Mileage reimbursement calculator
IRS mileage rate for 2026: 76¢ a mile
The IRS raised its business standard mileage rate to 76¢ a mile for miles driven from July 1, 2026, up from 72.5¢ for January to June. Enter your trips below and each one is priced at the rate for its date.
IRS business rate, 2026
| Miles driven | Rate a mile |
|---|---|
| Jan 1 to Jun 30, 2026 | 72.5¢ |
| Jul 1 to Dec 31, 2026 | 76¢ |
Set by Notice 2026-10 and Announcement 2026-11, as listed on the IRS rates page. Checked Oct 22, 2026.
Your total will appear here
Enter the date and miles for each business trip. Each trip is priced at the IRS rate for its date: 72.5¢ a mile before Jul 1, 2026 and 76¢ from then on.
Pricing a whole trip with flights and a hotel? The trip cost estimator uses GSA lodging and meal rates.
What finance teams should know
The rate, accountable plans and the records to keep
What the rate covers
- The business rate comes from an annual IRS study of the fixed and variable costs of operating a car. It's used instead of actual expenses, which the IRS lists as including depreciation, insurance, repairs, tires, gas and oil.
- It applies to a car, van, pickup or panel truck, and to electric and hybrid vehicles as well as gasoline and diesel ones.
- Business parking and tolls go on top of the mileage. Driving between home and your regular place of work is commuting, not business, however far it is.
- The rate is optional. You can't use it for five or more cars used at the same time, as in a fleet.
Sources: IRS news release IR-2025-128 and IRS Publication 463, checked Oct 22, 2026.
Accountable plans
A reimbursement is kept out of an employee's wages when your arrangement meets the IRS's three rules for an accountable plan:
- The expense has a business connection.
- The employee accounts for it within a reasonable period.
- Any excess is returned within a reasonable period.
The IRS treats these times as reasonable: an advance within 30 days of the expense, the accounting within 60 days, and any excess returned within 120 days. A mileage allowance at or below the federal rate isn't included in box 1 of the employee's Form W-2. Payments under a plan that misses a rule are reported as wages.
Source: IRS Publication 463, chapter 6 (the edition for 2025 returns), checked Oct 22, 2026.
Records to keep
For each business use of the car, the IRS lists what the record should show:
- The miles for the trip, and the total miles for the year.
- The date.
- The business destination.
- The business purpose.
Write it down at or near the time of the trip: a log, a diary, trip sheets or an expense statement copied from one. For an established route whose business purpose is clear, Publication 463 says recording the route's length once, the date of each trip and the year's total miles can be enough. The CSV above records the date, the miles and your purpose and route for each trip; keep the year's total miles in your own log.
Source: IRS Publication 463, chapter 5, checked Oct 22, 2026.
When a trip needs flights or a hotel rather than a car, silentVIP's travel team books flights and hotels against your policy, and employee-paid items go to your expense system as a file: see payments and expenses.
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