Maintenance
IRS Mileage Rates and Logs: Methods, Business Miles and the First Year Choice
IRS business mileage rates by tax year, how the standard rate and actual expenses work, business miles, the first year choice, and a defensible mileage log.
What to take away
- The IRS sets one business rate per mile for each tax year and publishes it before that year starts, normally in November or December.
- Published business rates70 cents for 2025, 67 cents for 2024, 65.5 cents for 2023, and 62.5 cents from July 1, 2022 after a mid-year increase.
- Business miles are the ones you multiply by that figure. Home to a regular workplace is commuting, which is personal at any distance.
- The method chosen in a vehicle's first business year can shut off the standard rate for that vehicle while you own it.
- Both methods need a mileage log. Actual expenses need the log plus receipts.
Rates the IRS published, by tax year
These are the figures the IRS issued for each year, taken from its annual notices.
Rates the IRS published
| Tax year | Business | Medical | Charitable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 70 cents | 21 cents | 14 cents |
| 2024 | 67 cents | 21 cents | 14 cents |
| 2023 | 65.5 cents | 22 cents | 14 cents |
| 2022, Jan 1 to Jun 30 | 58.5 cents | 18 cents | 14 cents |
| 2022, Jul 1 to Dec 31 | 62.5 cents | 22 cents | 14 cents |
The business column is the one this page is about. Medical and charitable rates apply to those categories only, and the charitable rate is fixed by statute at 14 cents.
The figure moves, and it has moved partway through a year. A return filed in 2027 uses whichever rate the IRS published for the tax year on that return.
The current published figure sits on the IRS standard mileage rates page, revised by tax year. Check the year printed there against the year on your return before you use anything.
When the standard rate cannot be used at all, and what it covers, is in IRS Publication 463. The small business tax guide shows where vehicle expense sits on the return.
Two methods, one shared requirement
The standard mileage rate multiplies business miles by the published figure. It stands in for fuel, wear, insurance and depreciation, so none of those costs get itemized separately.
Actual expenses add up what the vehicle really cost to run, then claim the business-use share. That share is calculated from your miles, so the log stays the foundation either way.
Standard mileage rate
- Core record
- Mileage log
- Depreciation
- Built into the rate
- Effort through the year
- Low, if you log as you drive
- Typically favors
- Cheap, high-mileage vehicles
Actual expenses
- Core record
- Mileage log and cost records
- Depreciation
- Claimed separately, with its own rules
- Effort through the year
- Higher, and it cannot be rebuilt from a bank feed
- Typically favors
- Expensive vehicles, low-mileage years
Standard Rate vs Actual Expenses
Standard mileage rate
- Core record
- Mileage log
- What you track
- Business and total miles
- Depreciation
- Built into rate
- Effort
- Low if logged
Actual expenses
- Core record
- Log and cost records
- What you track
- Every cost plus miles
- Depreciation
- Claimed separately
- Effort
- Higher, not reconstructable
Most claims that fail, fail on the split rather than the receipts. A folder of fuel receipts proves you bought fuel. It says nothing about which share of those miles was business.
Where vehicle expense ranks against your other deductions is set out in business deductions, which applies a test rather than a list.
The first-year choice
The method used in the first year a vehicle is placed in business service generally decides what stays open later. Take the standard rate then and both options remain. Start with actual expenses and claim depreciation, and the standard rate can close for that vehicle.
Leased vehicles follow a related restriction: the method you begin with usually holds for the lease term.
One answer need not cover a fleet; each vehicle carries its own first year. Which return the claim lands on is in federal business tax.
Which miles the rate applies to
Commuting is personal. The drive from home to a regular workplace does not count at any distance, and a work call on the way changes nothing.
Stops between business locations count. Client sites, job sites, suppliers, and the bank for a business deposit are ordinary business miles.
A qualifying home office changes the map. If the home is your principal place of business, trips from it to other work locations can be business miles. That qualification has conditions, so check them.
Mixed trips split. A drive with a business purpose and a personal one is not all business because the business stop came first.
Employees face a different rule. Unreimbursed employee vehicle costs have been treated differently in recent years, so ask whether the employer can reimburse instead.
What a defensible log holds
Four fields per trip:
- Date.
- Destination, specific enough to be checked.
- Business purpose, the field an examiner reads first.
- Milesdriven on that trip.
Across the year:
- Odometer readingsat the start and at the end.
- Total miles driven, so the business share is a share of something real.
- Tolls and parkingfor business trips, kept separate from the per-mile figure.
- One consistent system, whether an app, a glovebox notebook or a Friday spreadsheet.
Write entries as you drive. A log built in April from a calendar and a hopeful mood can hold the same numbers as a contemporaneous one, and only one reads as evidence. What supported means in a review is covered in tax records and audits.
When the business pays for the driving
Reimbursing an owner or employee for business driving needs a proper arrangement. Set it up badly and the payments look like compensation: taxed as pay, with payroll duties attached, while the deduction disappears.
The log requirement does not vanish when a company pays. It doubles, because two parties now need the same record to agree. Personal use of a company-owned vehicle is a separate reporting matter and a frequent blind spot for single-owner corporations.
Which rules apply turns on how the business is structured and taxed, the groundwork covered in entity tax treatment.
Where a claim goes wrong
- Guessing a business-use percentage rather than measuring it.
- Adding fuel and repairs on top of the standard rate, which already covers them.
- Switching methods without checking whether the switch is allowed.
Common questions
What is the standard mileage rate for the tax year I am filing?
Can I use the standard rate, or must I use actual expenses?
Are tolls and parking included in the per-mile rate?
Can I switch between the methods?
In this guide
- How mileage rates translate into a real deductionMileage rates cost: what a standard per-mile rate bundles together, what actual-expense tracking costs to prove, and how to compare the two without a figure.
- Ten mileage cases compared, from the long commute to the app exportTen invented mileage cases, with no figures: the long commute, the spare-room office, the unreviewed app export, and what each one actually turns on.
- Nine mileage rates mistakes that cost you a deductionThe nine mileage rates mistakes that cost vehicle deductions, from counting the commute to guessing a business-use share, and what each one needs to survive.
- How mileage rates services differ, and what they costMileage services split into trip-capture apps and licensed preparers. Here is what each charges, what each does, and how to check a credential.
- Mileage log comparison: pick the one you will still keep in SeptemberA mileage log comparison: notebook, spreadsheet, apps and a bookkeeping tool, with costs, failure points and what the log must show by ownership.
- Log, category, method: the three passes of a mileage rates reviewMileage claim review in three passes: read the log first, then the category of each trip, then the method the vehicle is on, and know when to stop.
