How the standard mileage deduction is calculated
The math is deliberately simple — that's the point of the standard method:
- Deduction = business miles × the IRS standard mileage rate. Drive 10,000 business miles in a year and the rate is 70 cents a mile, and your deduction is $7,000 — subtracted from the income you pay self-employment and income tax on.
- The rate changes every year. The IRS sets the standard mileage rate for each tax year (it was 70 cents per mile for 2025, for example), and it can move up or down. Always look up the rate for your tax year rather than reusing last year's — see the IRS's guidance on the business use of a car — and don't treat any single number as permanent.
- Tolls, parking, and part of your phone stack on top. The rate covers the car itself, but business tolls and parking, and the business-use share of your phone, are usually deductible in addition to the mileage deduction.
You can see the earnings side of the same math in the free gig-driver hourly calculator — enter one shift's pay, hours, and miles to see what the car actually leaves you per hour, before you commit to logging a whole year.
Standard mileage vs. the actual expense method
The IRS gives self-employed drivers two ways to deduct a car, and you pick one per vehicle for the year:
- Standard mileage method — one rate per business mile. That single rate already bundles gas, maintenance, tires, insurance, and depreciation, so you don't also deduct those car costs separately. You keep a mileage log; you don't need to save every fuel receipt.
- Actual expense method — you add up what the car really cost (gas, repairs, insurance, depreciation, and more) and deduct the business-use percentage of the total. It can win for an expensive vehicle or heavy repair year, but it means keeping every receipt and the same mileage records to prove the business-use share.
A rule worth knowing: you generally have to choose the standard mileage method in the first year you use the car for business if you want the option to switch between methods in later years. Which one comes out ahead depends on your car and your miles — a good reason to keep the log either way and confirm the choice with a tax pro.
Which miles count — and which don't
Only business miles feed the deduction, and for a gig driver that's a specific set of miles:
- Miles with a passenger or an order — the paid, "on the trip" miles — count.
- Miles between trips while you're online — driving to the next pickup, or repositioning to a busier zone with the app on — usually count too, because you're working. These are the miles drivers most often forget, and they add up.
- Commuting doesn't count. The drive from home to wherever you start working, and back at the end, is personal commuting, not a business mile — even for a gig driver.
- Personal errands off the clock don't count, even in the same car on the same day.
One caution: the mileage totals your rideshare or delivery app reports often only cover on-trip miles, so they can undercount the online-between-trips miles you're entitled to claim. Your own odometer-based log is what defines your business miles.
Why the log is the deduction
The deduction isn't the miles you drove — it's the miles you can document. The IRS expects a contemporaneous mileage log: a record kept at or near the time you drove, showing the date, the business purpose, and the miles (ideally tied to your odometer). No log, or a log reconstructed from memory months later, often means no deduction if you're ever asked to back it up.
That's why logging as you go beats screenshotting apps at tax time. A running record — start and end odometer, or a per-shift mile count you enter the same day — is both the number that drives your deduction and the proof that stands behind it.
Common standard mileage deduction mistakes
- No log, so no deduction. The single most expensive mistake. Miles you can't document are miles you can't safely claim.
- Counting only on-trip miles. The miles between orders while you're online usually count too — relying on the app's on-trip total leaves money on the table.
- Deducting gas on top of mileage. Under the standard method, fuel and maintenance are already inside the rate. Claiming them again is double-dipping.
- Claiming commuting miles. The trip from home to your first pickup is personal, not business.
- Reusing last year's rate. The IRS resets it each January. Use the rate published for your tax year.
- Forgetting the extras that stack. Tolls, parking, and the business share of your phone are deductible on top — don't leave them out.
Related tools and terms
The standard mileage deduction is only as good as the miles you can prove, and it pairs with the number underneath it — what a mile actually costs your car — to tell you whether a shift really paid. To decide whether a spreadsheet you own or a monthly app is the right home for your log, read spreadsheet vs. mileage-tracking app, or browse every tool on the templates for gig drivers hub, or walk through how to calculate your true rideshare hourly rate to see the deduction in context. When you're ready to keep an audit-ready log without renting one every month, the Gig-Driver Earnings & Mileage Workbook builds it as you drive — a file you buy once and keep.
One honest note: this is a definition, not licensed tax advice. Which deduction method wins for your car, and how your state and local rules apply, are yours to confirm — a tax professional can tell you what applies to you.
