Federal Mileage Reimbursement Calculator 2026
The federal mileage rate changed on July 1, 2026. Miles driven January through June are reimbursed at 72.5 cents; miles from July 1 at 76 cents. Both the IRS and GSA use these figures. This calculator applies the right rate to the right half, tells you how much of a company rate is tax-free, and shows what the rate leaves uncovered against the real cost of running your car.
Reimbursement at or below the IRS rate under an accountable plan is tax-free. Parking and tolls are reimbursed on top at actual cost. Planning figures, not tax advice.
How to calculate mileage reimbursement for 2026
- Separate miles driven before and after July 1. The rate is set by the date of the trip, so a log that records dates is the only way to apply 72.5 cents to spring miles and 76 cents to fall miles. A single annual odometer figure cannot be reimbursed correctly this year.
- Multiply each half by its rate. January to June miles times $0.725, July to December miles times $0.76. Parking and tolls are reimbursed on top at actual cost; gas, maintenance, insurance and depreciation are not, because the rate already bundles them.
- Compare your employer's rate to the IRS rate. Anything paid above the IRS figure is taxable wages and lands on your W-2. Anything below it is a cost you carry yourself, with no federal deduction available to employees to recover it.
- Keep the substantiation. An accountable plan needs the date, the miles, the destination and the business purpose for each trip, submitted within a reasonable time, with any excess advance returned. Without those records the reimbursement is taxable even at the IRS rate.
2026 federal mileage rates: IRS and GSA side by side
Two agencies publish a "federal" mileage rate and people mix them up. The IRS rate sets how much an employer can reimburse tax-free and how much a self-employed driver can deduct. The GSA rate is what federal agencies pay their own employees for driving a privately owned vehicle on official travel, published in the Federal Travel Regulation. GSA normally adopts the IRS business figure, and in 2026 it followed both the January increase and the mid-year one.
| Rate | Jan 1 - Jun 30, 2026 | Jul 1 - Dec 31, 2026 | Set by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business standard mileage | 72.5¢ | 76.0¢ | IRS Notice 2026-10; Announcement 2026-11 |
| Privately owned automobile, no government vehicle available | 72.5¢ | 76.0¢ | GSA (FTR) |
| Privately owned automobile, government vehicle available | 20.5¢ | 23.5¢ | GSA (FTR) |
| Privately owned motorcycle | 70.5¢ | 74.0¢ | GSA (FTR) |
| Privately owned airplane | $1.78 | $1.935 | GSA (FTR) |
| Medical or moving (qualifying moves only) | 20.5¢ | 23.5¢ | IRS |
| Charitable | 14.0¢ | 14.0¢ | Fixed by statute |
Sources: IRS standard mileage rates (irs.gov), GSA privately owned vehicle mileage rates (gsa.gov). Checked October 2026. The 2025 business rate was 70 cents; the full history back to 2020 is on the mileage deduction calculator.
When reimbursement is tax-free, and when it is not
The tax treatment depends on the plan, not the amount. Under an accountable plan the employee substantiates each trip (date, miles, destination, purpose), returns any excess advance, and the reimbursement up to the IRS rate is excluded from wages: no income tax, no payroll tax, nothing on the W-2. Pay 80 cents a mile in the second half of 2026 and the 4-cent difference is wages. Pay a flat $400 a month "car allowance" with no mileage records and the whole $400 is wages, because there is nothing to substantiate it against. The rules are in IRS Publication 463 and Publication 15.
Employees cannot write off the shortfall. If your employer pays 50 cents a mile, or nothing, the gap is yours. The itemized deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses has been suspended since 2018 and is not available for 2026 returns. That makes the employer's rate the whole story for a W-2 driver, which is why the state laws below matter.
Which states require mileage reimbursement
No federal statute obliges a private employer to reimburse mileage. The one federal floor is the Fair Labor Standards Act: an employee's unreimbursed vehicle costs cannot drag their effective hourly pay below the federal minimum wage (the "free and clear" rule at 29 CFR 531.35), which is the basis of most delivery-driver reimbursement lawsuits. Three states go further and require employers to cover necessary business expenses, which includes using a personal vehicle for work:
| State | Law | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| California | Labor Code section 2802 | Reimburse all necessary expenses incurred in the job. The IRS rate is accepted as a reasonable proxy, but an employee who can show higher actual costs can claim them, plus interest and attorney's fees if the employer refuses. |
| Illinois | Wage Payment and Collection Act, 820 ILCS 115/9.5 | Reimburse necessary expenses within the employer's written policy; the employee must submit documentation within 30 days unless the policy allows longer. |
| Massachusetts | Minimum wage regulations, 454 CMR 27.04 | Transportation costs required by the job must be reimbursed; an employer cannot shift them onto the employee. |
Several other states have expense-reimbursement statutes written more narrowly, and some courts have applied them to vehicle costs in specific cases. If you are outside the three above, confirm with your state labor department before assuming either way. Checked October 2026.
Does the rate cover what the car actually costs?
Usually only just. AAA's 2025 Your Driving Costs study puts the all-in cost of operating a new vehicle at about 77 cents per mile at 15,000 miles a year, from 55.9 cents for a small sedan to 98.5 cents for a half-ton pickup, counting depreciation, insurance, maintenance, tires and fuel. At 76 cents a mile the federal rate roughly breaks even for an average car and leaves a truck or large SUV owner carrying 20 cents or more of every mile. Older, paid-off vehicles cost less per mile and come out ahead. The fourth result box above shows the gap for your miles whenever the rate you select is below AAA's figure.
Reimbursement vs the mileage deduction
The same cents-per-mile figure runs in two opposite directions. An employee is reimbursed: the employer pays cash for the miles and the employee owes no tax on it. A self-employed driver is never reimbursed and instead deducts the miles from business income on Schedule C, which lowers both income tax and self-employment tax. A DoorDash or Uber driver on a 1099 belongs in the second group, and the figure that matters to them is on the 2026 mileage deduction calculator, with the full tax picture on the DoorDash tax calculator. Someone who drives for an employer during the week and delivers on weekends has both: reimbursed miles Monday to Friday, deductible miles on the weekend, and the two must never be mixed in one log.
A dated log is the whole requirement
Every rule on this page, from the July 1 split to the accountable-plan test, comes down to a record of when and how far you drove. GigOdo keeps that log automatically, with the correct rate attached to each trip by date, and exports it when someone asks.
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