IRS Standard Mileage Rate History, 2000 to 2026 (With the July 2026 Change)

2026 has two business rates. Miles driven January 1 through June 30 are 72.5 cents. Miles driven from July 1 are 76 cents, after the IRS raised the rate because of fuel prices.

Detected, then confirmed

Rate by trip date

Sample data. Detected drives wait for confirmation before they count, and each trip carries the IRS rate for its own date.

Use the rate for the period when you drove the miles. Filing in 2027 doesn't make a June 2026 trip worth 76 cents, and a reimbursement paid in August for June miles still uses 72.5.

Business, medical and moving, and the depreciation part of the business rate, in cents per mile, newest first. Years with a mid-year change have two rows. The general charitable rate was 14 cents every year.

The IRS normally sets the rate once a year. Five times since 2000 it raised the rate partway through the year, each time citing recent increases in fuel or gasoline prices.

The 2005 and 2008 increases were the largest, 8 cents each. In every case the depreciation part stayed at the year's original figure. Some history pages leave out the 2008 change or stop at 72.5 cents for 2026.

Part of every business mile you claim at the standard rate is depreciation on the vehicle: 35 cents of the 2026 rate. You don't deduct it separately, but it lowers the vehicle's basis, which matters when you switch to actual expenses or sell it. Basis can't go below zero.

The deduction uses both halves of 2022 and 2026, 7,500 miles at each half's rate; the basis reduction doesn't, because the depreciation part didn't change mid-year.

Three jobs need a past year's rate, and each uses the rate for when the miles were driven.

The medical and moving rate covers only the variable costs of driving, so it's lower. Since 2018 the moving rate applies only to active-duty armed forces moving under orders, and from 2026 also to certain intelligence community members moving for a change of assignment.

The charitable rate is 14 cents by law, not set by the IRS, and has been since 1998. Congress set temporary higher rates twice, only for disaster relief travel. Hurricane Katrina relief: 29 cents for August 25 to 31, 2005, 34 cents for the rest of 2005, and 32 cents for 2006. Relief in the 2008 Midwestern disaster areas: 36 cents through June 30, 2008 and 41 cents for July 1 to December 31, 2008.

Each year an independent contractor studies the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile for the IRS. The business rate reflects all of them; the medical and moving rate reflects only the variable costs. The rate is optional: you can deduct actual expenses instead, under the method rules in Publication 463.