Mileage reimbursement form 2026

What goes on a mileage reimbursement form

• One row per trip, or one row for a round trip or an uninterrupted run of business stops. Publication 463 lets you record a round trip with a single entry.
• The rate for each row. In 2026 the IRS business rate depends on the date, so a form that covers June and July has two rates on it.
• A total by rate period, so the person approving it can check the arithmetic in one line per rate.
• A statement that the trips are accurate and that no one else paid for them, signed and dated by you and by the approver.

The IRS has no official reimbursement form. The sample daily mileage log in Publication 463 (Table 5-2) is labeled "This is not an official Internal Revenue form", so employers use their own layout or one like the form above.

Which rate goes on the form in 2026

Use the rate for the date you drove. Announcement 2026-11 applies 76¢ to mileage allowances paid on or after July 1, 2026 for driving on or after July 1, 2026. Allowances for driving before July 1 stay at the earlier rates even when they are paid later, so June trips on a form paid in August are still 72.5¢ a mile.

Your employer can pay its own rate instead; choose My employer's rate above. Publication 463 treats the standard mileage rate as the federal rate for car allowances. If the allowance is at or below it and you account for the trips, it stays out of box 1 of your Form W-2. If it is above the federal rate, the part up to the federal rate goes in box 12 under code L and the excess is added to box 1 as wages.

Hand it in within 60 days

A reimbursement stays out of your wages when your employer pays it under an accountable plan: the trips are for work, you account for them within a reasonable period, and you give back anything paid in excess. Publication 463 treats these as a reasonable period whatever the circumstances:

• an advance paid within 30 days of the expense;
• the expense accounted for within 60 days after it was paid or incurred;
• any excess returned within 120 days after the expense was paid or incurred;
• a periodic statement, at least quarterly, that you answer within 120 days.

Payments that miss these rules are treated as paid under a nonaccountable plan and reported as wages. Your employer's own policy may set a shorter deadline.

Medical mileage claims

A claim for driving to medical care uses the medical rate: 20.5¢ a mile to June 30, 2026 and 23.5¢ from July 1. Choose Medical as the trip type and the form prices the row that way. Publication 502 counts transportation primarily for and essential to medical care as a medical expense, and HSA payouts are tax-free for medical care as section 213(d) of the tax code defines it (Publication 969). A health FSA pays the expenses its plan covers and needs a written statement from an independent third party that the expense was incurred, so attach the record of the appointment. The tax side, including the 7.5% floor, is on the medical mileage deduction page.

Is there an IRS mileage form?

Not for reimbursement. On a tax return, a self-employed person reports car expenses on Schedule C (Schedule F for farmers), and medical driving goes on Schedule A with other medical expenses. Form 2106 is only for Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials and employees with impairment-related work expenses. Publication 463 (2025) says other employees may not use it, so most employees recover work mileage only through reimbursement.

Do you need to keep a copy?

Publication 463 says employees who give their records to their employer and are reimbursed generally don't have to keep copies. You may still have to prove the expenses if you claim more than you were paid, if the plan is nonaccountable, if your employer doesn't check expense accounts properly, or if you are related to your employer. Save the PDF anyway: it is the record of what you were paid for.

Rates for 2027

The IRS has not published the 2027 standard mileage rates (checked October 17, 2026). In each of the last five years it announced the next year's rates between December 14 and December 29: December 17, 2021 (IR-2021-251), December 29, 2022 (IR-2022-234), December 14, 2023 (IR-2023-239), December 19, 2024 (IR-2024-312) and December 29, 2025 (IR-2025-128). Until the 2027 rates are out, the form prices 2027 trips only at an employer rate.