The complete guide to the 2026 business mileage deduction for self-employed professionals and 1099 workers. Who qualifies, how to calculate it, historical rates, and what records the IRS requires.
The IRS standard mileage rate is the amount per mile you can deduct for business driving instead of tracking your actual vehicle expenses. The rate is set by the IRS each year to reflect average fuel costs, vehicle depreciation, insurance, and maintenance.
Using the standard mileage rate is simpler than the actual expense method: you track miles, not receipts. Every business mile multiplied by the rate equals your deduction. No need to keep fuel logs, insurance statements, or repair records. The trade-off is that if your actual vehicle costs are unusually high (for example, if you drive a new vehicle with significant depreciation), the actual expense method might produce a larger deduction.
For most freelancers and 1099 workers, the standard mileage rate is the right choice. It is straightforward, well-documented, and accepted by the IRS with a proper mileage log.
| Tax Year | Rate (cents per mile) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 72.5¢ (Jan-Jun) / 76¢ (Jul-Dec) | Current rate. Mid-year increase due to fuel prices |
| 2025 | 70¢ | |
| 2024 | 67¢ | |
| 2023 | 65.5¢ | |
| 2022 | 58.5¢ (Jan-Jun) / 62.5¢ (Jul-Dec) | Mid-year increase due to fuel prices |
| 2021 | 56¢ | |
| 2020 | 57.5¢ | |
| 2019 | 58¢ |
The IRS typically announces each year's rate in December of the prior year via an IRS Notice. It opened 2026 at 72.5 cents per mile, then raised the rate to 76 cents for miles driven on or after July 1, 2026, after gas prices rose sharply in the first half of the year. It last did this in 2022. Miles you drove before July 1 stay at 72.5 cents; the new rate does not reach back.
The standard mileage rate deduction is available to self-employed individuals who report business income on Schedule C. This includes:
Commuting was never deductible. Driving between home and your regular place of work is a personal expense for everyone, employee or self-employed. What changed for W-2 employees is other job-related driving, such as trips between work sites. Employees used to be able to deduct that as an unreimbursed employee business expense, but the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended those deductions starting in 2018, and the 2025 tax law made the suspension permanent. If you have both W-2 and 1099 income, you can deduct mileage only for the self-employed portion of your work.
You must choose between the standard mileage rate and the actual expense method in the first year you place a vehicle in service for business. If you start with actual expenses, you cannot switch to the standard mileage rate in a later year for that same vehicle.
The calculation is straightforward:
To find your deduction, total your business miles for each half of the year. Multiply the January to June miles by 0.725 (72.5 cents) and the July to December miles by 0.76 (76 cents), then add the two. The result is the dollar amount you deduct on Schedule C, Line 9 (Car and truck expenses). This reduces your net self-employment profit, which in turn reduces both your income tax and your self-employment tax (15.3%). You can run the numbers for any year or trip type with our free mileage deduction calculator.
Because the deduction reduces self-employment tax as well as income tax, its actual value to a freelancer is higher than it first appears. A $5,940 mileage deduction for someone in the 22% income tax bracket, also subject to 15.3% SE tax, saves them over $2,100 in total federal taxes.
The rate change makes your log more important this year, since the deduction now depends on when you drove as well as how far. Before your next estimated tax payment, pull your business miles on each side of July 1. If you logged 4,000 miles by June 30, that is a $2,900 deduction already earned, and every mile since is worth 76 cents. Size your January 15 fourth-quarter payment accordingly instead of overpaying.
Two checks are worth doing now. First, scan for gaps: weeks with client work but no logged trips usually mean forgotten deductions, and a log reconstructed from memory in April is exactly what the IRS discounts in an audit. Second, rerun your numbers: our mileage deduction calculator turns year-to-date miles into a deduction figure, and the self-employment tax estimator shows what that deduction does to your quarterly payment.
Business mileage is driving that is ordinary and necessary for your self-employed work. Qualifying trips include:
Commuting from home to a fixed, regular place of work is not deductible. However, if your home office is your principal place of business (which applies to most freelancers who work from home), trips from your home to client sites are considered business travel, not commuting. See commuting vs business mileage for the full breakdown.
The IRS requires you to keep a contemporaneous mileage log documenting:
"Contemporaneous" means recorded at or near the time of the trip. A log reconstructed from memory months later is not acceptable. The IRS can disallow the entire mileage deduction if you cannot produce adequate records during an audit.
A digital mileage log created by a tracking app satisfies the IRS record-keeping requirement. Keep records for at least three years after you file the return claiming the deduction (or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later). For the exact records the IRS expects, see IRS mileage log requirements.
You have several options for maintaining an IRS-compliant mileage log:
The biggest risk with any manual system is forgetting to log trips. Even a few weeks of missing entries can cost you hundreds of dollars in lost deductions. A dedicated app removes that friction and ensures your log is always up to date.
Your mileage deduction reduces your Schedule C net profit, which reduces your self-employment tax. Once you know your deductible miles, the Self Employment Tax Estimator helps you calculate your quarterly estimated tax payments so you stay compliant and avoid IRS underpayment penalties. Their guides for gig workers, freelancers, and 1099 contractors explain exactly how mileage deductions flow through to your tax bill.
Self Employment Toolkit logs your trips, applies the right rate for each trip's date, and exports a complete mileage log ready for your accountant. Free to use.
Try the Mileage Tracker