If you drive for work — visiting clients, picking up supplies, heading to a co-working space — the IRS lets you deduct those miles. And the standard mileage rate is the simplest way to do it.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2026 rate and how to use it.

What Is the Standard Mileage Rate?

The standard mileage rate is a per-mile deduction the IRS sets each year. Instead of tracking every gas receipt, oil change, and repair bill, you simply multiply your business miles by the rate.

The IRS announces the rate each December for the following year. For 2026, the business standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile. (Always verify the current rate at IRS.gov before filing.)

There are also rates for other purposes:

• Medical or moving purposes: 21 cents per mile
• Charitable service: 14 cents per mile (set by statute, rarely changes)

For freelancers and self-employed workers, the business rate is the one that matters.

Who Can Use It?

You can use the standard mileage rate if you:

• Are self-employed, a freelancer, or an independent contractor
• Own or lease the vehicle you’re deducting
• Did not previously claim MACRS depreciation or a Section 179 deduction on the same vehicle

If you have multiple vehicles you use for business, you can apply the rate to each one separately.

What Counts as a Business Mile?

Not every mile you drive qualifies. The IRS only allows deductions for miles driven for legitimate business purposes, including:

• Driving to meet a client
• Traveling between job sites or work locations
• Going to a bank, post office, or supply store for business reasons
• Attending a business conference or professional event

What doesn’t count:

• Commuting from your home to a regular office (even if you’re self-employed, your “first and last trip” of the day usually doesn’t count if you have a fixed work location)
• Personal errands mixed in with business trips
• Driving to a gym, personal appointments, or anywhere not directly related to work

If you work from a home office that qualifies as your principal place of business, your trips from home to client sites or meetings are deductible.

Standard Mileage Rate vs. Actual Expense Method

You have two ways to deduct vehicle costs:

Standard mileage rate: Multiply business miles by the IRS rate. Simple, no receipts required (beyond a mileage log).

Actual expense method: Deduct your real costs — gas, insurance, registration, repairs, depreciation — proportional to business use. More paperwork, but potentially larger deduction if you drive an expensive vehicle or rack up high maintenance costs.

You must choose which method to use in the first year you place the vehicle in service for business. If you start with the standard mileage rate, you can switch to actual expenses later (though not vice versa after using certain depreciation methods).

For most freelancers, the standard mileage rate wins on simplicity. Unless you drive a lot and have high vehicle costs, it’s the better default.

How to Track Your Mileage

The IRS requires a contemporaneous mileage log — meaning you record trips as they happen, not from memory at tax time. Your log needs to capture:

• Date of the trip
• Starting and ending location
• Business purpose
• Miles driven

A notebook in your glove box works, but a mileage tracking app is far more reliable. numlr automatically logs your drives and categorizes them, so your mileage log is always ready when you need it. No manual entries, no guessing at year-end.

How Much Can You Deduct?

At 72.5 cents per mile, the math is straightforward:

Annual Business Miles	Deduction
5,000	$3,625
10,000	$7,250
15,000	$10,875
20,000	$14,500

For a freelancer in the 22% tax bracket, 10,000 business miles means roughly $1,595 in tax savings. That’s real money — and most freelancers undercount their miles because they’re not tracking consistently.

Don’t Leave Miles on the Table

The standard mileage deduction is one of the most consistently underclaimed deductions for freelancers. The reason isn’t complexity — it’s lack of tracking. Trips get forgotten. Logs go unmaintained. Year-end estimates are always lower than reality.

The fix is capturing miles automatically, in real time. numlr tracks your business drives in the background and keeps your mileage log IRS-ready all year long. Try numlr free and start counting every mile you’re owed.