2024 Standard Mileage Deduction: Rates, Rules & Claiming

The standard mileage deduction offers a simplified way to account for the costs of using your vehicle for certain purposes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides this option as an alternative to the more complex method of tracking all actual car expenses, such as gas, insurance, and repairs. By using a set rate per mile, taxpayers can reduce their recordkeeping burden while still capturing a deduction for vehicle use related to business, medical, or charitable activities.

2024 Standard Mileage Rates

The IRS has issued the official standard mileage rates for the 2024 tax year, which are used to calculate deductible costs on tax returns filed in 2025. For business use of a vehicle, the rate is 67 cents per mile.

For medical purposes, the rate for 2024 is 21 cents per mile. This same rate also applies to moving expenses for qualified active-duty members of the Armed Forces. The rate for miles driven in service of a qualified charitable organization is 14 cents per mile. These rates apply to electric, hybrid, gasoline, and diesel-powered vehicles.

Eligibility for Business Use

The ability to deduct business-related mileage is primarily available to self-employed individuals, independent contractors, and gig economy workers. A deductible business mile is one driven for a specific business purpose, such as traveling to a client’s location, driving between different job sites, or making a trip to the bank for a business deposit.

A significant distinction exists between deductible business travel and non-deductible commuting. The IRS defines commuting as travel between your home and your main or regular place of work, and these miles are considered a personal expense. For example, a freelance graphic designer driving from their home office to meet a new client can deduct those miles, but a carpenter driving from home to their single, permanent workshop each day cannot.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), W-2 employees are prohibited from deducting unreimbursed employee travel expenses on their federal tax returns through 2025. This means that if an employer does not reimburse an employee for using their personal vehicle for work, the employee cannot claim the standard mileage deduction.

There are also limitations on when the standard mileage rate can be used. If a taxpayer has previously claimed depreciation on the vehicle using a method other than straight-line, they may be barred from using the standard mileage rate. For leased vehicles, if the standard rate is chosen, it must be used for the entire lease period.

Qualifying Medical and Charitable Driving

Beyond business use, mileage for specific medical and charitable activities can also be deducted. Deductible medical travel includes the cost of driving to receive medical care from physicians, dentists, or other recognized medical practitioners. This also covers trips to a pharmacy to pick up prescriptions or to a hospital for treatment. The travel must be primarily for, and essential to, medical care.

Driving performed in service to a qualified charitable organization can also generate a deduction. This includes traveling to perform volunteer work or to attend meetings as an official representative of the charity. The organization must be recognized by the IRS as a qualified charity.

Required Recordkeeping

To support a claim for the standard mileage deduction, the IRS requires taxpayers to maintain thorough and contemporaneous records. This means records should be created at or near the time of the travel. A detailed mileage log is the primary form of this documentation and must contain specific pieces of information for each trip.

For every trip, the log must document the date and the total distance in miles. It is also necessary to record the destination or location of the travel. The log must also clearly state the purpose of the trip. For example, a business entry might read “Meeting with ABC Corp,” while a charitable entry could be “Volunteer shift at food bank.”

At the end of the year, the taxpayer must have a summary of the total miles driven for each purpose: business, medical, and charitable. Acceptable formats for a mileage log can range from a simple physical notebook or a spreadsheet to a specialized mobile application that uses GPS to track and categorize trips automatically.

Calculating and Claiming the Deduction

Once the year’s mileage has been logged and totaled, calculating the deduction is a straightforward process. The total miles driven for each category—business, medical, or charitable—are multiplied by the corresponding 2024 standard mileage rate. For instance, a self-employed consultant who drove 1,000 business miles would calculate their deduction as 1,000 miles times $0.67, resulting in a $670 deduction.

Certain other vehicle-related expenses are not incorporated into the standard mileage rate and can be deducted separately. These include business-related parking fees and tolls incurred during travel. These costs should be tracked alongside mileage to be claimed in addition to the mileage deduction.

The final calculated deduction is then reported on the appropriate tax form. For self-employed individuals, the business mileage deduction is entered on Schedule C (Form 1040). For individuals claiming medical or charitable mileage, the deductions are reported on Schedule A (Form 1040) as itemized deductions.