✅ Current for tax year 2026
Mileage is usually the single largest deduction for anyone who drives for work — deliveries, rideshare, client visits, supply runs. For 2026, the IRS split the standard mileage rate mid-year, so this calculator asks for your business miles in two halves and does the math correctly for each.
Your 2026 mileage deduction
This uses the flat IRS standard mileage rate, which covers gas, insurance, depreciation, and maintenance combined — you can't also deduct those costs separately if you use this method. You need a contemporaneous log (date, miles, business purpose) for every trip; the deduction reduces your Schedule C net profit, which lowers both your self-employment tax and income tax.
Data sources for this calculator (2026 figures):
- IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — 2026 federal income tax brackets and standard deduction
- Social Security Administration, 2026 COLA release — 2026 Social Security wage base ($184,500)
- IRS — 2026 standard mileage rates notice — 72.5¢/mile (Jan–Jun) and 76¢/mile (Jul–Dec)
Why the rate changes mid-year
The IRS sets the standard mileage rate to approximate the real cost of operating a vehicle — fuel, insurance, depreciation, maintenance — all rolled into one flat per-mile number. For 2026, that rate is 72.5 cents per mile from January through June, rising to 76 cents per mile from July through December. Using the wrong rate for the wrong half of the year is a common, easy-to-avoid mistake.
How to use it
- Split your total miles into the two halves of the year — if you only have an annual total, check your mileage-tracking app or log for the June 30 cutoff.
- Enter business miles only — commuting from home to a regular workplace doesn’t count, but driving between gig deliveries, to client meetings, or for supply runs does.
What this deduction actually does
The dollar amount this calculator produces isn’t a check from the IRS — it’s a reduction to your Schedule C net profit. A lower net profit means less self-employment tax and federal income tax, which is where the real savings show up. See the full deductions list for how mileage fits alongside your other write-offs.
One rule to know
The standard mileage rate already bundles in gas, insurance, depreciation, and maintenance. If you use this method, you can’t also deduct those costs separately — it’s one or the other, not both, for the same vehicle in the same year.
A quick example
Say you drove 6,000 business miles from January through June and 5,500 from July through December in 2026. The first half is worth 6,000 × $0.725 = $4,350. The second half is worth 5,500 × $0.76 = $4,180. Your total mileage deduction is $8,530 — a single number that reduces your Schedule C net profit directly, the same way any other business expense does. Missing the mid-year rate change and applying the January rate to your entire year would understate this deduction by roughly $170 — small on its own, but a mistake that compounds if repeated for years.
What counts as a business mile
The IRS draws a clear line between commuting and business driving, and it trips people up constantly. Driving from home to a single, regular workplace is commuting — not deductible, even if you’re self-employed. But driving between two work locations, to a client meeting, to pick up supplies, or between gig deliveries once you’re actively working, is a business mile. For gig and delivery drivers specifically, miles driven while the app is on and you’re available for a delivery generally count, even between drop-offs — but the drive from your house to the spot where you first turn the app on for the day typically doesn’t, the same way a regular commute wouldn’t. When the line is unclear, the test is whether the trip has a genuine business purpose beyond just getting to your usual starting point.
Should you switch methods next year?
If you started with standard mileage in your vehicle’s first year of business use, you generally have the option to switch to the actual-expense method in a later year — but the reverse isn’t always true. Once you use actual expenses (including certain accelerated depreciation methods) on a vehicle, switching back to standard mileage for that same vehicle can be restricted or unavailable, depending on the depreciation method originally used. This asymmetry means the decision in year one carries more weight than it might seem: starting with standard mileage keeps your options open going forward, while starting with actual expenses can lock you into that method for the vehicle’s useful life. When in doubt, standard mileage’s simplicity and flexibility make it the more common starting choice for gig and delivery work specifically.
Multiple vehicles, one business
If you use more than one vehicle for business purposes across the year — your own car for deliveries and a truck for occasional equipment hauling, for example — mileage is tracked and calculated separately for each vehicle, not combined into one pool. You can potentially use standard mileage for one vehicle and actual expenses for another in the same year, since the method choice is made per-vehicle, not per-business. This matters for anyone whose work involves genuinely different types of driving with different vehicles — the paperwork burden is higher (separate logs for each), but so is the potential to optimize each vehicle’s deduction using whichever method suits its specific cost profile best.
Keep reading
- More deductions & exemptions.
- 1099 & quarterly tax calculator — see your full tax picture after deductions.