IRS Announces Standard Mileage Rates For 2025

The IRS has announced its 2025 standard mileage rates. Beginning January 1, 2025, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car, van, pickup, or panel truck will be:

• 70 cents per mile driven for business use (up 3 cents from 2024).
• 21 cents per mile driven for medical purposes (the same as in 2024).
• 21 cents per mile driven for moving purposes for qualified active-duty Armed Forces members (the same as in 2024).
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations (fixed by Congress).

You can find these official rates and more in Notice 2025-5.

The rates apply to fully electric and hybrid automobiles, as well as gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.

If you’re wondering about the difference in the rates for business and medical or moving purposes, there is a reason. The standard mileage rate for business is calculated using an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile, including depreciation, insurance, repairs, tires, maintenance, gas, and oil. In contrast, the rate for medical and moving purposes is based just on the variable costs.

As for the charitable mileage rate? If you feel like it always looks the same, it has: by statute, it is not indexed for inflation or otherwise adjusted (it’s been 14 cents per mile since the Clinton era).

Standard mileage rates are used to calculate the amount of a deductible business, moving, medical, or charitable expense (miles driven times the applicable rate).

Taxpayers using the standard mileage rate for a vehicle they own and use for business must choose to use the rate in the first year the automobile is available for business use. Then, in later years, they can choose to use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses.

Taxpayers using the standard mileage rate for a leased vehicle must employ that method for the entire lease period, including renewals.

If you use your car for more than one use, you’ll want to keep appropriate records and back out the cost of personal travel. You may also use more than one rate on your tax return. To use the rates, simply multiply the standard mileage rates by the number of miles traveled.

Let’s say, for example, that you drive 20,000 miles in 2025. Of those miles, 10,000 are for personal use, 2,000 are for charitable purposes, and 8,000 are for medical purposes. You would calculate your deduction as follows:

10,000 personal miles x 0 = 0

2,000 charitable miles x .14 = $280

8,000 medical miles x .21 = $1,680

In this example, your total deductible mileage related expenses would be $1,960, plus any related charges such as parking fees and tolls. You would report your charitable and medical mileage deductions on the applicable lines on Schedule A. Keep in mind that medical miles are still subject to the 7.5% floor for medical expenses.

While many taxpayers no longer deduct charitable mileage because they don’t itemize, the mileage rate is important for charitable organizations because it serves as a benchmark for reimbursements. The same is true for business mileage—that’s particularly important because, following the tax reform changes in 2017, taxpayers can no longer claim a miscellaneous itemized deduction for unreimbursed employee travel expenses, making reimbursement plans more important than ever.

Similarly, most taxpayers can no longer claim a deduction for moving expenses. However, an exception applies to Armed Forces members on active duty moving under orders to a permanent change of station.

(These restrictions could change soon if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires.)

If these rates don’t adequately reflect your costs, you have the option of deducting actual expenses rather than using the standard mileage rates—though admittedly, that’s a lot more work.

One more thing: these are the rates for the 2025 tax year for the return you’ll file in 2026. You’ll use the 2024 standard mileage rates for the tax return that you’ll submit in 2025.