are unusually high.
• You must choose your method in the first year you use the vehicle for business, and generally need to stick with that method for that vehicle going forward.

Keep a contemporaneous log

The IRS requires a mileage log with the date, destination, business purpose and miles for every trip, kept at or near the time of travel. Reconstructed logs built from memory months later are rarely accepted at face value in an audit. Use our mileage reimbursement calculator to total your miles per trip so the record is always ready when tax season arrives.