The 2024 IRS standard mileage rate, and who can actually use it

For 2024, the IRS standard mileage rate is 67 cents per mile for business driving, 21 cents per mile for medical care or an active-duty military move, and 14 cents per mile for charitable work. The business rate rose 1.5 cents from 2023, but an increase only matters to the shrinking group of taxpayers still allowed to use it at all — mainly the self-employed, not most employees, since a 2017 law change.

The three 2024 mileage rates

The business and medical rates move independently each year, set from an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating a vehicle — fuel, maintenance, insurance, depreciation. The charitable rate is different: it is fixed directly in the tax code rather than recalculated annually, which is why it has stayed at 14 cents for years while the other two moved around it. All three figures come from the IRS's 2024 Standard Mileage Rates notice, Notice 2024-08.

Who can actually deduct the business rate

This is the detail that trips up the most people: the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended miscellaneous itemized deductions — including unreimbursed employee business expenses — for tax years 2018 through 2025. That means a typical W-2 employee who drives their own car for work and is not reimbursed cannot deduct that mileage on their personal return during this period, full stop, regardless of the rate. The standard mileage rate remains fully usable by the self-employed, independent contractors, and small business owners, who claim it against business income rather than as an itemized deduction. A short list of exceptions can still use it as an above-the-line adjustment to income: Armed Forces reservists traveling more than 100 miles from home, state or local government officials paid on a fee basis, and certain performing artists.

What the rate is actually worth

Take a self-employed consultant who logs 12,000 business miles in 2024.

The same 12,000 miles is worth $180 more in 2024 purely because the per-mile rate moved, with no change in actual driving. For a self-employed person, this deduction reduces net business income before income tax and self-employment tax are calculated on it, which is why keeping an accurate mileage log is worth more than it might first appear for anyone who drives regularly for work.

Part of the business rate is depreciation, not a pure expense

Of the 67-cent 2024 business rate, the IRS treats 30 cents per mile as depreciation — a recovery of the vehicle's cost, not an operating expense like gas or insurance. That portion reduces the vehicle's tax basis each year it is used, which matters if the vehicle is later sold or traded in: a lower basis can mean a larger taxable gain on the sale. This is one reason switching between the standard mileage rate and actual expenses for the same vehicle across different years carries extra bookkeeping requirements — the depreciation already claimed through the standard rate has to be tracked regardless of which method is used going forward.

Medical, moving, and charitable mileage work differently

The 21-cent medical rate is only useful if you itemize deductions, and even then only the portion of total unreimbursed medical expenses — including this mileage — that exceeds 7.5% of adjusted gross income is deductible at all, per the IRS's Topic no. 502, Medical and dental expenses. The same 21-cent rate also covers moving mileage, but only for active-duty members of the Armed Forces relocating under military orders; the 2017 tax law suspended the moving expense deduction for everyone else through 2025. The 14-cent charitable rate applies to driving done in direct service of a qualifying charitable organization — delivering meals, driving volunteers, that kind of trip — and, like medical mileage, is only deductible if you itemize rather than take the standard deduction.

Standard rate or actual expenses — a choice made once per vehicle

Anyone eligible to deduct business driving chooses between the standard mileage rate and tracking actual expenses — gas, insurance, repairs, depreciation — and that choice is locked in from the first year a vehicle is placed in business service if the standard rate is used first; switching to actual expenses later is allowed, but switching back to the standard rate after using actual expenses with certain depreciation methods is not. The standard rate trades precision for simplicity: no need to keep every receipt, at the cost of not capturing an unusually expensive year of repairs or an unusually cheap one.

The rate also caps what employers can reimburse tax-free

The 67-cent business rate is not only a deduction figure — it also sets the ceiling for how much an employer can reimburse an employee for business driving without the reimbursement counting as taxable wages. Pay an employee more than the standard rate per mile, and the excess is treated as compensation subject to income and payroll tax, the same as a raise would be. Some employers instead use a fixed and variable rate (FAVR) plan, which reimburses a combination of a flat monthly amount plus a per-mile rate to better match the actual cost of a specific vehicle. For 2024, the standard automobile cost used to compute a FAVR allowance cannot exceed $62,000, per the same Notice 2024-08 that sets the mileage rates themselves — a figure that also doubles as the maximum fair market value of an employer-provided vehicle for certain simplified personal-use valuation rules.

What to confirm before claiming mileage

• Confirm which category applies — business, medical, moving, or charitable — since each has its own rate and its own eligibility rules, and mixing them up is a common error.
• Keep a contemporaneous log: date, starting and ending odometer readings or total miles, destination, and business purpose for each trip. A log reconstructed months later is far weaker evidence if the deduction is ever questioned.
• If you are an employee rather than self-employed, check whether your employer reimburses mileage at all before assuming any of this applies to your own return.

Sources

• IRS: 2024 Standard Mileage Rates, Notice 2024-08
• IRS: IRS issues standard mileage rates for 2024; mileage rate increases to 67 cents a mile, up 1.5 cents from 2023
• IRS: Topic no. 502, Medical and dental expenses

This is general information, not tax advice. Eligibility to deduct mileage depends on your filing status, employment situation, and whether you itemize, and the rules described here apply to 2024 only. For a decision about your own return, consult a licensed tax preparer or the IRS directly.