Claiming a tax deduction for mileage can be a good way to reduce how much you owe Uncle Sam, but not everyone is eligible to write off their driving costs.
Mileage for commuting, unreimbursed work-related travel and job-related moving expenses are all excluded from federal tax deductions. The only exception applies to active-duty military members, who may claim mileage expenses when relocating because of new orders.
Still, a mileage deduction exists for the following situations:
— Business mileage for the self-employed
— Mileage related to medical appointments
— Mileage incurred while volunteering for a nonprofit organization
To claim mileage on your taxes, it’s important to know the rules and keep careful records. Here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know about the current mileage rates and how to claim mileage on your taxes.
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Current Tax Deductible Mileage Rates
The amount of mileage you can deduct depends on the type of driving involved. Business mileage is most common, but you can also deduct mileage accrued for charitable purposes or for receiving medical care.
“Those are itemized deductions,” says Nicole Davis, a certified public accountant and managing partner of the firm Conscious Accounting. “That mileage rate is a lot lower than the business mileage rate.”
For the 2025 tax year, the IRS approved the following standard mileage rates:
— Self-employed/business: 70 cents per mile
— Charity: 14 cents per mile
— Medical and military moving: 21 cents per mile
For the 2026 tax year, standard mileage rates are:
— Self-employed/business: 72.5 cents per mile
— Charity: 14 cents per mile
— Medical and military moving: 20.5 cents per mile
Mileage rates for business, medical care and military moves are typically adjusted once at the start of each year. However, on rare occasions, the IRS might adjust rates mid-year to account for inflation or other economic factors. This most recently happened in 2011 and 2022.
However, the standard mileage rate for charity is set by statute, so the IRS can’t adjust it.
Self-Employed Workers: Is Mileage Considered an Office Expense?
When it comes to mileage tax deductions, the self-employed deduction is the most substantial. However, you don’t claim this as an office expense.
Mileage is included in the “car and truck expenses” line on Schedule C. You can claim either your actual expenses or use the business mileage rate to calculate how much to enter on this line.
This deduction can be valuable to anyone with their own business, but it’s especially valuable to those working in the gig economy as delivery drivers, says Duke Alexander Moore, an enrolled agent and the CEO and founder of Duke Tax in Dallas, which specializes in tax services for content creators and entrepreneurs.
You can also rack up deductible business miles when meeting with clients, traveling to secondary worksites or running errands to pick up supplies. If a person drives for both business and personal purposes, only the miles related to the business are deductible. Business miles are considered only those driven from a person’s principal place of business.
“We never want to confuse a commute as business travel,” Moore says.
Driving from home to a principal place of business is considered a commute, even for those who are self-employed or small business owners. Only those who have a home office as their principal place of business can deduct mileage when driving to and from home for business-related purposes.
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How to Claim Mileage on Taxes
Self-employed workers can claim the mileage deduction on the Schedule C form, not the Schedule A form for itemized deductions. Mileage for self-employed workers isn’t subject to any threshold requirements. In other words, all miles are deductible regardless of how much a person drives for work.
Is mileage considered an office expense? No, as noted earlier, it isn’t included with office expenses on Schedule C. Instead, mileage can be claimed on line 9 for car and truck expenses.
Alternatively, filers can claim their actual vehicle expenses for maintenance, repairs and fuel. Workers who use a vehicle for personal travel as well can deduct only a prorated percentage of expenses based on business use.
Taxpayers may want to calculate which option will result in the higher deduction, but for most, deducting mileage is easier and will result in greater tax savings.
“The standard mileage deduction is the gift that keeps giving,” Davis says.
Regardless of which method you use — standard mileage rates or actual expenses — plan to stick with it for the duration of the time you own a vehicle. Switching from mileage to actual costs could be difficult since you may need to factor in calculations for depreciation.
The IRS states that taxpayers who want to use standard mileage rates for their deductions must do so in the first year the vehicle is available for business use. Meanwhile, those who operate a fleet of vehicles — five or more — can deduct only actual expenses.
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Itemize Your Deductions to Claim Medical and Charitable Mileage
Self-employed people aren’t the only ones who can take advantage of mileage tax deductions, but everyone else will need to file a Schedule A form and itemize their deductions if they want to get in on the tax savings. Those who itemize may be able to deduct mileage for medical care and charity work.
But be aware that these deductions are not nearly as lucrative as those for self-employed workers and small business owners. That’s because the mileage rates for medical and charitable mileage are considerably lower than what’s offered for business travel. What’s more, there are thresholds and other limits on these deductions.
“Typically, you won’t see most people taking advantage of these,” Moore says.
Mileage accrued when driving to and from doctor visits, the pharmacy and the hospital can all count toward a medical deduction. But there’s a catch: Only medical expenses — both mileage and other bills combined — in excess of 7.5% of your adjusted gross income can be deducted.
While it can be difficult to exceed the income threshold, if you had significant medical bills last year, adding up your annual mileage for doctor visits can be worthwhile to boost your deduction amount.
If you drive to volunteer at your favorite nonprofit organization, that mileage is deductible as part of your charitable donations. The IRS allows volunteers to claim 14 cents per mile, but you have to be doing the volunteering yourself. For example, you can’t claim the deduction for driving a child to a volunteer activity. There is no threshold requirement for claiming these miles.
“In order to take advantage (of these deductions), you need to be itemizing,” says Michelle Brown, managing director in the Kansas City, Missouri, office of accounting firm CBIZ.
With the standard deduction for single filers set at $15,750 and married couples filing jointly set at $31,500 in 2025, Brown says few people are able to claim charity and medical mileage deductions because they get a greater benefit from taking the standard deduction than they do from itemizing.
The IRS Will Want to See Your Records
While deducting mileage can save tax dollars, think twice before claiming travel time you can’t document. If you’re audited, the IRS will want to see a log that includes dates, destinations and reasons for travel. These travel logs should record exact mileage amounts.
“It’s something called substantiation,” Moore says.
“It could be handwritten; it could be an Excel spreadsheet; it could be an app,” Brown says.
MileIQ, TripLog and Everlance are a few of the apps available that automatically detect travel and log every trip. Users can then categorize their drives by purpose and run reports to document deductions. If you didn’t track your travel in real time, Davis suggests looking back at your calendar to create a log before claiming the deduction on your tax return.
During an audit, taxpayers will need to provide evidence of when and why they traveled. You may be able to piece that together based on bank records of purchases, calendar events and even your phone’s GPS tools.
Still, there is no guarantee the IRS will accept documentation compiled after the fact. It’s better to keep a log from the start rather than risk a deduction being disallowed during an audit.
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originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 03/03/26: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
