If you drive for work and deduct mileage instead of tracking actual vehicle expenses, the rate went up for 2026. The IRS standard business mileage rate is now 72.5 cents per mile, up 2.5 cents from 2025. * Not every mileage-related rate moved in the same direction. The medical and moving-expense mileage rate actually dropped slightly, to 20.5 cents per mile, down half a cent from the year before. The charitable mileage rate — used when you drive for volunteer work — stayed completely unchanged at 14 cents per mile, since that rate is set by statute rather than adjusted for inflation like the others. * Buried inside the business rate is a detail that matters if you ever sell or trade in the vehicle: 35 cents of every 72.5-cent business mile is treated as depreciation. That portion reduces your car's tax basis over time, which can mean a bigger taxable gain when you eventually dispose of the vehicle, even though you never separately claimed a depreciation deduction. * There's also a commitment built into choosing this method: if you own the vehicle and want to use the standard mileage rate, you have to choose it in the very first year the car is available for business use. In later years you can switch to deducting actual expenses instead, but for a leased vehicle, choosing the standard rate locks you into that method for the entire lease term, including any renewals — no switching partway through.