What is the irs deduction for mileage

Guy Benhamou sends a picture of gas prices to friends while pumping gas at an Exxon Mobil gas station on June 9, 2022 in Houston.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

If you're self-employed or own a small business, you may soon be eligible for a little relief from soaring gas prices.

Starting on July 1, the standard mileage rate — used to deduct eligible business trips in a vehicle on tax returns — increases by 4 cents to 62.5 cents per mile, according to the IRS. The new rate applies to trips during the second half of 2022.

The rate for medical trips or active-duty military moving will also increase by 4 cents, allowing eligible filers to claim 22 cents per mile. But the rate for charitable organizations remains unchanged at 14 cents.

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"The IRS is adjusting the standard mileage rates to better reflect the recent increase in fuel prices," IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement.

The change comes as gas prices continue to hit records, swelling to more than $5 per gallon nationally, sparked by an increased demand and shortages partially caused by the war in Ukraine.

Annual inflation grew by 8.6% in May, the highest increase since December 1981, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with surging fuel costs significantly contributing to the gain. 

Midyear mileage changes are 'unusual'

"It is unusual for the IRS to have a midyear change in the standard mileage rate," said certified financial planner Tricia Rosen, principal at Access Financial Planning in Andover, Massachusetts.

There's only been a half-yearly shift three times since 2008, she explained, with the most recent one in 2011. Each one happened after a spike in gas prices, she said.

It is unusual for the IRS to have a midyear change in the standard mileage rate.

Tricia Rosen

Principal at Access Financial Planning

To claim the deduction, keep good driving records

While it's always important to track mileage, including travel dates, it will be even more critical in 2022 to make sure the correct rates apply to each trip, Rosen said. 

The standard mileage rate isn't mandatory, according to the IRS. Taxpayers also have the option to calculate actual costs, which involves deducting a percentage of the vehicles' total expenses. But either way, you'll need detailed record-keeping.

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"The IRS wants to see a logbook of business, medical and personal miles in order to prove that you are entitled to the deduction," said Laurette Dearden, a CFP and CPA at the firm in her name in Laurel, Maryland. 

You'll need to show the beginning and ending mileage, the business or medical purpose for the trip and the date in your logbook. But realistically, very few people keep these kinds of records, she said.

However, you can use mobile apps to automatically track mileage, which may make it easier at tax time, she suggests.

• To use the actual expenses method, add up all the money you actually spent operating your vehicle and multiply that figure by the percentage of the vehicle’s business use (e.g. if half your mileage is for business, multiply by 50%).

• To use the standard mileage method, keep track of the miles you drive for business throughout the tax year and multiply that number by the standard mileage rate.

• The standard mileage rate for the first half of 2022 is 58.5 cents per mile and is increased to 62.5 cents per mile for the second half of 2022.

Actual expenses vs. standard mileage method

If you drive for a company such as Uber, the business use of your car is probably your largest business expense. Taking this tax deduction is one of the best ways to reduce your taxable income and your tax burden.

This is doubly important because you have to pay two separate taxes on your ridesharing income—once for your income tax and once for your self-employment tax (the amount you contribute as a self-employed individual to Social Security and Medicare). Both taxes are based on the net profit of your business, which can be reduced by taking a deduction for the use of your car for your business.

The IRS offers two ways of calculating the cost of using your vehicle in your business:

1. The actual expenses method, or
2. Standard mileage rate method

Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, and they often produce vastly different results. Actual expenses might produce a larger tax deduction one year, and the standard mileage rate might produce a larger deduction the next.

If you want to use the standard mileage rate method in any tax year, you must do so in the first tax year you use your car for business. In later years you can choose to switch back and forth between the methods from year to year. Each year, you’ll want to calculate your expenses both ways and then choose the method that yields the larger deduction and greater tax benefit to you. If you use the actual expense method in the first year you are required to continue to use this method for that specific vehicle in future years.

Below you’ll find an easy-to-follow road map to choosing the best method for you, this year.

Two types of expenses

As a self-employed owner of a ridesharing business, you’ll report your business income as well as your business expenses on Schedule C. The chart below breaks total rideshare business expenses into two main groups for 2022:

1. Common operating expenses and
2. Vehicle expenses

Many of the items listed in the chart apply both to your business and to your personal use. For example, you might use the same phone and wireless plan for both your business and your personal life.

• For tax purposes, you need to calculate the percentage of each expense that applies to your business and deduct only that portion from your business income.
• The IRS can disallow expenses that are not supported by receipts, mileage logs, and other documentation.

For this reason, many people use a bank account or credit card separate from the their personal accounts for all their business transactions. That way they can refer to their monthly statements or online records to accurately track their business expenses.

The actual expenses method

As the name suggests, the actual expenses method requires you to add up all the money actually spent in the operation of your vehicle. You then multiply this figure by the percentage of the vehicle’s business use.

• For example, if half the miles you drive are for business and half are for personal use, you will multiply your total vehicle expenses by 50% to arrive at the business portion (e.g. $9,500 total expenses x .50 business use = $4,750 business expenses).

Some of the costs you can include in your actual expenses are:

• Lease payments
• Auto insurance
• Gasoline
• Maintenance (such as oil changes, brake pad replacements, tire rotations)
• New tire purchases
• Title, licensing, and registration fees
• Vehicle depreciation (use a depreciation table to calculate the amount, and then deduct only the portion that applies to the business use of your vehicle)

TurboTax Tip: Compute your mileage deduction using each method and then choose the method that yields that larger deduction.

The standard mileage rate method

The standard mileage rate method is a much simpler way of calculating the deduction for the business use of your car. It does not require you to track individual purchases and save receipts. Instead, you simply keep track of your business and personal mileage for the tax year. (Tip: Take a photo of your odometer on New Year’s Day and save it, so you can always see where your mileage stood at the beginning of the tax year.)

As with other tax deductions, you'll need to determine the percentage of your mileage that applies to your business.

• The best way to do this is with a mileage log. You can keep track of all of your mileage during the year and note what use is for business versus personal.

For the first half of 2022 the rate is 58.5 cents per mile and increases to 62.5 cents per mile for the second half of 2022. For example if you drove 5,000 miles for business evenly divided throughout the year you would get:

2,500 business miles x $0.585 plus 2,500 business miles x $0.625 = $3,025 standard mileage deduction.

Uber makes it easy to track your miles while using their app. The mileage reported on your Tax Summary includes all the miles you drove waiting for a trip, en-route to a rider, and on a trip. This is a good starting point for calculating your total business miles.

• You can add to this figure the business miles you drove without passengers, picking them up or to a central location after dropping them off.
• Remember to use only the miles driven for your business in calculating your deduction.

Since Uber does not keep track of the miles you drive without passengers, you’ll need to keep your own mileage log. It should include:

1. the date you drove
2. the starting and ending odometer readings
3. a description of the business activity
4. and the starting and ending times of each trip

If you don’t want to keep a log by hand, mileage and expense-tracking apps can help you keep an accurate tally of this all-important deduction.

When you use the standard mileage rate deduction, you can’t deduct individual expenses for your car. For example, if your transmission broke down and had to be replaced, you might be better off using the actual expense method to take advantage of this large expense. The only way to know for sure is to keep good records and to calculate your tax deduction both ways.

Example #1: Part-time Uber driver

An Uber partner-driver drove 10,000 miles in 2022, and 5,000 of those miles were for business evenly divided throughout the year. The driver’s actual expenses included:

• $1,000 gas
• $1,500 insurance
• $6,000 lease payments
• $400 repairs
• $100 oil
• $500 car washes

These expenses total $9,500. Since the driver used the car for business purposes 50% of the time, the actual expenses deduction is $4,750 ($9,500 x .50 = $4,750).

Using these same figures to calculate the standard mileage rate deduction, the driver multiplies the business mileage (5,000 miles) by the standard mileage rate, for a standard mileage rate deduction of $3,025.

In this example, the Uber driver-partner is able to deduct $1,725 more by using the actual expenses method than by using the standard mileage rate method.

Example #2: Full-Time Uber driver-partner

An Uber partner-driver drove 40,000 miles in 2022, and 30,000 of those miles were for business. The driver’s actual expenses include:

• $4,000 gas
• $3,160 depreciation
• $1,500 insurance
• $1,200 repairs
• $190 oil
• $500 tires
• $750 car washes

These expenses total $11,300. Since the Uber driver-partner used the vehicle for business 75% of the time, the actual expenses deduction is $8,475 ($11,300 x .75 = $8,475).

Using the standard mileage rate method with these same numbers, the driver would multiply the number of miles driven for business (30,000) by the standard mileage rate (58.5 cents per mile for the first half of 2022 and 62.5 cents per mile for the second half of 2022), which comes out to $8,775 + $9,375 = $18,150.

In this example, the Uber driver-partner is able to deduct $9,675 more by using the standard mileage method than by using the actual expense method.

Keep Complete Records

As these examples show, the method you use to calculate the business use of your car can have a big impact on your total business expenses, your net income, and your tax burden. Keep complete records so you can calculate your deduction using both methods, and then choose the one that saves the most money for you.

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