2023 Standard Mileage Rate
For 2023, the Standard Mileage Rate figures are 65.5¢ (Business use), 14¢ (Charitable service) and 22¢ (Medical or moving).
Effective 2023-01-01Source: Notice 2023-03 (IRS)Verified 2026-09-04
Compared with 2022
Figures dated from the start of each year. Later steps are listed above with their dates.
| Item | 2022 | 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business use | 58.5¢ | 65.5¢ | +7¢ (+12.0%) |
| Charitable service | 14¢ | 14¢ | +0¢ (+0.0%) |
| Medical or moving | 18¢ | 22¢ | +4¢ (+22.2%) |
Who it applies to
Taxpayers who use their automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving purposes and elect to deduct expenses using the standard mileage rate rather than actual costs.
What changed this year, and why
The IRS published the 2023 standard mileage rates in Notice 2023-03, effective January 1, 2023.
Common questions
- What is the 2023 standard mileage rate for business use?
- 65.5 cents per mile for all miles of business use.
- What is the 2023 rate for charitable service?
- 14 cents per mile for use of an automobile in rendering gratuitous services to a charitable organization.
- What is the 2023 rate for medical or moving travel?
- 22 cents per mile for travel for medical care or as part of a deductible move. The moving expense deduction is suspended for most taxpayers during the suspension period, but remains available for members of the Armed Forces on active duty who move pursuant to a military order.
- Can unreimbursed employees use the business rate?
- The business standard mileage rate cannot be used to claim an itemized deduction for unreimbursed employee travel expenses during the suspension period. However, certain taxpayers such as reservists, fee-basis government officials, and qualifying performing artists may deduct unreimbursed employee travel as an adjustment to income and may use the business rate.
What the rate covers, and what you may add to it
The standard mileage rate covers only the cost of operating the vehicle per mile - fuel, wear, insurance, depreciation, and the like. Parking fees and tolls are not bundled into that per-mile figure. When you drive for business, any parking fee or toll you incur on top of the miles is deductible in addition to the mileage deduction. The IRS specifically allows you to add these out-of-pocket charges to your mileage-based write-off. There is one important carve-out: parking fees you pay at or near your regular workplace are treated as commuting costs, not as business expenses. Because commuting mileage is personal and never deductible, the parking tied to that commute is also nondeductible. Only parking and tolls that arise from a bona fide business trip - meeting a client, traveling to a temporary work site, making deliveries - can be stacked on top of the 65.5¢-per-mile business rate.
Parking fees and tolls. In addition to using the standard mileage rate, you can deduct any business-related park- ing fees and tolls. (Parking fees you pay to park your car at your place of work are nondeductible commuting expen- ses.)
Publication 463 (2023), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
You must choose the standard rate in the car's first year
The IRS requires you to make an irrevocable choice about the standard mileage rate in the very first year a car is available for your business. If you own the car, you must elect the standard rate in that first year or lose the ability to use it for that vehicle forever; in later years you may switch back and forth between the standard rate and actual expenses. If you lease the car, the rule is even stricter: you must use the standard rate for the entire lease period. The practical consequence is that taxpayers who expect to benefit from the standard rate - often those with lower actual costs or higher mileage - need to make the election the moment the car enters service. Missing that first-year window means you are locked into actual expenses (including depreciation) for that car for as long as you use it in your business, and you cannot retroactively switch to the standard rate.
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 business. Then, in later years, you can choose to use either the standard mileage rate or actual expenses. If you want to use the standard mileage rate for a car you lease, you must use it for the entire lease period.
Publication 463 (2023), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Why a fleet cannot use the standard rate
The IRS bars you from using the standard mileage rate for any car if you own or lease five or more vehicles that are driven for business at the same time. Instead, you must figure your deduction using actual car expenses for each vehicle. There is a key exception built into the rule: if you alternate which cars you use for business - driving different vehicles at different times rather than using all of them simultaneously - you are not treated as using five or more cars at once, and the standard rate remains available. The threshold is exactly five, so a fleet of four simultaneous business cars still qualifies. The logic is that the per-mile method is a simplification designed for modest use; once you operate five or more cars concurrently, the IRS expects you to track actual costs rather than rely on an average per-mile figure. If you fall under this restriction, you must maintain records of fuel, insurance, repairs, depreciation, and other operating costs for each vehicle in the fleet.
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 (2023), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
The drive to work is never deductible mileage
The drive between your home and your regular workplace is a personal commuting expense, and no amount of multitasking changes that classification. You cannot deduct the cost of a bus, trolley, subway, taxi, or the fuel and wear on your own car for that trip. The IRS is explicit that distance does not matter: even if your home is far from your regular job, the commute remains personal. Working during the trip - taking business calls on your cell phone, discussing work with a passenger, or any other productive use of the time - does not convert the trip into a business expense. The only way the drive becomes deductible is if the destination is not your regular place of work, such as a temporary work location or a second job. For 2023, even though the business standard mileage rate is 65.5 cents per mile and the medical or moving rate is 22 cents per mile, neither rate applies to ordinary commuting, because the trip itself is classified as personal regardless of its purpose.
Commuting expenses. You can’t deduct the costs of taking a bus, trolley, subway, or taxi, or of driving a car be- tween your home and your main or regular place of work. These costs are personal commuting expenses. You can’t deduct commuting expenses no matter how far your home is from your regular place of work. You can’t deduct com- muting expenses even if you work during the commuting trip.
Publication 463 (2023), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Splitting a car between business and personal use
When a single car serves both business and personal purposes, you must split the expenses between the two uses. The IRS allows you to make that division based on miles: count the total miles driven during the year and the miles driven for business, then express the business share as a percentage. Only that percentage of your car costs is deductible. If you use the standard mileage rate, the same logic applies - you multiply the 65.5-cent business rate by business miles only, not by total miles. Personal miles generate no deduction at all, whether under the standard rate or actual expenses. The same apportionment principle applies to charitable service miles at 14 cents per mile and medical or moving miles at 22 cents per mile if the car is also used personally. Keep a mileage log that records the date, destination, and purpose of each business trip so the business total can be substantiated; without that documentation the entire deduction may be disallowed.
Business and personal use. If you use your car for both business and personal purposes, you must divide your ex- penses between business and personal use. You can di- vide your expense based on the miles driven for each pur- pose.
Publication 463 (2023), 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 contemporaneous documentation for business mileage. According to Publication 463, "you do have to record the information elsewhere at or near the time of the expense and have it available to fully prove that element of the expense." This means your mileage log must be created close to when you actually drove - not reconstructed weeks or months later from memory. While confidential details like business relationships can be kept outside your logbook, they still must be recorded at or near the time of the expense and be available to prove the deduction. If your records are incomplete, you must provide a written or oral statement with specific details plus other supporting evidence, but the IRS strongly prefers timely written records because they are considered more reliable than after-the-fact reconstructions.
However, you do have to record the information else- where at or near the time of the expense and have it available to fully prove that element of the expense.
Publication 463 (2023), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
If your employer pays less than the standard rate, the gap is not just lost
When an employer reimburses an employee at a rate below the 2023 standard mileage rate of 65.5 cents ($0.655) per mile, the employee can deduct the difference. In the publication's example, a fee-basis state government official drives 10,000 miles during 2023 for business. Their employer pays them a mileage allowance of 40 cents ($0.40) a mile. "Because their $6,550 expense figured under the standard mileage rate (10,000 miles x 65.5 cents ($0.655) per mile) is more than their $4,000 reimbursement (10,000 miles × 40 cents ($0.40)), they itemize their deductions to claim the excess expense." The employee completes Form 2106 showing all expenses and reimbursements and enters the difference as an itemized deduction. This rule applies only to Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses, who are exempt from the suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions.
Because their $6,550 expense figured under the stand- ard mileage rate (10,000 miles x 65.5 cents ($0.655) per mile) is more than their $4,000 reimbursement (10,000 miles × 40 cents ($0.40)), they itemize their deductions to claim the excess expense.
Publication 463 (2023), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
How much of the standard rate is depreciation, and the FAVR maximum vehicle cost
Under Notice 2023-03, 28 cents per mile of the 65.5¢ business standard mileage rate is treated as depreciation for 2023. This is the amount by which a taxpayer must reduce the cost basis of an automobile each time the business standard mileage rate is used for a mile of business travel, rather than tracking actual depreciation separately. The depreciation component has shifted in recent years - 26 cents in 2019, 27 cents in 2020, 26 cents in 2021, and 26 cents in 2022 - and settles at 28 cents for 2023. Separately, Notice 2023-03 sets the maximum standard automobile cost that may be used when computing an allowance under a fixed and variable rate (FAVR) plan. For 2023, this ceiling is $60,800 for automobiles, including trucks and vans. Employers operating a FAVR arrangement use this cap as the upper bound for the vehicle cost assumption that feeds into the fixed portion of the plan's allowance; a vehicle priced above $60,800 cannot justify a larger fixed component under the FAVR rules for the year.
For automobiles a taxpayer uses for business purposes, the portion of the business standard mileage rate treated as depreciation is 26 cents per mile for 2019, 27 cents per mile for 2020, 26 cents per mile for 2021, 26 cents per mile for 2022, and 28 cents per mile for 2023. See section 4.04 of Rev. Proc. 2019-46. SECTION 5. MAXIMUM STANDARD AUTOMOBILE COST For purposes of computing the allowance under a FAVR plan, the standard automobile cost may not exceed $60,800 for automobiles (including trucks and vans).
Notice 2023-03 (IRS)
A guessed mileage figure is not deductible
The IRS does not accept estimated or approximated mileage figures for tax deductions. Publication 463 is clear: "You can't deduct amounts that you approximate or estimate." To claim a business mileage deduction, you must have adequate records that prove the actual miles driven for business purposes. The IRS requires you to keep sufficient evidence - preferably written records created at or near the time of travel - to support your deduction. While a computerized record is acceptable, it must be based on actual data, not guesses. If your records are incomplete, you must provide a written or oral statement with specific details plus other supporting evidence, but the burden is on you to prove the exact amount. This is why contemporaneous mileage logs are essential: they provide the documentation needed to substantiate your deduction, while estimates and approximations are explicitly disallowed.
You can’t deduct amounts that you approximate or estimate.
Publication 463 (2023), 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 2023-03 (IRS)
- Business use
The standard mileage rate for transportation or travel expenses is 65.5 cents per mile for all miles of business use
- Charitable service
The standard mileage rate is 14 cents per mile for use of an automobile in rendering gratuitous services to a charitable organization
- Medical or moving
The standard mileage rate is 22 cents per mile for use of an automobile: (1) for medical care described in § 213