Mileage Reimbursement Calculator

Calculate Your Mileage Reimbursement

If you drive for work, medical appointments, or charitable purposes, the IRS allows you to deduct mileage at a standard rate — no need to track individual gas receipts, oil changes, or tire replacements. Our calculator computes your total reimbursement or deduction based on the current IRS standard mileage rate, your miles driven, and the purpose of your travel.

Enter your business, medical, and/or charity miles driven. The calculator applies the current IRS rate for each category and shows your total reimbursement amount or tax deduction.

2026 IRS Standard Mileage Rates: Business: $0.70 per mile. Medical/Moving: $0.22 per mile. Charity: $0.14 per mile. A salesperson driving 15,000 business miles in 2026 can deduct $10,500. A ride-share driver logging 25,000 business miles: $17,500 deduction.

How the IRS Mileage Deduction Works

The IRS standard mileage rate is a simplified method that bundles all vehicle operating costs — gas, insurance, depreciation, maintenance, tires, registration, and lease payments — into a single per-mile rate. Instead of tracking dozens of individual expenses, you track just one thing: miles driven for qualifying purposes.

Who can use it: Employees who drive for work (if their employer doesn't reimburse), self-employed individuals (Schedule C filers), gig workers (Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart), and anyone with qualifying medical or charitable driving. W-2 employees whose employers reimburse mileage don't deduct it — the reimbursement is the benefit.

Business mileage is the most valuable category at $0.70/mile. This includes driving from one work location to another, driving to meet clients, traveling between job sites, and for self-employed/gig workers, driving between assignments. Your commute from home to your regular office is NOT deductible — it's personal, not business.

Exception for home offices: If you have a qualifying home office (used regularly and exclusively for business), drives from your home office to client sites or other business locations ARE deductible business miles, because your home is your primary business location.

Medical mileage ($0.22/mile) covers driving to and from medical appointments, hospitals, pharmacies, and treatment facilities. Only deductible if you itemize deductions AND your total medical expenses exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income — a high bar that most taxpayers don't clear.

Charitable mileage ($0.14/mile) covers driving for qualified charitable organizations — volunteering at a food bank, driving for a nonprofit. The rate is set by statute and rarely changes. The deduction requires itemizing.

Standard Mileage Rate vs. Actual Expenses

The IRS offers two methods for deducting vehicle expenses. You should calculate both and choose the one that produces the larger deduction.

Standard mileage rate method: Multiply qualifying miles by the IRS rate ($0.70/mile for business in 2026). Simple, requires only a mileage log. Best for: vehicles with good fuel efficiency, lower insurance costs, newer cars with less maintenance, and people who don't want to track every receipt.

Actual expense method: Track every vehicle expense — gas, oil, insurance, repairs, tires, registration, depreciation, lease payments, parking, tolls — then multiply the total by your business-use percentage. If you spend $12,000/year on vehicle expenses and use the car 60% for business, your deduction is $7,200. Best for: expensive vehicles, vehicles with high maintenance costs, and people with meticulous record-keeping.

Example comparison: A self-employed consultant drives 18,000 business miles in a vehicle that costs $10,000/year to operate (all expenses), with 75% business use. Standard method: 18,000 x $0.70 = $12,600. Actual method: $10,000 x 0.75 = $7,500. Standard method wins by $5,100 — choose standard. But if the vehicle costs $20,000/year to operate: actual method gives $15,000 vs. standard's $12,600 — choose actual.

Important rule: If you use the standard mileage rate in the first year you use a car for business, you can switch to actual expenses in a later year. But if you start with actual expenses using MACRS depreciation, you cannot switch to the standard rate for that vehicle — ever. Choose carefully in year one.

Mileage Tracking Requirements

The IRS requires "contemporaneous records" — a mileage log maintained at or near the time of each trip. Reconstructing a year's worth of mileage from memory in April is not compliant and won't survive an audit.

What to record for each trip: Date. Starting location. Destination. Business purpose (brief description: "client meeting with Smith Corp," "delivery to warehouse"). Miles driven. Odometer readings at start and end are ideal but not strictly required if total miles are accurately recorded.

Mileage tracking apps make this painless. Everlance, MileIQ, Stride, and TripLog use your phone's GPS to automatically detect and log trips. Most offer free tiers sufficient for moderate use. The best time to start tracking is now — every unlogged business mile is a lost deduction.

How much is a mileage deduction worth? It depends on your tax bracket. A $10,000 mileage deduction for a self-employed person in the 22% federal bracket (plus 15.3% self-employment tax, plus ~5% state tax) saves approximately $4,230 in total taxes. For high-mileage gig workers, mileage deductions are often the single largest tax savings available.

Mileage Deductions for Gig Workers

Ride-share drivers (Uber, Lyft) and delivery drivers (DoorDash, Instacart, Grubhub) typically accumulate 20,000–40,000+ business miles annually. At $0.70/mile, that's $14,000–$28,000 in deductions — often enough to eliminate most or all tax liability on gig income.

What counts as business miles for gig workers: Miles driven from accepting a ride/delivery request to dropping off the passenger/delivery. Miles driven between deliveries while the app is active and you're seeking work. Miles driven to required vehicle inspections or to the deactivation hub. NOT your commute from home to the area where you start working (unless your home qualifies as your business location).

The math that surprises most gig workers: Gross Uber income of $40,000 with 30,000 business miles: mileage deduction = $21,000. Net self-employment income = $19,000. Self-employment tax on $19,000 = $2,685. Federal income tax = approximately $1,200–$2,000 (depending on bracket and other income). Total tax: approximately $3,900–$4,700 on $40,000 gross income — an effective rate of 10–12%, thanks largely to the mileage deduction. Without tracking mileage, the tax would be approximately $9,500–$11,000.