IRS Mileage Deduction Increase Is Some Relief
If you drive for work it's now 76 cents a mile
It’s welcome relief for employees and drivers: a revised mileage rate tax deduction available to vehicles used for business purposes has just been released by the IRS.
The standard vehicle use rate deduction has been 72.5 cents per mile so far this year, but because of higher fuel prices, including diesel and gasoline, it’s now been raised 3.5 cents to 76 cents a mile.
“It’s almost a five-percent increase and it’s the first midyear mileage rate adjustment since 2022,” says workplace expert and CurvUp.io CEO Linda Fisk.
“I think the increase is welcome because it recognizes that driving for business is indeed more expensive, but it shouldn’t be viewed as a windfall, it’s just real but partial relief for the real costs that small businesses are already absorbing.”
The small business advisor says “this is evidence of continued cost volatility rather than certainty that any costs are permanent, and small businesses, in my mind, should plan for transportation costs to remain unpredictable.”
“I see it as a recognition that fuel prices have risen quickly enough and significantly enough that the original rate no longer reflects the actual costs that business owners are paying now.”
For some who drives a lot, for every 10,000 business miles driven, Ms. Fisk says, it “actually represents an additional $350 in deductions, which can provide measurable tax relief.”
The IRS change reflects the cost pressures that small businesses are facing these days, she adds, “and I really want to be sure that people recognize that small businesses are really suffering right now because fuels costs trickle down to every small corner of the business.”