Mileage log template 2026 — self-employed, with both IRS rates
Which IRS mileage rate applies in 2026?
2026 has two business standard mileage rates, not one: 72.5 cents per mile for miles driven before July 1, and 76 cents per mile for miles driven on or after July 1. A log that applies a single rate to the whole year understates the second half.
US · tax year 2026 · business standard mileage rate for the self-employed.
Most mileage templates carry one rate for the year. In 2026 the IRS raised the business rate mid-year, so an honest log keeps every trip at the rate of its own date. The free template below does that by itself, and the calculator shows what both halves add up to.
The free template
A working spreadsheet, not a picture: every trip row picks its own rate from the trip date — 72.5¢ or 76¢ — and the totals keep the two halves separate, the way the deduction is actually computed.
- One row per trip: date, destination, business purpose, miles — nothing else to fill in.
- The rate column reads the trip date and applies 72.5¢ or 76¢ by itself; a date outside 2026 is flagged instead of silently priced.
- Totals by half, the full-year deduction to the cent, and your business share of all miles driven.
- Works in Excel and Google Sheets; the sample trips show the shape and clear out in one select-and-delete.
Delivered to your email in a minute, free — from the same page as our other free spreadsheets.
Your miles
Business miles only, split at the date the rate changed. Tenths of a mile are fine.
Leave the last field empty if you don't track total miles — the share is simply not shown. When filled, it can't be smaller than the business miles alone.
What the log adds up to
These 13,605 business miles are a $10,115.10 standard-mileage deduction in 2026.
Across the year that averages 74.35¢ per business mile — between the two half-year rates, which is exactly why no single flat rate can reproduce it.
The two halves, separately
| Period | Miles | Rate | Deduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before July 1 | 6,420 | 72.5¢ | $4,654.50 |
| From July 1 | 7,185 | 76¢ | $5,460.60 |
| Whole year | 13,605 | $10,115.10 |
July 1 itself belongs to the second half: the IRS wording gives the higher rate to miles driven on or after that date and the earlier rate to miles driven before it — the documents are linked below.
How to keep the log
- Write the trip down when it happens — date, where to, why, and the miles. The template's sample rows show the shape.
- Let the rate column do the July 1 split — no rate is ever re-typed into a cell.
- Once a quarter, check the two half-totals against this page: same miles in, same deduction out, to the cent.
- At tax time the full-year line is what your tax preparation needs; the log itself stays with your records.
- Business standard mileage only. Medical, moving and charitable purposes have their own rules and rates, and this page does not compute them.
- It does not compare against the actual-expense method (fuel, repairs, depreciation) — though a trip log is the input either way.
- Whether you may use the standard mileage rate at all — first-year choices, leased cars, fleets — is between you and the IRS documents below; the page assumes you may.
- Miles can carry tenths; each half is rounded to the cent on its own and the two halves are then added — the same order our checked seller model uses.
- Rates are for tax year 2026 and are read from our open constants dataset; if the IRS publishes new figures, the dataset and this page change together or not at all.
Method and sources: both rates and the split date are read from the open constants dataset, which quotes the IRS documents verbatim: IRS Notice 2026-10, 2026-4 I.R.B. 378 (29 Dec 2025) · IRS Announcement 2026-11, 2026-29 I.R.B. 49 (13 Jul 2026), modifying Notice 2026-10
Educational arithmetic on numbers you enter — not tax, legal or accounting advice.
The engine these miles feed
A mileage deduction is one line of the self-employed tax picture. The US Self-Employed Tax Engine turns the whole year — income, deductions, self-employment tax, quarterly payments — into one spreadsheet that checks itself.
Get the tax engine — $29Questions this page settles
Which rate applies to a trip driven exactly on July 1, 2026?
The higher one, 76 cents per mile. The IRS wording is 'on or after' July 1 for the new rate and 'before' July 1 for the old one — the boundary day itself is second-half.
Can I use one average rate for the whole year instead?
No official blended rate exists for 2026. Each half is computed at its own rate and the two are added. The average this page prints is your personal outcome — it shifts with every mileage split — and is shown only as a cross-check.
Do tenths of a mile matter?
They are accepted and computed exactly: each half's deduction is rounded to the nearest cent once, not trip by trip. Over thousands of miles the tenths add up to real dollars.
What exactly is inside the free template?
A trip log — date, destination, purpose, miles — where each row applies 72.5¢ or 76¢ from its own date, totals by half and for the year, your business share of all miles, and the sources both rates are quoted from. It opens in Excel and Google Sheets.
