Employee Mileage Reimbursement Calculator
Work out what reimbursing your team’s business driving costs for the year at the IRS standard rate, and what it costs after the deduction. Instant, no sign-up.
Who drives, and how far?
Enter how many people drive and roughly how far, and this will price a year of reimbursement at the IRS standard rate.
Taxottic captures those miles for you in the background, per driver, with a map and an IRS-ready log, so the number above comes from what actually happened rather than from what someone remembered.
Track my team’s miles, free →Reimbursing mileage, in plain terms
When an employee drives their own car for work, you can pay them back per mile. For 2026 the IRS standard mileage rate changed mid-year: 72.5 cents per mile through June 30, then 76 cents per mile from July 1. Pay at or below that rate under an accountable plan, and two useful things happen at once: the payment is a deductible business expense for you, and it is not wages for them, so there is no income tax and no payroll tax on either side.
An accountable plan is not paperwork for its own sake. It means three things: the expense is business-related, the employee substantiates it within a reasonable time, and anything paid in excess is returned. Miss those and the whole amount can be recharacterised as taxable wages, which is the expensive outcome this page exists to help you avoid.
The part that goes wrong
Substantiation. The rate is the easy half; the records are the half that fails. The IRS expects a contemporaneous log, meaning the date, the business purpose and the miles captured at the time rather than a total assembled in April from memory and a fuel card. A reconstructed estimate is exactly what gets disallowed.
That is the whole reason Taxottic records drives automatically by GPS, per driver, with a map attached. See the mileage deduction guide for how the log is meant to look, or the personal mileage deduction calculator if you are self-employed rather than reimbursing staff.
Common questions
- What is the 2026 IRS mileage reimbursement rate?
- For 2026 the IRS standard mileage rate changed mid-year: 72.5 cents per mile through June 30, then 76 cents per mile from July 1. Employers commonly reimburse at that rate because it is the ceiling for tax-free reimbursement under an accountable plan.
- Are employers required to reimburse employee mileage?
- There is no federal requirement to reimburse mileage, though some states do require reimbursement of necessary business expenses. Check your state, and note that federal law still applies where unreimbursed costs would take an employee below minimum wage.
- Is mileage reimbursement taxable to the employee?
- Not if it is paid under an accountable plan at or below the IRS standard rate: the employee substantiates the business miles, returns any excess, and the reimbursement is neither reported as wages nor subject to payroll tax. Pay above the standard rate, or without substantiation, and the excess becomes taxable wages.
- Is the reimbursement deductible for the business?
- Yes. Mileage reimbursed under an accountable plan is an ordinary and necessary business expense, deductible like any other. The calculator shows the net cost after that deduction at the rate you select.
- Does an employee commute count?
- No. Travel between home and a regular workplace is a personal commuting expense, not business mileage, so it is not reimbursable tax-free at the standard rate. Driving between worksites, to clients, or to a temporary work location during the day does count.
- What records does the IRS expect?
- A contemporaneous log: the date, the business purpose, and the miles for each trip. Records made at the time carry far more weight than a figure reconstructed at year end. See IRS Publication 463.
This calculator is for planning and is not tax advice. Figures are estimates based on the IRS standard mileage rate and the marginal rate you select. State reimbursement requirements vary. Confirm your situation with a licensed CPA, and see IRS Publication 463 for the substantiation rules.