Self-Employed Mileage Deduction 2026: 72.5¢, Then 76¢ a Mile on Schedule C

Short answer: The self-employed mileage deduction for 2026 is 72.5 cents per business mile driven January 1 through June 30 and 76 cents per mile from July 1, after the IRS raised its standard rate mid-year, so every 1,000 qualifying miles is a $725 deduction in the first half and $760 in the second. It lets 1099 workers and sole proprietors in the United States write off the cost of driving their own vehicle for business, with no cap on the number of business miles. To claim it you keep a contemporaneous, dated mileage log and report the total as car and truck expenses on Schedule C, line 9: each 2026 trip takes the rate in force on the day it was driven, and miles driven in 2025 take 70 cents.

It is one of the largest and most commonly missed write-offs for independent workers. Rideshare drivers, delivery couriers, real estate agents, freelancers, consultants, tradespeople, and gig workers all put business miles on personal cars. This guide explains who qualifies, which miles count, the two methods for claiming the deduction, and how to keep records that hold up if the IRS asks.

Who can claim the self-employed mileage deduction?

You can claim the business mileage deduction if you use your own vehicle for a trade or business and you are not reimbursed for that driving. This applies to sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, independent contractors, and gig workers who file a Schedule C.

The self-employed mileage deduction is different from the employee situation. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended the deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses, and 2025 legislation made that suspension permanent, so most W-2 employees cannot deduct their business driving on a federal return. Self-employed people were never affected by that change and continue to deduct business driving in full.

You qualify to deduct business miles if all of the following are true:

• You use a car, van, pickup, or panel truck for business.
• You (or your business) own or lease the vehicle.
• You are not reimbursed by a client or employer for the same miles.
• You keep records that show the business purpose and distance of each trip.

What is the 2026 IRS standard mileage rate?

The 2026 IRS standard mileage rate for business use is 72.5 cents per mile for miles driven January 1 through June 30 and 76 cents per mile from July 1 through December 31. The IRS raised it mid-year because of fuel prices, so you multiply your business miles from each half of the year by that half’s rate and add the two to calculate your deduction.

The IRS normally sets this rate once a year, changes it mid-year only for unusual swings in fuel costs, and publishes it on the standard mileage rates page at IRS.gov. It is designed to approximate the average cost of operating a vehicle, including gas, insurance, maintenance, repairs, and depreciation. Because the rate already bundles those costs, you generally cannot also deduct them separately when you use the standard mileage method.

Purpose of driving	Jan 1 – Jun 30, 2026	Jul 1 – Dec 31, 2026
Business	72.5 cents per mile	76 cents per mile
Medical or moving (active-duty military only)	20.5 cents per mile	23.5 cents per mile
Charitable	14 cents per mile (fixed by statute)	14 cents per mile (fixed by statute)

Always confirm the current-year figures on IRS.gov before filing, since the medical and business rates can change each year, and in 2026 changed in the middle of it. Our note on the 2026 IRS mileage rate sets out the full table, including the medical and charitable figures.

Which miles count as business miles?

Business miles are the miles you drive between business destinations or from your business base to a client, job, or work-related errand. Personal driving and ordinary commuting do not count.

Deductible business trips typically include:

• Driving from your office or first business stop to a client, customer, or job site.
• Trips between two separate work locations in the same day.
• Driving to pick up business supplies, equipment, or inventory.
• Trips to the bank, post office, or accountant for business purposes.
• Driving to meet a client for a business meal or meeting.

Trips that are usually not deductible include:

• Commuting from home to a regular place of business.
• Personal errands, even if you make a quick work call on the way.
• Driving for a job where a client fully reimburses your mileage.

A key exception helps home-based workers: if your home is your principal place of business, trips from your home office to other business locations can count as business miles rather than commuting. For a full breakdown of the exceptions, see our guide to whether your commute is tax-deductible.

Standard mileage method vs. actual expense method

There are two ways to calculate the vehicle deduction, and you generally choose one per vehicle per year. The standard mileage method multiplies business miles by the IRS rate. The actual expense method deducts the business-use percentage of your real car costs.

Feature	Standard mileage method	Actual expense method
How it works	Business miles × IRS rate (2026: 72.5¢ to June 30, 76¢ from July 1)	Business-use % × actual costs
Records needed	Mileage log	Mileage log + all receipts
Covers gas & maintenance	Yes, bundled in the rate	Yes, itemized
Best for	Fuel-efficient cars, high mileage	Expensive vehicles, low mileage, high repair costs
First-year rule	Must be chosen in year one to switch later	Locks in depreciation choices

Whichever method you pick, you still need a mileage log, because both methods require a business-use percentage. Many solo workers start with the standard mileage method because it needs the least paperwork. For a deeper comparison, see standard mileage versus actual expenses.

How do you keep an IRS-compliant mileage log?

The IRS requires a contemporaneous record of your business mileage, meaning you record trips at or near the time they happen rather than reconstructing them from memory months later. A compliant log shows the date, destination, business purpose, and miles for each trip.

Every deductible trip should capture:

• The date of the trip.
• The starting point and destination (or the business purpose).
• The number of miles driven.
• The total miles you drove for the year (business plus personal).

Estimates and “I drive about 15,000 miles a year” statements do not satisfy the IRS. A clean, dated, trip-by-trip log is what auditors expect. Our guide to IRS mileage log requirements walks through exactly what a compliant record looks like, with a free template, and our guide to tracking mileage for taxes compares the practical ways to capture trips day to day.

How do you claim the mileage deduction on Schedule C?

You claim the self-employed mileage deduction on Schedule C (Form 1040), where you report your business income and expenses. The vehicle deduction reduces both your income tax and your self-employment tax.

The process each year looks like this:

1. Track every business trip throughout the year in a mileage log.
2. Add up your business miles at year-end, keeping January–June and July–December separate for 2026.
3. If using standard mileage, multiply January–June miles by 72.5 cents and July–December miles by 76 cents, then add the two.
4. Enter the deduction on Schedule C, line 9 (car and truck expenses), and answer the vehicle questions in Part IV: the date the vehicle went into service, business, commuting and other miles, and whether you have written evidence. If you claim depreciation or must otherwise file Form 4562, the vehicle details go there instead of Part IV.
5. Keep your log and supporting records for at least three years after filing.

Because the deduction lowers your net self-employment income, it also reduces the 15.3% self-employment tax, which makes accurate mileage tracking especially valuable for gig and freelance workers. If the rest of the form is unfamiliar, our guide to filling out Schedule C walks through it line by line.

Regional notes for Canada, the UK, and the EU

Mileage rules differ outside the United States, and the figures above apply only to US federal taxes. If you drive for business in another country, use your local tax authority’s rate.

• United Kingdom: HMRC uses Approved Mileage Allowance Payments. For self-employed drivers using simplified expenses, the rate on the first 10,000 business miles was 45p and rose to 55p from 6 April 2026; the rate above 10,000 miles stays at 25p in both tax years. Our UK self-employed mileage allowance guide works through both, and the current figures are on GOV.UK.
• Canada: The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) sets a per-kilometre reasonable allowance rate that changes annually. Self-employed Canadians usually track the business-use percentage of their actual vehicle costs instead, working from the CRA list of deductible motor vehicle expenses. Our guide to Canadian self-employed vehicle expenses explains how.
• European Union: Rates and rules vary by member state, and many countries publish their own per-kilometre allowances. Consult your national tax authority.

How Keel helps self-employed drivers track mileage

Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts is a private, on-device bookkeeping app built for self-employed and 1099 workers. It tracks mileage at the IRS rate and rate-stamps each trip, so your records stay audit-stable even when the rate changes.

What makes Keel different is what it does not do. There is no bank connection, no cloud sync, and no account to create. Your data is stored encrypted on your iPhone, which is why the App Store lists it as “Data Not Collected.” You can log a trip by hand or with Siri, keep an append-only verifiable ledger, and export all of your data as a single file whenever you want. The honest tradeoff is that a little manual entry is the price of that privacy and ownership.

Keel is free with unlimited invoices, receipts and mileage; Keel Lifetime is a one-time $249.99 purchase, not a subscription.

Track your business miles privately with Keel — download it on the App Store.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the self-employed mileage deduction worth in 2026? Each business mile is worth 72.5 cents if you drove it between January 1 and June 30, 2026, and 76 cents if you drove it from July 1, so 10,000 business miles split evenly between the two halves produces a $7,425 deduction. The cash you actually keep is smaller than that figure: a deduction reduces taxable income rather than tax owed, so the saving is roughly your marginal income tax rate plus self-employment tax applied to the $7,425. Miles you cannot document do not count, whatever the rate.

How much mileage can I claim as self-employed? There is no cap: you can deduct every business mile you can document, multiplied by the standard rate, or the business-use share of your actual vehicle costs. What limits the claim is the record, not a ceiling — only miles shown in a log as business trips count, commuting and personal miles are excluded, and miles a client reimbursed you for cannot be deducted again.

Is it worth claiming mileage on taxes? Almost always, if you drive for your business. At 72.5 cents a mile, 5,000 business miles driven in the first half of 2026 is a $3,625 deduction, which on its own cuts about $512 of self-employment tax before any income tax saving; at 76 cents from July 1, the same miles are $3,800 and about $537. The only real cost is keeping the log, and a log written as you go is also what protects the deduction if the IRS asks.

What was the 1099 mileage deduction rate for 2025? The IRS business standard mileage rate for 2025 was 70 cents per mile, up from 67 cents in 2024. Use it for miles driven in 2025 on the return you file in 2026; the 2026 rates of 72.5 cents through June 30 and 76 cents from July 1 apply only to miles driven in 2026. Each trip takes the rate in force on the day it was driven, which is one more reason every log entry needs a date.

What is the $75 rule in the IRS? Under the IRS substantiation rules, you do not need a receipt for a business travel, meal, or transportation expense under $75, other than lodging, as long as your records show the amount, date, place, and business purpose. For drivers that typically covers small tolls and parking fees, which you can note in the mileage log. It does not replace the log itself: every business mile still needs a dated entry.

Do I need receipts if I use the standard mileage method? You do not need gas or maintenance receipts under the standard mileage method, because the standard rate (72.5 cents a mile through June 30, 2026, and 76 cents from July 1) already bundles fuel, insurance, repairs, and depreciation. You do still need a contemporaneous mileage log showing the date, purpose, and distance of each business trip, plus your total miles for the year. Business parking fees and tolls are deductible on top of the standard rate, so keep those receipts separately.

Can I switch between the standard mileage and actual expense methods? You can switch in some cases, but if you want to use the standard mileage method for a car, you generally must choose it in the first year the vehicle is used for business. After that the ability to switch is limited: claiming actual expenses first, or taking certain accelerated depreciation on the vehicle, can lock you out of the standard rate for that car. Leased vehicles are stricter still, since choosing the standard rate commits you for the whole lease period.

Is my commute to work deductible? Regular commuting from home to a fixed workplace is not deductible, no matter how far you drive or whether you take work calls on the way. Two exceptions matter most to self-employed people: if your home is your principal place of business, trips from your home office to other work locations count as business miles, and travel to a temporary work location outside your regular business area can also qualify.

Does the mileage deduction reduce self-employment tax? Yes. Because the deduction lowers your net Schedule C profit, it reduces both your income tax and your self-employment tax. Self-employment tax runs at 15.3% on 92.35% of net earnings, so every $1,000 of mileage deduction trims about $141 of self-employment tax before income tax is even counted. Above the Social Security wage base only the 2.9% Medicare portion continues, so the saving there is closer to $27.

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