Claiming a Mileage Deduction on Your Tax Return

If you use your vehicle for business, charity, or medical purposes, you may be able to take a tax deduction based on the mileage you used for that purpose.

Who can claim mileage deductions?

Self-employed individuals can deduct miles driven for business purposes like meeting clients, running business errands, traveling between job sites, or driving from a qualified home office to another location. The daily drive from your home to a regular outside workplace is generally considered commuting and is not deductible.

You can deduct miles driven to receive medical care or pick up prescriptions.

Miles driven on behalf of a qualified charity are deductible.

How to calculate the deduction

The IRS allows two ways to claim business vehicle use; the standard mileage rate or the actual expense method. To use the standard mileage rate, multiply number of business miles driven by the IRS’s established rate, which factors in costs for gas, insurance, depreciation, and maintenance.

The 2026 standard mileage rates are:

• Business use – 72.5 cents per mile
• Medical purposes – 20.5 cents per mile
• Charitable purposes – 14 cents per mile

Rates apply to fully electric and hybrid automobiles, as well as gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.

Note that the rates are different for each type of use. The mileage rate for charitable use is set by statute. Mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. The rate for medical purposes is based only on the variable costs from the annual study.

The second way to calculate a deduction for business use of your vehicle is to track your actual vehicle costs like gas, insurance, and repairs and multiply the total costs by the percentage of time you use your vehicle for business purposes. This is the actual expense method.

Record keeping

Both the standard mileage and the actual expense methods require some record keeping on your part. In using either method, you must track business versus personal use of your vehicle, and therefore need to keep a record of business miles traveled in a contemporaneous log. The log should include:

• The date of the trip
• Destination
• Business purpose
• Total miles driven for that specific trip
• Your odometer readings at the start and end of the year

You can keep a mileage log using simple written records like spreadsheets or calendars. GPS-based mileage tracking apps are available that can map routes, calculate distances, and generate tax-ready reports. Whatever method of record keeping you choose, make your entries at or near the time of travel. Don’t try to guess or estimate at the end of the year.

Audit risk

Vehicle deductions are one of the most heavily scrutinized areas by taxing authorities because they are prone to misrepresentation and abuse. Here are several factors that will  increase the likelihood that the IRS will question your mileage deduction:

• Disproportionate Deductions: Claiming a large amount of business miles relative to your business income.
• 100 Percent Business Use: Claiming 100 percent business use of a vehicle without any personal miles (or record of a separate personal use vehicle) is an immediate red flag.
• Round Numbers: Submitting perfectly rounded mileage log numbers instead of precise readings tells the IRS you likely estimated mileage rather than kept contemporaneous records.

Also be aware that if your tax return gets flagged for another reason (like math errors or business losses), an IRS auditor will almost certainly request your mileage logs if you have taken a mileage deduction.

Deducting vehicle costs on your tax return can lower the amount of income and self-employment tax you pay, so keeping accurate and timely travel records can provide a lot of benefit to you. Conversely, if you don’t keep good records and deduct vehicle expenses anyway, you may have some unpleasant conversations with IRS auditors in your future.

Let us know if you have any questions about deducting automobile costs on your tax return. Tax law isn’t always straightforward, and we are always happy to address your questions and concerns.