IRS Standard Mileage Rate 2026: The Split-Year Rates Explained

2026 has two business mileage rates, not one. Here is what changed in July, why, and exactly how to handle a log that spans both halves of the year.

The two rates

In Notice 2026-10, issued December 2025, the IRS set the 2026 business standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile, up 2.5 cents from the 2025 rate of 70 cents. Then rising fuel costs prompted a mid-year revision: Announcement 2026-11, published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin in mid-2026, raised the business rate to 76 cents per mile for transportation expenses paid or incurred on or after July 1, 2026. The medical and moving rate moved from 20.5 to 23.5 cents on the same date. The charitable rate did not move because it is fixed at 14 cents by Section 170(i) of the tax code; the IRS cannot adjust it.

The practical consequence is a split-year log. Business miles driven January 1 through June 30, 2026 are deducted at 72.5 cents; miles driven July 1 through December 31 at 76 cents. If you tracked the whole year as one block, you need to reconstruct the split from appointment records, app histories, or calendar entries before filing.

Why the rate changed mid-year

The standard mileage rate is built from fixed costs (depreciation, insurance, registration) and variable costs (gas, oil, maintenance). The IRS updates it annually from cost studies, but it can revise mid-year when fuel prices move sharply. The last mid-year change was 2022, when the rate rose from 58.5 to 62.5 cents on July 1. The 2026 revision followed the same playbook: fuel costs rose enough in the first half of the year that the original rate no longer reflected real driving costs.

Employers felt the change too. In states like California that require expense reimbursement, accountable-plan reimbursements had to switch to the new rate for expenses incurred on or after July 1, 2026, or risk the reimbursements losing their tax-free status.

Which miles count as business miles

Business miles are miles driven for your trade or business: visiting clients, driving between job sites, going to the bank or post office for business, and for gig workers, miles driven with the app on and available plus miles between rides. Commuting from home to a regular workplace is never deductible, even if you work from home sometimes. Driving from home to a temporary work location (generally under a year) can qualify.

For rideshare and delivery drivers, the deductible miles include deadhead miles between fares while the app is on, not just miles with a passenger. The apps track these; download the annual summary and reconcile it against your own log.

Splitting a year you tracked as one block

If your 2026 log has a single annual total, reconstruct the halves in this order. First, pull any app or GPS history with dates; gig platforms keep trip-level records. Second, use calendar and invoice records to date the big trips. Third, for routine recurring routes, allocate proportionally by working days in each half (about 125 business days in H1 2026 versus 130 in H2, adjusted for your time off). Document the method; a reasonable reconstruction beats a guess, and the IRS accepts reasonable methods when records are incomplete, though never as gladly as a contemporaneous log.

2025 versus 2026: the comparison

The 2025 rate was 70 cents all year. A driver with 15,000 business miles deducted $10,500 for 2025. The same 15,000 miles split evenly across 2026 halves deducts $11,138 (7,500 at 72.5 cents plus 7,500 at 76 cents), about $638 more. Drivers whose miles skew to the second half do slightly better; the lesson for 2027 planning is that the rate you get depends on when you drive, not just how far.

Sources: IRS News Release IR-2025-128; IRS Announcement 2026-11; IRS standard mileage rates page (irs.gov). Data current as of October 2026. Not tax advice.

Frequently asked questions

What is the IRS business mileage rate for the second half of 2026?

76 cents per mile for business miles driven July 1 through December 31, 2026, per IRS Announcement 2026-11. Miles driven January 1 through June 30 use 72.5 cents.

Why did the mileage rate change in the middle of 2026?

Rising fuel costs made the original 72.5-cent rate outdated. The IRS revised it mid-year for the first time since 2022, when it made a similar July increase.

What is the charitable mileage rate for 2026?

14 cents per mile all year. It is fixed by statute (Section 170(i)) and the IRS cannot adjust it.

Do I really need two mileage totals for 2026?

Yes. The two halves of the year use different rates, so your deduction needs separate January-June and July-December business mile totals.

What was the 2025 mileage rate?

70 cents per mile for all of 2025, per IRS Notice 2025-5.