IRS mileage rate 2026:
72.5 cents, then 76 cents.

The 2026 mileage rates, both halves

IRS Notice 2026-10 set the first-half rates, announced on December 29, 2025. The July increase arrived in Announcement 2026-11, printed in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 on July 13. It came with one line of explanation: "This modification results from recent increases in the price of fuel."

Charity driving stayed at 14 cents. That one is written into the tax code rather than set by the IRS each year, so fuel prices don't move it. And if you've been hunting for the federal mileage rate 2026, that's the same thing under another name. The IRS calls it the standard mileage rate, and all six figures above sit on its standard mileage rates page.

The last split year was 2022. On July 1 of that year Announcement 2022-13 pushed the business rate from 58.5 cents to 62.5, and the IRS explained it with the same sentence about fuel prices, word for word. On how unusual that is, IR-2022-124 was blunt: "Midyear increases in the optional mileage rates are rare, the last time the IRS made such an increase was in 2011." Every year in between, 2023 through 2025, ran on one rate.

Which IRS mileage rate 2026 applies to your drive

A client visit on June 30 is worth 72.5 cents a mile. Drive the identical route on July 1 and it's 76. Nothing else about the trip changes the answer, just the date. Work out each half on its own, add the two, and one total goes on your Schedule C.

Say you drove 10,000 business miles in 2026, split evenly across the year. The first 5,000 miles at 72.5 cents is $3,625. The other 5,000 at 76 cents is $3,800. Add them and your deduction is $7,425.

What an undated mileage log costs you

Put all 10,000 of those miles at the old rate and you get $7,250. You just gave away $175.

Put all 10,000 at the new rate and you get $7,600, which overstates your deduction by the same $175. That one is worse, because the number on your return is now too high and you have nothing dated to back it up.

Neither mistake is dramatic on one year of driving. But it scales. A driver with 30,000 business miles is off by $525 in one direction or the other.

ExpenseDuck produces estimates. It does not give tax advice or file your taxes. Consult a licensed tax professional for your specific situation.

What the IRS requires in a 2026 mileage log

IRS Publication 463 is where this lives. Table 5-1 lists four things your records have to show for a business drive:

• The mileage for each business use, plus the total miles you drove for the year.
• The date you used the car.
• Your business destination.
• The business purpose for the expense.

Then there's timing. The IRS says: "You should record the elements of an expense or of a business use at or near the time of the expense or use and support it with sufficient documentary evidence. A timely kept record has more value than a statement prepared later when there is generally a lack of accurate recall."

You don't have to write down every trip the day you take it, though. Publication 463 says that if you "maintain a log on a weekly basis that accounts for use during the week, the log is considered a timely kept record." So catching up on Sunday evening with your calendar open still qualifies. A total you assemble from memory the following April doesn't, because the publication asks for the record to be made at or near the time of the drive.

One caveat. The current edition of Publication 463 is the 2025 one, and the IRS hasn't published a 2026 version yet. Its recordkeeping rules haven't changed in years. The rate tables inside it are the part that goes stale, which is why the rates above come from the notice and the announcement instead.

How to rebuild your mileage log for the first half of 2026

Plenty of people are reading this in the fall and realizing they logged nothing in the spring. You're not stuck. You just have to work backward from things that already carry a date.

Start with your calendar. Client meetings, job sites and appointments are usually in there with an address attached. Then your invoices, which tell you who you worked for and when. Bank and card statements show the day you bought gas or paid a toll, which puts you on the road on that date. Oil change and service receipts have the odometer reading printed on them, so two of those bracket your mileage for the months in between. And if you drive for a delivery app, its trip history is the best record you have.

If you tracked in QuickBooks Self-Employed for part of the year, you already have dated trips sitting in there. Our guide to exporting your QuickBooks Self-Employed data shows you how to pull the mileage file out, and every row in it carries a date.

Write each trip down with its date, its miles, where you went and why. That's the same four things Table 5-1 asks for. A reconstruction built from dated records is weaker than a log you kept while driving. It's still a lot better than a round number you pick in April.

DoorDash mileage and the 2026 rate split

DoorDash does send Dashers a mileage figure. Its Dasher tax help article says it "will send mileage estimate emails by January 31 to US & Canada Dashers active during the year who dashed by Car and had on-delivery mileage."

That figure has two limits. It's one number for the whole year, so you can't split it at July 1. And by DoorDash's own wording it counts on-delivery miles, which leaves out your drive to the first pickup and the waiting between orders. DoorDash also says: "Keep in mind that DoorDash does not provide you with tax advice."

Use the trip history in the app to rebuild dated trips for the spring, and track your own miles from here.

How ExpenseDuck applies the 2026 standard mileage rate

ExpenseDuck records each business drive as it happens and stores the date and the route. Drives dated June 30 or earlier get 72.5 cents. Drives dated July 1 or later get 76 cents. You swipe each trip business or personal, and the running total is already split the way the IRS mileage rate 2026 requires. The automatic mileage tracker is part of the same $14.99 a month plan as everything else.

Coming from QuickBooks Self-Employed? Your mileage history imports along with your transactions. Our guide to switching from QuickBooks Self-Employed walks through what moves and what doesn't. If you want the tax side of the picture, the self-employed tax calculator shows what to set aside for federal quarterly taxes.

Still shopping? Our comparison of QuickBooks Self-Employed alternatives says which of the eight track mileage automatically and which make you key in your own odometer readings. Xero is the one to watch out for if miles are your biggest deduction.

Questions people ask about the 2026 mileage rate

What is the IRS mileage rate for 2026?

There are two. Business driving is 72.5 cents a mile from January 1 through June 30, 2026, set by IRS Notice 2026-10. It's 76 cents a mile from July 1 through December 31, 2026, set by Announcement 2026-11. Medical and military moving miles run 20.5 cents and then 23.5 cents over the same two periods. Charity driving is 14 cents all year.

Which 2026 mileage rate applies to my drive?

The one that matches the date of the drive. June 30 and earlier is 72.5 cents a mile. July 1 and later is 76 cents. Work out each half separately and add them together for your Schedule C total.

What does the IRS require in a mileage log?

Table 5-1 of IRS Publication 463 asks for four things for each business trip: the mileage, the date you used the car, your business destination, and the business purpose. The IRS also wants the record made at or near the time of the drive. A log you keep weekly counts, according to the same publication.

Did the medical and moving mileage rate change in 2026?

Yes, twice. It started 2026 at 20.5 cents a mile, down from 21 cents in 2025, then went up to 23.5 cents on July 1 under Announcement 2026-11. Only members of the Armed Forces on active duty can deduct moving miles.

Does DoorDash track mileage for Dashers, and is that enough?

DoorDash's help center says it emails Dashers who drove a car an estimate of their on-delivery mileage by January 31, and it tells them to consult a tax professional about deductions. That figure is one number for the year, so it cannot be split at July 1, and by DoorDash's own description it counts on-delivery miles only. To support the deduction, keep a dated log of every business drive, as Publication 463 describes.

How do I reconstruct mileage for the first half of the year?

Work from records that already have dates on them: your calendar, your invoices, your bank and card statements, the odometer readings on service receipts, and the trip history in any delivery app you drive for. Write down each trip with its date, miles, destination and purpose. Then track your drives from here so you never have to do this again.