Guides / Mileage deduction for drivers

By NorseHorse. Updated October 16, 2026. General information, not tax advice; confirm your situation with a tax professional.

If you drive for delivery or rideshare apps as an independent contractor, you can deduct your business miles on Schedule C. For 2026 the IRS standard rate is 72.5 cents a mile for January 1 through June 30 and 76 cents from July 1. Commuting isn't deductible, you need a log to back the number up, and if you're a W-2 employee you generally can't deduct unreimbursed miles at all.

The 2026 rates

The IRS changed the business rate in the middle of 2026, so a mile is worth a different amount depending on when you drove it.

Say you drove 6,000 business miles in the first half of the year and 6,000 in the second. That's $4,350 (6,000 times $0.725) plus $4,560 (6,000 times $0.76), or $8,910. This is why your log needs dates: one yearly total can't be split between the two rates. The mileage calculator does the split for you.

Which miles count

You deduct business use only. If you also use the car for personal driving, you can deduct just the cost of its business use, so every mile has to land on one side or the other.

Commuting is personal. Publication 463 says you can't deduct commuting expenses no matter how far your home is from your regular place of work. Driving from home to a restaurant where you wait tables, for example, is a commute.

The miles you drive to a pickup and then to the customer or rider are the clearest business miles. The harder questions are the drive from home to your first pickup, the drive home after your last drop-off, and miles driven with the app on while you wait for a request. The IRS doesn't publish a rule written for app drivers on these, and its gig work page points you to Publication 463 for car expenses. The general rules there that come closest:

• Office in the home. If you have an office in your home that qualifies as your principal place of business, you can deduct your daily transportation between your home and another work location in the same trade or business. Publication 587 explains whether a home office qualifies.
• Two places of work. When you work at two places in one day, you can generally deduct getting from one workplace to the other.

If your situation doesn't fit cleanly, log those miles separately (for example, "home to first pickup") so you or your tax preparer can include or leave them out without rebuilding the year.

Standard rate or actual expenses

You can figure the deduction two ways, and the IRS suggests running both before you choose.

• Standard mileage rate: business miles times the rate. If you use it for a year, you can't also deduct your actual car expenses for that year, because the rate already stands in for them.
• Actual expenses: gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration fees, licenses and depreciation (or lease payments), times your business-use percentage. The IRS example: 12,000 business miles out of 20,000 total means you can claim 60 percent of the cost of operating the car.

The first year matters. For a car you own, you must choose the standard rate in the first year the car is available for use in your business. Then, in later years, you can choose either method. Start with actual expenses and you've closed the door on the standard rate for that car. For a leased car, if you choose the standard rate you must use it for the entire lease period, including renewals.

You also can't use the standard rate if you've claimed MACRS depreciation, a section 179 deduction or the special depreciation allowance on the car, or if you run five or more cars at the same time.

What your log has to show

The law requires you to back up car expenses with adequate records. The regulation that sets the rules, 26 CFR 1.274-5T, lists what you have to prove for a car:

• The amount of each business use, measured in miles.
• The total use of the car for the year, business and personal.
• The date of each use.
• The business purpose.

Adequate records can be an account book, diary, log, statement of expense, trip sheets or a similar record. A contemporaneous log isn't strictly required, but a record made at or near the time of the trip carries a high degree of credibility. A log rebuilt in April from memory carries much less. For a practical layout, see what goes in a mileage log.

When you file, the standard mileage amount goes on Schedule C, line 9, and if you claim the standard rate and don't have to file Form 4562 for another reason, you also complete Part IV of Schedule C. Keep the log with your return. The IRS's general rule is to keep records for 3 years, longer in some situations.

Platform mileage summaries vs your own log

If an app gives you a yearly mileage summary, treat it as a cross-check, not as your log. A platform only knows what it tracked inside its own app: it doesn't see miles you drove for another app, and it doesn't know the business purpose of anything it didn't record. Read the summary's own description of what it counts before you rely on it.

Your own log is the record that has to meet the rules above. Cashout can hold the trip entries: each trip has a date, miles and a purpose, entered by hand with no GPS. It doesn't record your car's total miles for the year, so keep those yourself. On Android each trip is valued at the IRS rate for its date, while the iPhone app currently uses a flat 70 cents a mile. See the mileage tracker for what it does and doesn't do.

Parking and tolls

Business parking fees and tolls are deductible on top of the mileage deduction, whichever method you use. On Schedule C you add them to your standard mileage amount on line 9. Parking at your regular place of business doesn't count: the IRS treats it as a nondeductible commuting expense.

W-2 employees can't deduct unreimbursed mileage

If you're paid on a W-2 (a pizza delivery job, for example), the mileage deduction generally isn't open to you. Topic 510 says most employees cannot deduct unreimbursed car expenses, and the exceptions (Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists and fee-basis government officials) don't cover delivery or restaurant work. What you can do is ask how your employer reimburses miles. If you think you're an employee being paid as a contractor, or the reverse, see W-2 vs 1099.

Why it lowers more than income tax

Car expenses on Schedule C reduce your net profit, and Schedule SE starts from that net profit. So business miles lower your self-employment tax as well as your income tax. The quarterly tax guide covers paying both during the year.

Common questions

Can I deduct the drive from home to my first pickup?

The IRS hasn't said for app drivers specifically. Under Publication 463, it depends mostly on whether your home qualifies as your principal place of business. Log those miles separately and decide with a tax professional.

Can I use the app's mileage number on my taxes?

You can compare it with your log, but it isn't a log. It doesn't record your business purpose or your total miles for the year, and it can't include driving it never tracked.

I used actual expenses last year. Can I switch to the standard rate?

Not for a car you own, if you didn't use the standard rate in that car's first year of business use. Going the other way, from the standard rate to actual expenses, is allowed.

What if I didn't keep a log this year?

Start one today, and rebuild the past months from what exists: trip histories, platform summaries, your calendar, and repair or inspection receipts that show odometer readings. A rebuilt record is weaker than one made at the time, so the sooner your log is current, the better.

Track it all with Cashout. Shifts, tips, unpaid breaks, taxes, and mileage, logged in seconds. iPhone · Android