Mileage Calculator

What the Mileage Calculator computes

The Mileage Calculator answers two questions that usually come up together. First: how much will this trip cost me in gas? You have a distance, a car with a known fuel economy, and a price at the pump. Multiply, divide, done. Second: how much can I claim back on this trip, either from an employer or as a tax deduction? That number is bigger, because the IRS standard mileage rate covers a lot more than fuel.

Both calculations use distance as the starting input. The fuel-cost path then divides distance by MPG to get gallons, multiplies by gas price to get dollars. The IRS-rate path multiplies distance by the appropriate rate for the trip's purpose — business, medical, or charity. The two paths produce very different numbers from the same trip, and people get tripped up if they confuse them.

How to use the Mileage Calculator

1. Enter the trip distance in miles. For round trips, double the one-way figure.
2. Enter your car's typical MPG. The EPA combined rating is a starting point, but real-world numbers are usually 5–15% lower; if you have measured data from a few fill-ups, use that.
3. Enter the current gas price per gallon. The AAA Fuel Gauge Report tracks national and state averages; current US averages run roughly $3 to $4 per gallon.
4. Read the two outputs. The fuel cost is what you'll actually spend on gas. The IRS reimbursement is what you can claim back if the trip qualifies as business, medical, or charitable mileage.

The trip purpose determines which IRS rate applies, so the calculator shows all three to make the comparison obvious.

The IRS standard mileage rate, explained

Every year, the IRS publishes a set of standard mileage rates in Publication 463. The rates exist so that drivers who use their personal car for business, medical, or charitable purposes can deduct an expense without keeping track of every gas receipt, oil change, insurance bill, and repair invoice. Multiply the miles by the rate and you have your deduction. That's the whole system.

The 2026 rates:

The business rate is the one most people are asking about. It changes yearly based on the IRS's study of national average vehicle operating costs.

Worked example: 350 miles of business driving

A freelance consultant drives to a client's office for a series of meetings: 175 miles each way, 350 round-trip miles total. Their car gets 28 MPG. Gas is $3.50 per gallon. Trip purpose: business.

Fuel cost calculation:

• Gallons used: 350 miles ÷ 28 MPG = 12.5 gallons
• Fuel cost: 12.5 gallons × $3.50/gallon = $43.75

IRS business reimbursement:

• 350 miles × $0.67/mile = $234.50

The consultant spent $43.75 on gas, but can deduct $234.50 from their taxable income (or invoice their client $234.50 if they bill mileage at the IRS rate). The difference — $190.75 — covers everything else the standard rate is designed to compensate for: depreciation, maintenance, insurance, registration, repairs, and the slow wear-out of the vehicle.

At a 24% marginal tax rate, the $234.50 deduction reduces the consultant's tax bill by about $56. Combined with the fact that they only spent $43.75 in actual fuel, this single trip is roughly cash-neutral after the deduction. That's by design — the IRS rate is supposed to make the driver whole for the full cost of operating their car, not just for fuel.

Why the IRS rate is so much higher than fuel cost

Owning a car is expensive in ways that aren't obvious from the gas pump. Fuel is roughly 30–40% of the total per-mile cost of driving a typical vehicle. The other 60–70% comes from:

• Depreciation — your car loses value every mile, faster in the first few years. For a new $30,000 car driven 12,000 miles a year, depreciation alone is usually $0.20–0.30 per mile.
• Insurance — most policies are fixed annual costs, but per-mile they add roughly $0.05–0.08.
• Maintenance and repairs — oil changes, tires, brakes, scheduled service, unexpected fixes. Roughly $0.05–0.10 per mile averaged over a vehicle's lifetime.
• Registration, license, taxes — fixed annual costs spread across miles driven, usually $0.01–0.03 per mile.
• Financing or lease costs — interest payments on a car loan, or the lease payment, also spread across miles.

The IRS bundles all of these into the single per-mile rate. AAA publishes its own annual study of vehicle operating costs that arrives at similar numbers — for an average sedan in 2025, total cost was about $0.71 per mile, of which fuel was about $0.12. The IRS rate of $0.67 lands close to AAA's bundle.

How the IRS business rate has changed

The IRS adjusts the business mileage rate annually based on a study of fuel costs, vehicle prices, and operating expenses. It's a slow-moving number but not a fixed one. Looking at the past seven years tells the story of fuel prices, inflation, and post-pandemic supply chain effects:

Two things worth noting. First, the mid-year change in 2022 was unusual — the IRS almost never adjusts rates mid-year, but the fuel price spike following the war in Ukraine pushed them to make a one-time correction. Second, the charity rate of $0.14 hasn't moved since 1998. That's because it's fixed by statute, not by IRS administrative discretion, and Congress has never updated it. Real inflation since 1998 means the charity rate is worth less than half what it was when set; volunteer-mileage advocacy groups have been lobbying for an update for years.

Who can deduct mileage

This is where most of the confusion lives. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated unreimbursed employee business expense deductions through 2025, which means W-2 employees can't deduct their work-related mileage on a personal tax return even if the employer doesn't reimburse them. That's a major change from the pre-2018 rules.

Who can still deduct:

• Self-employed taxpayers — on Schedule C, against business income. The big category: freelancers, contractors, gig workers, sole proprietors.
• Small business owners (sole proprietors and single-member LLCs) — also on Schedule C, treated the same as self-employed.
• Partners and S-corp shareholders — through their business return, with the deduction flowing through to their personal return.
• Anyone driving for medical purposes — on Schedule A, but only the amount above 7.5% of adjusted gross income is deductible, and only if itemizing.
• Anyone driving for qualifying charitable work — on Schedule A, with no AGI threshold, but only if itemizing.
• Members of the Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, and fee-basis state/local officials — narrow categories the TCJA preserved.

The TCJA provisions are scheduled to sunset after 2025, which could restore the employee-business-expense deduction for tax year 2026 onward. But that depends on what Congress does between now and then; the status is not yet final. Check the most current IRS guidance for the year you're filing.

The logbook requirement

If you're claiming the mileage deduction, the IRS expects you to have contemporaneous records — a logbook kept while the driving happened, not reconstructed at tax time. Required entries for each business trip:

• Date
• Starting and ending odometer readings (or miles driven)
• Business purpose
• Destination (client name, location, what was done)

The penalty for missing or fabricated records can be severe in an audit — the IRS can disallow the entire deduction and assess penalties on top. A handwritten notebook in the glove compartment still works, but most people use a mileage-tracking app (MileIQ, Stride, Everlance, TripLog, or the mileage features built into accounting software like QuickBooks Self-Employed). Most apps run in the background, detect drives automatically using your phone's GPS, and let you classify each one as business or personal with a swipe.

Standard mileage vs actual expense method

The IRS lets self-employed taxpayers choose between two methods for vehicle deductions: the standard mileage rate (what the Mileage Calculator computes) or the actual expense method.

The actual expense method tracks every cost — gas, oil, repairs, insurance, registration, lease payments or depreciation, parking, tolls — and deducts the business-use percentage of the total. Drive 12,000 miles in a year with 8,000 for business and your business-use percentage is 67%. Apply that to your total annual vehicle costs.

Which method wins depends on the car. Standard mileage tends to be better for fuel-efficient vehicles with low operating costs. Actual expenses tends to be better for expensive cars with high depreciation, premium fuel, or high insurance. Run both in your first year to see which fits.

One rule to know: once you pick actual expenses for a vehicle, you can't switch back to standard mileage for that vehicle in future years. You can go the other direction. Because of this, most people start with standard mileage and only switch if the math clearly favors it.

Electric vehicles and the standard rate

The IRS standard mileage rates apply equally to gas cars, hybrids, and electric vehicles. Same rate per mile, regardless of what's under the hood. This matters because the actual operating cost of an EV is much lower — fuel from the wall is around $0.04 to $0.05 per mile at typical residential electricity rates, vs $0.12 to $0.20 for gas. EV maintenance is also lower (no oil changes, fewer moving parts). An EV driver claiming the standard rate is being reimbursed for fuel and maintenance costs they didn't actually incur. The IRS rate doesn't adjust for this — a quirk that benefits EV drivers under current rules.

Related calculators

• Gas Mileage Calculator — computes MPG from miles driven and gallons used. Use this first if you don't already know your car's real-world fuel economy, then plug the result into the Mileage Calculator.
• Fuel Cost Calculator — focused only on the fuel side. Use when you don't need the IRS reimbursement figure.
• Auto Loan Calculator — handles the financing side of vehicle ownership; pairs with mileage tracking when budgeting total cost of ownership.
• Sales Tax Calculator — useful for budgeting the upfront cost of vehicle purchases or major service expenses where sales tax applies.

Frequently asked questions

What's the current IRS standard mileage rate?

For 2026, the business rate is $0.67 per mile, the medical and moving rate is $0.21 per mile, and the charity rate is $0.14 per mile. These change annually for business and medical; the charity rate is fixed by statute. Always check the IRS Publication 463 for the year you're filing to confirm the current figure — rates are announced in late fall for the following tax year.

Can I deduct commuting mileage?

No. Driving from home to your regular workplace is commuting, not business mileage, and it's never deductible. The exceptions are narrow: driving from a qualifying home office to a work-related destination, driving between two work locations during the day, or driving to a temporary work location outside your regular metropolitan area. If you work entirely from a home office that qualifies for the home office deduction, then all of your driving from that home office for business purposes is deductible — which is one reason the home office deduction is so valuable for people whose work involves a lot of driving.

What if I drive for Uber or DoorDash?

Rideshare and delivery drivers are self-employed under IRS rules, which means they can claim the standard mileage deduction on Schedule C. The deductible miles include time spent driving between fares, driving to and from the area where you're working, and any "deadhead" miles between deliveries. They don't include personal trips made during a shift. Most rideshare drivers find mileage tracking apps essential — the deduction often makes the difference between a small profit and a small loss on paper.

Should I use standard mileage or actual expenses?

For most people with fuel-efficient or moderately-priced cars, standard mileage is simpler and produces a comparable or larger deduction. For expensive vehicles, high-operating-cost trucks, or cars with high insurance costs, actual expenses can win. The choice has long-term consequences — once you elect actual expenses for a vehicle, you can't switch back to standard mileage for that vehicle. Run both calculations in year one before deciding.

How accurate is my dashboard's MPG display?

It varies. Modern dashboard displays are usually within 5% of actual, but they sometimes overstate fuel economy by a meaningful amount. For accurate mileage tracking, fill up the tank, reset your trip odometer, drive normally, then refill and divide miles by gallons added. Do this a few times and average the results. The Gas Mileage Calculator handles the arithmetic. The dashboard number is fine for trip planning but not for tax records.

What's the difference between the Mileage Calculator and the Gas Mileage Calculator?

The Gas Mileage Calculator computes MPG (miles per gallon) from data you already have. The Mileage Calculator assumes you know your MPG and focuses on trip cost plus IRS reimbursement. Use the Gas Mileage Calculator to figure out your car's fuel economy. Use the Mileage Calculator when you're planning a trip or filing a tax deduction.

Does the medical mileage rate cover trips for family members?

Yes, if you're the one driving them and they're a qualifying dependent or family member whose medical expenses you can claim. A parent driving a child to a specialist, an adult child driving an elderly parent, a spouse driving the other spouse — all qualify if the medical expense itself is deductible on your return. The rate is the same as for your own medical driving. Keep the same logbook records you would for any medical mileage claim.

What about parking and tolls?

Parking fees and tolls paid during business travel are deductible separately from the standard mileage rate. The mileage rate is meant to cover the cost of operating the vehicle; it doesn't include incidental travel costs like parking meters, garage fees, or toll roads. Keep receipts and add these as separate Schedule C expenses. The same applies if you use the actual expense method.