The 2026 mileage deduction, explained for gig drivers

For 2026, the IRS standard mileage rate is $0.725 per business mile. Every 1,000 miles you log and can prove is a $725 deduction — for many full-time drivers, the single biggest tax lever of the year. Here's how it works and how to keep it audit-proof.

Standard mileage vs. actual expenses

You pick one method per vehicle. Standard mileage bundles gas, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation into the per-mile rate — one clean number, one log. Actual expenses means tracking every vehicle cost and deducting the business-use share. For most gig drivers in ordinary cars, standard mileage wins on both value and simplicity. One rule either way: no double-dipping — if you take the standard rate, you can't also deduct gas and repairs; those are already inside the $0.725. Non-vehicle costs — phone, bags, platform fees — stack on top under either method.

Which miles count

Miles driven for the work: to pickups, with passengers or orders, and between gigs while you're working. Commuting from home to your starting area is generally not deductible, and personal detours never are. The gray zones are real — which is exactly why the log matters more than the theory.

The log that survives an audit

The IRS wants a contemporaneous written record: date, miles, and business purpose for each drive — recorded as it happens, not reconstructed in March. A shoebox of gas receipts is not a mileage log. A GPS record with timestamps, distances, and a purpose note is — and that's precisely what GigReal writes automatically every time you go online. Tap Go Online, drive, and the record the deduction depends on builds itself.