Calculate your 2025 IRS standard mileage deductions across all categories — business, medical, charity, and military. Enter your miles for each use type and see your total deduction instantly.
The standard mileage method values your business driving at a flat IRS rate per mile, so you simply multiply your substantiated business miles by the applicable rate instead of tracking every gas, insurance, repair, and depreciation cost. The rate is set annually and bundles all of those operating costs into one figure. For 2025 the rates are 70¢ per mile for business, 21¢ for medical and qualified active-duty military moving, and 14¢ for charitable driving. For 2026 the business rate rises to 72.5¢, medical/moving falls to 20.5¢, and the statutory charitable rate stays at 14¢.
The alternative is the actual-expense method, where you total the real costs of operating the vehicle (fuel, oil, tires, insurance, registration, lease payments or depreciation, repairs) and deduct the business-use percentage. The standard rate is simpler and needs only a mileage log; actual expenses can produce a larger deduction for expensive or heavily driven vehicles but require far more recordkeeping.
A self-employed consultant drives 12,000 business miles in 2025. Using the standard mileage method, the deduction is 12,000 × $0.70 = $8,400, reported on Schedule C. If that same driver instead documented $9,800 of total vehicle costs and the car was used 70% for business, the actual-expense deduction would be $9,800 × 70% = $6,860 — so here the standard method wins. The right choice depends on the vehicle and the miles, which is why it is worth running both.
Commuting between home and a regular workplace is never deductible — only business trips between work locations, to clients, or for errands count. If you own the vehicle and want the flexibility to switch methods later, you must use the standard mileage rate in the first year the car is placed in service; a leased vehicle that starts on the standard rate must keep it for the entire lease term. Note also that the standard rate includes a depreciation component (33¢ per mile for 2025, 35¢ for 2026) that reduces your vehicle’s basis. Finally, unreimbursed employee mileage is not deductible for most W-2 workers because the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended miscellaneous itemized deductions, a suspension the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made permanent.
Yes. The business rate increases to 72.5¢ per mile for 2026 (from 70¢ in 2025), the medical and military-moving rate decreases to 20.5¢ (from 21¢), and the charitable rate remains 14¢ because it is fixed by statute rather than the annual cost study.
Generally no. The deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses, including mileage, is suspended for most employees through the TCJA and now permanently under OBBBA. Limited exceptions exist (for example, certain reservists, qualified performing artists, and fee-basis government officials). The better route for employees is an employer accountable-plan reimbursement, which is tax-free.
Yes. The IRS requires a contemporaneous record showing the date, destination, business purpose, and miles for each trip. A mileage app or a written log satisfies this; reconstructed or estimated logs are routinely disallowed on audit.