The 2026 IRS standard mileage rate, and the mid-year raise nobody expected

The 2026 IRS standard mileage rate for business driving is 72.5 cents a mile from January through June, then 76 cents a mile from July through December, after the IRS made a mid-year adjustment it has used only twice in the last ten years. Medical and military-moving mileage moved the same way — 20.5 cents, then 23.5 cents — while the charitable mileage rate held at 14 cents all year, because that figure is fixed by statute rather than reset by the IRS. Anyone logging trips in 2026 needs to split the year at July 1 to get the deduction right.

The 2026 rates, both halves of the year

The IRS announced the base 2026 rates in December 2025, as it does every year. Then, in July 2026, it issued a mid-year update — Announcement 2026-11 — raising the business and medical/moving rates for the second half of the year. The charitable rate is untouched by either announcement, since Congress sets it directly rather than leaving it to annual IRS review.

These figures come from the IRS's own January 2026 rate announcement and its standard mileage rates reference page, which was updated to reflect the July change. A taxpayer who only checks the rate once, in January, and applies it to the whole year will understate a 2026 business mileage deduction.

Why the rate changed mid-year at all

The standard business rate is built from an annual study of what it actually costs to own and run a vehicle — fuel, maintenance, insurance, depreciation — and it is normally set once, in December, for the entire following year. A mid-year revision is unusual enough that it has happened only a handful of times in the rate's history, most recently in 2022 when fuel prices spiked sharply. The IRS cited the same underlying cause for 2026: fuel costs rose enough during the first half of the year that the December 2025 rate no longer reflected actual driving costs, prompting the July correction. The medical and moving rate, which is based only on the variable costs of operating a vehicle (not the fixed costs like depreciation), moved for the same reason. The charitable rate did not, because nothing about fuel prices changes a number set by statute.

Who can actually use the business rate

The business mileage rate is a deduction for the self-employed, independent contractors, and business owners — used either on Schedule C or as part of a business's vehicle expense records. A W-2 employee who drives their own car for work and is not reimbursed by their employer generally cannot deduct that mileage: unreimbursed employee business expenses have not been an allowable itemized deduction since the 2017 tax law suspended them, a suspension the IRS's own guidance confirms remains in effect for 2026. There are narrow statutory exceptions — certain Armed Forces reservists, qualifying performing artists, fee-basis state and local government officials, and some categories of educator expense — but the general rule is that employee mileage reimbursement is something to negotiate with an employer, not something to claim on a personal return. Anyone eligible to use the standard rate can instead track actual vehicle costs and depreciation, but that method requires far more detailed recordkeeping and, once chosen for a vehicle in some circumstances, restricts switching back to the standard rate later — the simpler mileage-rate method is why most eligible taxpayers use it.

Medical, moving, and charitable mileage work differently

Medical mileage is not a standalone deduction — it only counts as part of itemized medical expenses, which are deductible only to the extent they exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income for the year. Someone who drives 400 miles to medical appointments in the first half of 2026 and 300 miles in the second half has driven $82 plus $70.50 of mileage-based medical expense — $152.50 total — which only matters if their overall itemized medical expenses clear that 7.5% floor. Moving mileage at the same rate is even narrower: since the 2017 tax law, only active-duty members of the Armed Forces relocating under military orders, and certain members of the intelligence community, can claim it at all. Charitable mileage, by contrast, is available to anyone itemizing deductions who drives in service of a qualified charitable organization, at a flat 14 cents a mile all year — no AGI floor, and no split rate to track.

What the split rate is worth on a real trip log

Take a self-employed sales consultant who drives 15,000 business miles over 2026, split evenly — 7,500 miles before July 1, 7,500 after:

Had the same 15,000 miles all been logged at the January rate of 72.5 cents, the deduction would have come to $10,875 — $262.50 less. Had every mile instead qualified for the July rate of 76 cents, it would total $11,400. The real number, $11,137.50, sits between the two precisely because the miles were split across both halves of the year — which is exactly why a trip log needs a date on every entry, not just a running annual total.

Keeping a log that survives an IRS review

The standard rate replaces receipts for gas and repairs, but it does not replace a mileage log. To substantiate a deduction, the IRS expects contemporaneous records of the date of each trip, the starting and ending odometer reading or total miles driven, the destination, and the business purpose — recorded at or near the time of the trip rather than reconstructed months later at tax time. For 2026 specifically, the July 1 rate change makes the date column do double duty: it is not just proof the trip happened, it determines which of the two rates applies to those miles. A log that only records monthly or annual totals, without dates, cannot be split accurately between the two 2026 rates and risks understating — or overstating — the deduction either way.

Sources

• IRS: IRS sets 2026 business standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile, up 2.5 cents
• IRS: Standard mileage rates

This is general information, not tax advice. Mileage deduction rules depend on your filing status, whether you are self-employed or an employee, and how your specific trips qualify. For a decision about your own return, consult a licensed tax preparer or the IRS directly.