IRS mileage rate splits midyear in 2026

The IRS set 2026 business mileage at 72.5 cents per mile through June 30 and 76 cents from July 1, creating a split-year deduction that depends on the date of each drive. ExpenseDuck says its tracker applies the correct rate automatically and keeps the dated records the IRS requires.

Why it matters: - The 2026 mileage change affects how much drivers can deduct for business travel, and the split-year rule makes the date of each trip matter. - A missing or incorrect date can change the deductible amount on thousands of miles. - The IRS requires contemporaneous records, so mileage tracking now has a direct tax impact, not just a bookkeeping one.

What happened: - IRS Notice 2026-10 set the business mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile for drives from January 1 through June 30, 2026. - IRS Announcement 2026-11 raised the business rate to 76 cents per mile for drives from July 1 through December 31, 2026. - The IRS published the second-half change in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 on July 13, 2026. - ExpenseDuck says its mileage tracker stores the date of each drive and applies the rate that matches the trip date. - The company also says its app records business drives automatically as they happen for Schedule C filers.

The details: - The first-half 2026 rate came from IR-2025-128 on December 29, 2025, which announced Notice 2026-10. - The 72.5-cent rate was 2.5 cents higher than the 70-cent business rate used in 2025. - Announcement 2026-11 said the midyear increase stemmed from recent increases in fuel prices. - Medical and moving mileage rose from 20.5 cents to 23.5 cents per mile on July 1. - The charitable mileage rate stayed at 14 cents per mile because federal law sets that amount. - IRS Publication 463 says mileage records should show the date, miles, destination and business purpose for each trip. - The publication says those records should be kept in an account book, diary, log or similar record made at or near the time of the drive. - The IRS calls those records timely-kept records. - A year-end total entered in April does not satisfy the recordkeeping rule. - A log that guesses dates later also fails to meet the standard. - A driver with 10,000 business miles split evenly across 2026 would deduct $7,425 under the two rates. - The same 10,000 miles all priced at 72.5 cents would produce a $7,250 deduction. - That means an undated log can understate the deduction by $175 for every 10,000 miles if the higher second-half rate applies. - A log that wrongly assigns every drive to 76 cents would overstate the deduction by the same $175. - ExpenseDuck says the app swipes each trip as business or personal, stores the route, and applies 72.5 cents to drives dated June 30 or earlier and 76 cents to drives dated July 1 or later. - The company page titled “IRS mileage rate 2026 explained” walks through the same math and what to do if first-half drives were never recorded.

Between the lines: - The midyear update is unusual; the last one came on July 1, 2022, when the IRS raised the business rate to 62.5 cents. - In that 2022 release, the IRS said midyear increases in the optional mileage rates are rare. - ExpenseDuck is positioning automatic date capture as the answer to a compliance problem that manual logs often miss. - The company’s pitch is strongest for self-employed drivers who rely on mileage deductions and may need to reconstruct earlier trips.

What's next: - ExpenseDuck says early access begins October 1, 2026, with sign-up open now and a public launch later in October. - The app also sorts expenses into Schedule C categories, matches receipts sent by photo or email to transactions, estimates federal quarterly taxes, and imports transactions and mileage from QuickBooks Self-Employed. - The product runs in a web browser on a phone or desktop, with iPhone support coming soon pending App Store approval. - The single plan costs $14.99 a month after a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. - ExpenseDuck says it is a trade name of Skyline Consulting in Littleton, Colorado, and that it is not affiliated with Intuit, QuickBooks or TurboTax. - More information is available on ExpenseDuck's website.