The IRS Raised the Mileage Rate to 76 Cents Mid-Year: How Denver Agents Split a 2026 Mileage Log

Jerad Larkin

20 minutes ago

8 min read

What is the IRS business mileage rate for real estate agents in 2026?

The rate was 72.5 cents per mile from January 1, then rose to 76 cents per mile for expenses paid or incurred on or after July 1, 2026. If you drive for business, your 2026 mileage log now has two rates in it, not one.

The IRS almost never changes the mileage rate in the middle of a year. It did it this summer, and it was the first mid-year change since 2022. That means plenty of mileage apps, spreadsheets, and year-end habits are still sitting on the January number.

If your log is still multiplying every business mile by 72.5 cents, you are under-counting the second half of the year. For a Denver agent who spends real time in the car (listing appointments in Wash Park, showings out in Aurora, a closing at the title office), that gap adds up.

A quick note before we start: I'm a title guy, not a CPA, and nothing here is tax advice. As an Account Executive with Chicago Title of Colorado, I work with agents across Denver Metro, and what I can do is put the dated rule, the source, and a clean way to organize your log in front of you so your conversation with your accountant takes ten minutes instead of two hours.

What the IRS changed, and when

Here are the facts, straight from the sources. I've linked each one so you can check me.

January 1, 2026: The IRS set the business standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile, up 2.5 cents from 2025. IRS announcement, detailed in Notice 2026-10.
July 1, 2026: Announcement 2026-11 raised the business rate to 76 cents per mile, effective for the rest of 2026. Journal of Accountancy covered it, and CPA Practice Advisor reports the revised rates apply to expenses paid or incurred on or after July 1.
Why: The IRS cited fuel costs. Journal of Accountancy reports AAA's average regular gas price rose from $2.819 a gallon on January 8 to $3.890 on July 15, about 38%.
Everything else stays: All other provisions of Notice 2026-10 remain in effect, so the same rules about who can use the rate and how still apply.
Not part of this story: The charitable mileage rate stays at 14 cents because federal law fixes it. Medical and moving rates moved from 20.5 to 23.5 cents, but those rarely matter for agents.

One caveat I want to say out loud: the sources I read explain which rate applies to which date, but none of them walks through how to prorate a log. Splitting your miles by trip date is the logical way to do it, and it is exactly what I'd ask your CPA to confirm.

What a split-year log looks like in real numbers

These numbers are made up to show the math. They are not your numbers and not a benchmark for Denver agents.

Business miles driven January through June: 6,000. At 72.5 cents, that is $4,350.
Business miles driven July through December: 5,000. At 76 cents, that is $3,800.
Total for the year: $8,150.
If the whole year had been run at 72.5 cents: 11,000 miles x $0.725 = $7,975.
Difference: $175 of deduction missed, just from using the old rate on second-half trips.

The dollar amount depends on how much you drive. The point is the fix takes minutes, and the only way to do it cleanly is a log with a date on every trip.

Who this applies to

Most agents are independent contractors under their brokerage, which generally means self-employed. According to IRS Topic 510, most employees can't deduct unreimbursed car expenses, but self-employed people can deduct the business share of their vehicle costs and report it on Schedule C.

If you are paid as a W-2 employee, or your brokerage reimburses mileage, your situation is different. Ask your CPA which bucket you are in before you build anything on top of it.

Standard mileage rate or actual expenses

Using the standard rate is optional. You can instead deduct the actual cost of operating the car (gas, repairs, tires, insurance, registration, depreciation or lease payments) times your business-use share.

For a car you own, the IRS says you must choose the standard rate in the first year the car is available for business use. In later years you can pick either method.
For a leased car, if you choose the standard rate you must use it for the entire lease period.
Parking fees and tolls tied to business use are deductible separately, whether you use the standard rate or actual expenses. Think E-470 tolls, I-25 express lane charges, and downtown parking at a client meeting.
If you have been tracking actual expenses on a vehicle, the 76 cent rate may not apply to you at all. Ask before you switch methods mid-year.

The details sit in IRS Topic 510 and Publication 463, which covers travel and car expenses for self-employed people.

The 15-minute fix: split your 2026 log

You don't need a new system. You need your existing log, sorted by date. Here is the order I'd work in.

Pull your full-year log. Export it from your mileage app, or open your spreadsheet. Every trip needs a date. If some don't have one, fix those first.
Draw the line at June 30. Trips through June 30 get 72.5 cents. Trips from July 1 forward get 76 cents. Add a rate column so the math is visible instead of buried in a formula.
Check your app's rate setting. Mileage apps like MileIQ and Everlance handle rates in their own ways, and I can't tell you what your plan does automatically. Open the settings and confirm the number it is using for July through today.
Fill the gaps while you still remember. For any trip without a purpose, add one now. 'Listing appointment, Highlands Ranch' beats a blank every time.
Keep parking and tolls on a separate line. They are deducted on top of the mileage amount, so don't fold them into the per-mile number.
Send the total to your CPA with the log attached. Give them the January to June total, the July to December total, and the parking and toll total as three separate numbers.

What a good log entry actually contains

The IRS says you can use a log, diary, notebook, or any other written record to track expenses (per Publication 463). A clean entry has the same five things every time:

The date of the trip.
Where you started and where you went.
Miles driven (odometer start and end, or the app's total).
The business purpose, in a few words.
Who you met, if it helps you remember (a first name is plenty).

Those are the fields most mileage guides and CPAs ask for. Confirm with your own accountant what level of detail they want, because they are the one standing behind your return.

One more thing worth saying: a log kept as you go is more believable than one rebuilt in January from memory. If you do have to reconstruct trips from your calendar and MLS showing history, tell your CPA that is what you did.

Denver drives agents forget to log

Most agents log the obvious showing and forget everything around it. Here are the trips I'd scan your calendar for. Whether each one counts for you is a question for your CPA, but you can't ask about trips you never wrote down.

Listing appointments and the follow-up visit to sign paperwork.
Buyer tours, including the ones that never turned into an offer.
Open house setup and teardown (signs, balloons, the snacks run).
Meetings with the photographer, stager, or contractor at a listing.
Trips to a closing at the title office.
Sign installs, sign pickups, and lockbox runs.
Client appreciation drops and pop-bys.
Classes, continuing education, and networking events that are part of your business.

Commuting is its own question. Where your home office, your brokerage office, and your first stop of the day fall in that equation is something to settle with your CPA, not with a blog post.

Where AI can help, and where it shouldn't

If your log is a messy spreadsheet, this is a good job for an AI tool like Claude Cowork. You can ask it to add a rate column based on trip date, total each half of the year, and flag rows missing a purpose or a date. It is a cleanup assistant, not a record keeper.

Good use: sorting, totaling, formatting, and finding blank cells in a log you already kept.
Bad use: asking AI to guess your trips and fill them in. A log with invented entries is worse than a short log with real ones.
Always: check the totals against your app or odometer before anything goes to your accountant.

If you want to see how I use Claude Cowork on the back-office side, I wrote up how agents can organize receipts with Claude Cowork and how agentic AI can help trim business expenses. The same habits work for a mileage log.

Put the year-end dates next to this

Mileage is one piece of the year-end picture. Two others are worth putting on the same calendar page.

Estimated taxes: The IRS says the year has four payment periods, and the fourth installment for 2026 is generally due in mid-January 2027. Most sources list it as January 15. Confirm the exact date on IRS.gov or Form 1040-ES. The IRS safe harbor is paying at least 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's, whichever is smaller, but ask your CPA how it applies to you.
Closing dates: A closing that slips from December into January lands in a different tax year. I broke down how the holidays move Colorado closings in Q4 2026 Closing Date Math.
Your 2027 plan: Once the log is clean, you will know what driving actually cost you. Pair that with the 2027 income goal worksheet and you can price your year realistically.

Frequently asked questions

What is the IRS mileage rate for 2026?

The business rate started the year at 72.5 cents per mile. For expenses paid or incurred on or after July 1, 2026, it is 76 cents per mile under Announcement 2026-11. Charitable mileage stays at 14 cents.

Does the 76 cent rate apply to my entire 2026 mileage?

No. Per the sources above, the new rate applies on and after July 1, and the 72.5 cent rate applies before that. Splitting your log by trip date is the logical approach, and your CPA should confirm it.

Can real estate agents deduct mileage?

Self-employed agents can generally deduct the business share of vehicle costs, either with the standard mileage rate or actual expenses. The IRS says most employees can't deduct unreimbursed car expenses. Which one you are depends on how you are paid, so ask your CPA.

Do I have to use the standard mileage rate?

No. You can deduct actual vehicle expenses instead. For a car you own, the IRS says you must choose the standard rate in the first year the car is available for business use, and you can switch methods in later years. Leased cars have their own rule.

What records should I keep for business mileage?

Keep a written log, diary, or app record with the date, starting point, destination, miles, and business purpose of each trip, plus parking and toll receipts. Publication 463 covers recordkeeping for self-employed filers.

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Sources: IRS 2026 standard mileage rate announcement, Journal of Accountancy on the July 1 increase, IRS Topic 510, IRS Publication 463, IRS estimated taxes. This post is general information, not tax or legal advice. Talk to your CPA about your own return.