2017 Standard Mileage Rate
For 2017, the Standard Mileage Rate figures are 53.5¢ (Business use), 14¢ (Charitable service) and 17¢ (Medical or moving).
Effective 2017-01-01Source: Notice 2016-79 (IRS)Verified 2026-09-04
Compared with 2016
| Item | 2016 | 2017 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business use | 54¢ | 53.5¢ | -0.5¢ (-0.9%) |
| Charitable service | 14¢ | 14¢ | +0¢ (+0.0%) |
| Medical or moving | 19¢ | 17¢ | -2¢ (-10.5%) |
Who it applies to
Taxpayers who use the standard mileage rate to deduct the cost of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving purposes during 2017.
What changed this year, and why
The IRS published the optional 2017 standard mileage rates under Notice 2016-79, effective January 1, 2017.
Common questions
- What is the 2017 standard mileage rate for business use?
- 53.5 cents per mile for all miles of business use.
- What is the 2017 standard mileage rate for charitable service?
- 14 cents per mile for use of an automobile in rendering gratuitous services to a charitable organization.
- What is the 2017 standard mileage rate for medical or moving travel?
- 17 cents per mile for use of an automobile for medical care or as part of a deductible move.
What the rate covers, and what you may add to it
The 2017 standard mileage rate of 53.5¢ per mile for business use covers the general cost of operating your car, such as gas, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation. However, it does not cover everything. In addition to using the standard mileage rate, you may also deduct any parking fees and tolls that are directly related to your business travel. For example, if you drive to a client's office and pay a toll on the highway or a fee at a parking garage near the meeting, those amounts can be added on top of your mileage deduction. One important limitation: parking fees you pay to park at your regular place of work are treated as nondeductible commuting expenses and cannot be claimed. So only parking fees and tolls incurred while away from your normal work location for business reasons qualify for this additional deduction. The charitable rate is 14¢ per mile and the medical or moving rate is 17¢ per mile; those rates likewise do not include parking or tolls, which may be added separately when applicable.
Parking fees and tolls. In addition to using the standard mileage rate, you can deduct any business-related parking fees and tolls. (Park- ing fees you pay to park your car at your place of work are nondeductible commuting expen- ses.)
Publication 463 (2017), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
You must choose the standard rate in the car's first year
The IRS rule is clear: if you want to use the standard mileage rate for a car you own, you must elect it in the very first year that the car is available for use in your business. If you skip the standard rate in that first year and choose to deduct actual expenses instead, you lose the option to use the standard mileage rate for that car in any later year. You cannot switch back. For a leased car the rule is even stricter: if you choose the standard rate, you must use it for the entire lease term. The consequence matters because the 53.5¢ per mile business rate for 2017 is often simpler and can produce a larger deduction than tracking actual costs. But if you bought the car and claimed bonus depreciation, or if you used it for hire as a taxi, or if you are part of a fleet of five or more cars used for business at the same time, the standard rate is not allowed at all. Plan carefully in the car's first year of business use, because that choice is irreversible.
Choosing the standard mileage rate. If you want to use the standard mileage rate for a car you own, you must choose to use it in the first year the car is available for use in your busi- ness. Then, in later years, you can choose to use either the standard mileage rate or actual expenses.
Publication 463 (2017), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Why a fleet cannot use the standard rate
The IRS has a specific rule for taxpayers who operate a fleet of vehicles for business. If you own or lease five or more cars that are used for business at the same time, you cannot use the standard mileage rate for the business use of any of those cars. The rule applies to the entire fleet, not just to the vehicles beyond the fourth one. However, you may still be able to deduct your actual expenses for operating each of the cars in your business, which requires tracking costs like gas, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation separately for each vehicle. There is an important exception: you are not considered to be using five or more cars for business at the same time if you alternate using the cars for business at different times. For example, if you own five vehicles but only use three of them during any given period, rotating them throughout the year, you may still qualify to use the standard mileage rate of 53.5¢ per mile for 2017. The rule is designed to prevent large fleets from using the simplified mileage method, which the IRS views as better suited to individual taxpayers with one or a few business vehicles.
Five or more cars. If you own or lease five or more cars that are used for business at the same time, you can’t use the standard mileage rate for the business use of any car.
Publication 463 (2017), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
The drive to work is never deductible mileage
The IRS treats the trip from your home to your regular place of work as a personal expense, not a business expense. You cannot deduct the costs of taking a bus, trolley, subway, or taxi, or of driving your car between your home and your main or regular place of work. These costs are labeled personal commuting expenses. The rule applies no matter how far your home is from your regular workplace, and it applies even if you make business phone calls or take business associates along during the commute. In other words, the drive to work is never deductible mileage, regardless of what productive work you manage to do behind the wheel. This matters because the 2017 standard mileage rate of 17¢ per mile for medical or moving trips, or 53.5¢ per mile for business trips, only applies to miles driven after you have left your home for a qualifying business destination. The miles from your driveway to your regular office do not count. You may, however, deduct mileage and parking for trips from your office to a client's location, or from one job site to another.
Commuting expenses. You can’t deduct the costs of taking a bus, trolley, subway, or taxi, or of driving a car between your home and your main or regular place of work. These costs are personal commuting expenses. You can’t de- duct commuting expenses no matter how far your home is from your regular place of work. You can’t deduct commuting expenses even if you work during the commuting trip.
Publication 463 (2017), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Splitting a car between business and personal use
When you use the same vehicle for both business and personal purposes, the IRS requires you to allocate your car expenses between the two types of use. You cannot deduct the full cost of operating the car. Instead, you must divide your expenses based on the proportion of miles driven for each purpose. For example, if a majority of your total miles are for business, you can deduct that corresponding fraction of your car operating costs, but the portion attributable to personal driving generates no deduction at all. The same allocation principle applies whether you use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses. If you use the 2017 standard rate of 53.5¢ per mile, you multiply only the business miles by that rate; personal miles produce no deduction. You must keep records sufficient to show the total miles driven and the miles driven for each purpose. The charitable rate of 14¢ per mile and the medical or moving rate of 17¢ per mile follow the same principle: only the miles driven for the qualifying purpose count. This allocation rule prevents taxpayers from claiming a full vehicle deduction when the car also serves personal needs.
Business and personal use. If you use your car for both business and personal purposes, you must divide your expenses between busi- ness and personal use. You can divide your ex- pense based on the miles driven for each pur- pose.
Publication 463 (2017), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Your mileage log has to be kept close to when you drove, not written up later
The IRS requires that mileage logs be created at or near the time of the trips, not reconstructed later from memory. If you are a sales representative who calls on customers on an established sales route, for example, you must record the date of each trip at or near the time of the trips, along with the total miles driven during the tax year. The 2017 Standard Mileage Rate, published by the IRS, sets the business rate at 53.5¢ per mile. This contemporaneous documentation requirement ensures accuracy and prevents taxpayers from claiming deductions without proper support. Even if you have confidential information relating to an element of a deductible expense, you must record the information elsewhere at or near the time of the expense and have it available to fully prove that element. The IRS also requires that you maintain adequate records for charitable service at 14¢ per mile and medical or moving at 17¢ per mile.
You can satisfy the requirements by re- cording the length of the delivery route once, the date of each trip at or near the time of the trips, and the total miles you drove the car dur- ing the tax year.
Publication 463 (2017), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
If your employer pays less than the standard rate, the gap is not just lost
The 2017 Standard Mileage Rate, published by the IRS, allows taxpayers to use a fixed per-mile amount instead of tracking actual car expenses. For 2017, the IRS set the rate at 53.5¢ per mile for business use. If an employer reimburses at a lower rate, the employee can itemize the difference. For example, if an employer pays 40¢ per mile for 10,000 business miles, the reimbursement is $4,000, but the standard mileage rate would yield $5,350. The $1,350 excess is deductible as an itemized deduction. The IRS also provides rates for other purposes: 14¢ per mile for charitable service and 17¢ per mile for medical or moving expenses. These rates are adjusted annually to reflect changes in transportation costs. Taxpayers must maintain adequate records to substantiate their mileage claims.
Example 3. Nicole drives 10,000 miles in 2017 for business. Under her employer's ac- countable plan, she accounts for the time (dates), place, and business purpose of each trip. Her employer pays her a mileage allow- ance of 40 cents (0.40) a mile. Since Nicole's $5,350 expense figured un- der the standard mileage rate (10,000 miles x 53.5 cents (0.535)) is more than her $4,000 re- imbursement (10,000 miles × 40 cents (0.40)), she itemizes her deductions to claim the excess expense. Nicole completes Form 2106 (show- ing all her expenses and reimbursements) and enters $1,350 ($5,350 − $4,000) as an itemized deduction.
Publication 463 (2017), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
How much of the standard rate is depreciation, and the FAVR maximum vehicle cost
For 2017, the portion of the 53.5-cent business standard mileage rate that the IRS treats as depreciation - the amount by which a taxpayer must reduce the vehicle's basis - is 25 cents per mile. This figure, published each year in Section 4 of Notice 2016-79, is what a business taxpayer who uses the standard rate is deemed to have taken as depreciation for each mile driven for business. Separately, for taxpayers or employers who compute a mileage allowance under a fixed and variable rate (FAVR) plan instead of the standard rate, Section 5 of the same notice caps the "standard automobile cost" used in the FAVR formula. For automobiles other than trucks and vans, that cost may not exceed $27,900; for trucks and vans, the cap is $31,300. These two figures work together with the business standard mileage rate: the 25-cent depreciation portion is taken out of the 53.5-cent rate to determine the operating-cost portion, while the FAVR cost caps limit the vehicle value on which a FAVR allowance may be based.
For automobiles a taxpayer uses for business purposes, the portion of the business standard mileage rate treated as depreciation is 23 cents per mile for 2013, 22 cents per mile for 2014, 24 cents per mile for 2015, 24 cents per mile for 2016, and 25 cents per mile for 2017. See section 4.04 of Rev. Proc. 2010-51. SECTION 5. MAXIMUM STANDARD AUTOMOBILE COST For purposes of computing the allowance under a FAVR plan, the standard automobile cost may not exceed $27,900 for automobiles (excluding trucks and vans) or $31,300 for trucks and vans.
Notice 2016-79 (IRS)
A guessed mileage figure is not deductible
The 2017 Standard Mileage Rate, published by the IRS, provides fixed per-mile rates for deducting car expenses: 53.5¢ per mile for business use, 14¢ per mile for charitable service, and 17¢ per mile for medical or moving expenses. However, you cannot deduct guessed or estimated mileage amounts. The IRS explicitly states that you can't deduct amounts that you approximate or estimate. Instead, you must keep adequate records to prove your expenses or have sufficient evidence that will support your own statement. You should generally prepare a written record for it to be considered adequate, because written evidence is more reliable than oral evidence alone. This means maintaining a contemporaneous log of miles driven, dates, and business purposes rather than trying to reconstruct mileage from memory or making rough calculations.
You can’t deduct amounts that you ap- proximate or estimate.
Publication 463 (2017), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Notice 2016-79 (IRS)
- Business use
The standard mileage rate for transportation or travel expenses is 53.5 cents per mile for all miles of business use (business standard mileage rate).
- Charitable service
The standard mileage rate is 14 cents per mile for use of an automobile in rendering gratuitous services to a charitable organization under § 170.
- Medical or moving
The standard mileage rate is 17 cents per mile for use of an automobile (1) for medical care described in § 213, or (2) as part of a move for which the expenses are deductible under § 217.