Is Your Commute Tax-Deductible? The Rules for 1099 Workers

Short answer: No, your regular commute from home to a fixed workplace is not tax-deductible, even for 1099 workers. The IRS treats commuting as a personal expense. However, several trips that look like a commute — such as driving from a qualifying home office to a client, or between two work locations — are deductible business miles.**

Commuting is one of the most misunderstood areas of the mileage deduction. Many self-employed people assume that because they drive for work, every mile counts. This article explains the IRS commuting rule, the important exceptions that help 1099 workers, and how to tell a nondeductible commute from a deductible business trip.

Is commuting to work tax-deductible?

Commuting to work is not tax-deductible. The IRS considers the trip between your home and your regular place of business a personal commuting expense, regardless of how far you drive or whether you are self-employed.

This rule applies to the first trip out and the last trip home on a typical workday when you drive to a fixed business location. The reasoning is that where you choose to live relative to your work is a personal decision, so the cost of closing that gap is personal rather than a business expense.

What counts as a nondeductible commute?

A nondeductible commute is driving between your home and a regular or main work location. These are the everyday trips that get you to and from your usual place of business.

Examples of nondeductible commuting include:

• Driving from home to an office you regularly work from.
• Driving from home to a store, shop, or studio you operate.
• The trip home at the end of the workday from that same location.
• Stopping for coffee or running a personal errand on the way to work.

The fact that you make a business call from the car or check email at a red light does not convert a commute into a deductible trip. The character of the trip is set by its start and end points and its primary purpose.

What commuting exceptions apply to 1099 workers?

Several important exceptions let self-employed workers deduct trips that might otherwise look like commuting. The most powerful is the home office exception, which can turn your first and last trips of the day into business miles.

Key exceptions include:

• Home office as principal place of business: if your home qualifies as your principal place of business, trips from your home office to other work locations (clients, job sites, meetings) are deductible business miles rather than commuting.
• Travel between work locations: driving from one business location to another on the same day is deductible, even if neither is your home.
• Temporary work locations: trips to a temporary work site outside your regular business area can be deductible. If you have a regular place of business, trips to a temporary site can qualify even within your metropolitan area.
• Hauling tools or equipment: simply carrying tools does not make a commute deductible, but genuinely business-purposed trips do qualify.

These exceptions are why home-based freelancers and contractors often deduct far more of their driving than they expect. The home office qualification is the linchpin, so it is worth understanding the requirements.

Commute vs. deductible business trip: how to tell the difference

The difference between a commute and a deductible business trip comes down to the start point, the end point, and the primary purpose of the drive. The table below shows common scenarios for 1099 workers.

Trip	Deductible?	Why
Home to a regular office	No	Personal commuting
Home office to a client site (home is principal place of business)	Yes	Business travel from your business base
Office to a second job site the same day	Yes	Travel between work locations
Home to a temporary work site (you have a regular workplace)	Often yes	Temporary location exception
Client site back home at end of day (qualifying home office)	Yes	Business travel, not a commute
Home to office, stopping to drop off dry cleaning	No	Primary purpose is personal

When a trip qualifies as business travel, you deduct it at the 2026 IRS standard mileage rate of 72.5 cents per mile, provided you keep a proper log.

Does a home office change the commuting rules?

Yes. A qualifying home office changes the commuting rules significantly. When your home is your principal place of business, you no longer have a nondeductible “commute” to a separate main office, so trips from home to other business destinations become deductible.

To rely on this exception, your home office generally needs to be used regularly and exclusively for business and to serve as your principal place of business. If you meet those conditions, the trips that used to be your commute — home to first client, last client back home — can count as business miles. This single distinction often makes the biggest difference in a 1099 worker’s mileage deduction.

Why does tracking matter for commuting rules?

Tracking matters because you must be able to show that a given trip was business rather than personal. Since commutes and business trips can start from the same driveway, your log’s business purpose field is what separates a deductible mile from a nondeductible one.

For every trip you intend to deduct, record the date, destination, business purpose, and miles. A clear log lets you confidently exclude commuting miles and include qualifying business miles, which keeps your deduction both accurate and defensible. Our guide to IRS mileage log requirements shows exactly what to capture.

How Keel helps you separate business miles from commuting

Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts is a private, on-device bookkeeping app for self-employed and 1099 workers, and it makes it easy to record the business purpose of each trip so you can keep commuting miles out of your deduction. Keel stamps every business trip at the IRS rate — 72.5 cents per mile for 2026 — and stores it in an append-only verifiable ledger, giving you a clean, contemporaneous record of only the miles that qualify.

Keel is private by design. There is no bank connection, no cloud, and no account. Your mileage is stored encrypted on your iPhone, which is why the App Store shows “Data Not Collected.” You can log trips by hand or with Siri and export all of your records as a single file for your accountant. The honest tradeoff is a little manual entry, which is what lets Keel keep your data on your device instead of tracking your every movement.

Keel is free for 3 invoices per month with unlimited receipts and mileage; Pro is $7.99/month or $59.99/year.

Log only your deductible business miles with Keel — download it on the App Store.

Regional notes for the UK, Canada, and EU

The “ordinary commuting is not deductible” principle exists in other countries too, with local variations.

• United Kingdom: HMRC does not allow relief for ordinary commuting between home and a permanent workplace, though travel to temporary workplaces can qualify. Business mileage is claimed at 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p thereafter. See GOV.UK.
• Canada: The CRA generally treats travel between home and a regular place of work as personal, with exceptions similar to the home-base rule. Check CRA guidance.
• European Union: Rules on commuting deductibility vary widely by member state; some countries offer limited commuting allowances. Consult your national tax authority.

Frequently asked questions

Is my commute tax-deductible if I am self-employed? No. A regular commute from home to a fixed workplace is a personal expense even for self-employed workers. Only qualifying business trips are deductible.

Can I deduct driving from home to a client if I work from home? Yes, if your home qualifies as your principal place of business. In that case, trips from your home office to clients and job sites are deductible business miles.

Does carrying tools or equipment make my commute deductible? No. Simply transporting tools does not make a commute deductible. The trip must have a genuine business purpose to qualify.

Are trips between two job sites deductible? Yes. Driving from one work location to another on the same day is a deductible business trip, even if neither location is your home.

What about a temporary work location? Trips to a temporary work location outside your regular business area can be deductible. If you have a regular workplace, travel to a temporary site can qualify even nearby.

---

This article is general information, not tax advice. Consult a qualified tax professional.