IRS standard mileage rate · 2026
Mileage reimbursement calculator
The IRS business rate is 72.5 cents a mile for the first half of 2026 and 76 cents from 1 July — so a year’s miles have two prices. Enter them by half, add parking and tolls, and see how a different employer rate is treated.
Priced at the first-half rate.
Priced at the rate that took effect 1 July.
Added on top of the per-mile rate, not folded into it.
Leave blank to see the IRS figure alone.
At the IRS standard rate
$1,782.00
2,400 miles
- 1,200 mi × 72.5¢ · 2026 · 1 January – 30 June
- $870.00
- 1,200 mi × 76¢ · 2026 · 1 July – 31 December
- $912.00
Rates: 72.5¢ (2026 · 1 January – 30 June, IR-2025-128) · 76¢ (2026 · 1 July – 31 December, IR-2026-29)
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The rates
Two business rates in 2026, and one that never moves
The IRS revises the business rate from a study of what it costs to run a car, and when costs jump mid-year it revises mid-year: IR-2025-128 set 72.5 cents from 1 January, and IR-2026-29 raised it to 76 cents from 1 July. Miles are priced by the day they were driven, not by the year. The charity rate is written into the tax code itself and has stayed at 14 cents throughout.
| Period | Business | Medical · military move | Charity | Set by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 · 1 July – 31 December | 76¢ | 23.5¢ | 14¢ | IR-2026-29 |
| 2026 · 1 January – 30 June | 72.5¢ | 20.5¢ | 14¢ | IR-2025-128 |
| 2025 | 70¢ | 21¢ | 14¢ | IR-2024-312 |
| 2024 | 67¢ | 21¢ | 14¢ | IR-2023-239 |
A rate is cents per mile, so 1,000 business miles in the second half of 2026 come to $760.00, and the same miles in 2025 would have come to $700.00. Parking and tolls sit outside the rate and are added to it.
Ceiling, not floor
What the IRS figure does — and does not — make your employer do
Nothing in federal law requires an employer to reimburse mileage. What the IRS rate does is set the amount an employer can pay without it becoming wages. Publication 463’s accountable-plan rules treat a car allowance as substantiated only if it is “similar in form to and not more than the federal rate”, and reimbursements under an accountable plan “aren’t reported as pay”. Pay more than the rate and the excess goes on the W-2; pay less and the employee is simply paid less.
The three rules of an accountable plan are the ones the calculator assumes: the miles had a business connection, you accounted for them within a reasonable time — the safe harbour is 60 days — and you returned any excess within 120 days. A plan that fails any of the three is a nonaccountable plan, and everything paid under it is wages, even at the IRS rate.
The gap the other way has no remedy on a federal return. Since 2018 the miscellaneous itemized deduction that once covered unreimbursed employee car expenses has been suspended, so a W-2 employee paid below the rate cannot claim the difference. Self-employed drivers are a different case: they deduct their business miles on Schedule C at the standard rate, or their actual costs, and the rate is the deduction rather than a reimbursement.
Questions
- What is the IRS mileage rate for 2026?
- There are two. From 1 January to 30 June 2026 the business rate is 72.5 cents a mile (IR-2025-128); from 1 July it is 76 cents (IR-2026-29). Medical and military-moving miles moved the same day, from 20.5 to 23.5 cents. The charity rate is 14 cents all year — it is fixed in statute and has not changed in decades.
- Does my employer have to pay the IRS mileage rate?
- No. Federal law does not require an employer to reimburse mileage at all, and the IRS figure is a ceiling rather than a floor: Publication 463 treats a car allowance as fully substantiated only when it is "not more than the federal rate", so an employer paying more must report the excess as wages, while one paying less is simply paying less. A few states have their own reimbursement mandates; this calculator is federal only.
- Is mileage reimbursement taxable?
- Not if it is paid under an accountable plan at or below the federal rate: you show a business connection, account for the miles within a reasonable time, and return any excess. Meet those three rules and the reimbursement stays out of box 1 of your W-2 entirely. Anything paid above the IRS rate, or under a plan that does not meet the rules, is wages.
- Can I deduct mileage my employer did not reimburse?
- Generally not, if you are a W-2 employee. Unreimbursed employee car expenses were a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to the 2% floor, and that category has been suspended since 2018; Publication 463 says so directly. The exceptions are Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis government officials and people with impairment-related work expenses, who still use Form 2106. Self-employed drivers deduct their miles on Schedule C as before.
- Are parking and tolls included in the mileage rate?
- No, and that works in your favour. Topic 510 says business-related parking fees and tolls are "separately deductible, whether you use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses", so an accountable plan can reimburse them on top of the per-mile figure. Parking at your own workplace is a commuting cost and never counts.
- Why did the rate change in the middle of the year?
- The IRS sets the business rate from a study of the fixed and variable costs of running a car, and it revises mid-year when those costs move sharply — it did so in July 2022 and again in July 2026. When that happens, miles are priced by the date they were driven, which is why this calculator asks for the two halves of 2026 separately.
Where these figures come from
- IRS — Standard mileage rates (table of every period since 2022, with the notice that set each) — read 2026-09-05
- IRS Topic no. 510 — Business use of car (standard mileage vs actual expenses; parking and tolls deductible separately) — read 2026-09-05
- IRS Publication 463 (2025), chapter 6 — Reimbursements: accountable plans, car allowances and the federal rate — read 2026-09-05
Federal figures only. A few states require employers to reimburse mileage and set their own terms; none of that is modelled here. Estimates only — not tax advice, and not affiliated with the IRS.