Commuting miles: can you deduct mileage to and from work?
Commuting miles are the miles you drive between your home and your regular place of work, and you can’t deduct them. The IRS treats the commute as personal, however long it is and even if you work on the way. There are exceptions: trips to a temporary job site, trips from a home office that is your main place of business, and drives between two jobs on the same day.
On this page (8 sections)
This is not tax advice. The rules below come from IRS Publication 463, chapter 4, and Revenue Ruling 99-7.
What counts as commuting
The IRS commuting rule is short: travel between your home and your main or regular place of work is a commute, and commuting costs are not deductible. Publication 463 adds that this is true:
- No matter how far your home is from your regular place of work.
- Even if you work during the trip, such as taking business calls or discussing work with a coworker in the car.
Parking at your own workplace is a commuting cost too. Parking when you visit a client or customer is a business cost.
Things that don’t turn a commute into business
| “My commute counts because…” | What Publication 463 says |
|---|---|
| “I carry my tools in the car.” | Hauling tools doesn’t make the trip deductible. Only the extra cost of hauling them counts, such as renting a trailer. |
| “My car has my business ad on it.” | An ad on the car doesn’t change personal use into business use. |
| “I drive coworkers to work.” | You can’t deduct the cost of a nonprofit car pool. Riders’ payments aren’t income; they count as reimbursement of your costs. |
| “I get my jobs at the union hall.” | The drive from the union hall to the job is still commuting: you work at the job, not at the hall. |
| “I make work calls while I drive.” | Working during the trip doesn’t make it a business trip. |
Source: IRS Publication 463, chapter 4, “Commuting expenses.”
Exceptions: when the trip from home counts
Revenue Ruling 99-7 sets out three exceptions. Publication 463 and the Schedule C instructions repeat them, and add the two-jobs rule:
| Your situation | Which trips from home count |
|---|---|
| You have a regular workplace away from home, and go to a temporary work location in the same business | Home to the temporary location and back, at any distance |
| You have no regular workplace | Home to a temporary work site outside the metropolitan area where you live and normally work. Temporary sites inside it are commuting. |
| Your home is your principal place of business | Home to any other work location in the same business, temporary or regular |
| You work at two places in one day | The drive from the first workplace to the second. Home to a part-time job on a day off from your main job is still commuting. |
Sources: Rev. Rul. 99-7, holdings (1)–(3); IRS Publication 463, chapter 4, “Temporary work location,” “No regular place of work,” “Two places of work,” and “Office in the home.”
What “temporary” means: work at a location that is realistically expected to last, and does last, one year or less. If the job is expected to run longer than a year, the location is regular from the start. If plans change and it becomes clear the work will last longer, it becomes regular from that date.
What “principal place of business” means for a home office is set out in IRS Publication 587. In general, the space must be used regularly and only for the business.
Examples
- Office worker: drives 18 miles each way to the office. All 36 miles a day are commuting. A trip from the office to a client and back is business.
- Same worker, client visit on the way in: home to the client, then to the office. The client is a temporary work location and the worker has a regular office, so home to client counts. Client to office counts too.
- Self-employed plumber with a home office as the main place of business: home to each job and back is business travel.
- Delivery driver with no office: the first pickup is treated as the office. Home to the first pickup and the last drop-off to home are commuting. Details: DoorDash mileage and gig driver mileage.
- Two jobs: leaves the first job at 3 p.m. and drives 9 miles to the second. The 9 miles count. If the second job is for an employer, the next section applies: most employees can’t deduct miles anyway.
Commuting miles on Schedule C
If you are self-employed, Schedule C, Part IV, asks for your business, commuting, and other miles for the year (line 44). So a log that only lists business trips is not quite enough: note your commuting miles too, or work them out from your odometer readings. The free mileage log has a line for them in its year-end totals.
W-2 employees generally can’t deduct work miles on a federal return at all, commute or not. Exceptions and details are in the mileage deduction guide. What a record needs is in how to track mileage for taxes.
If your employer pays for your commute
An employer can pay for your commute, but the payment is taxable wages, even at or below the IRS mileage rate. Commuting isn’t a business expense, so it can’t be paid tax-free under an accountable plan (Treasury Regulation 1.62-2(d)(1); IRS Publication 5137). More on how employers pay for business miles: employee mileage reimbursement rules.
FAQ
Are commuting miles deductible?
No. Driving between your home and your regular place of work is personal travel, whatever the distance. The exceptions are a temporary work location, a home office that is your principal place of business, and the drive between two jobs on the same day.
Is driving from home to a client a commute?
It depends on your setup. If you have a regular workplace, a trip from home to a temporary client site counts as business. If you have no regular workplace and no qualifying home office, trips from home to temporary work sites inside your metro area are commuting; trips to temporary work sites outside the metro area where you live and normally work can count (Publication 463, chapter 1).
Can I deduct mileage from home to work if I work from home some days?
Not just because you sometimes work from home. If your regular workplace is the office, the trip there is a commute. It changes only if your home office is your principal place of business under IRS rules.
Does a home office make every trip deductible?
No. The home office must be your principal place of business, and the trip must be to another work location in the same business. Trips for personal reasons are still personal.
Is driving between two jobs a commute?
No. The drive from one workplace to another on the same day is business travel. If you stop somewhere for personal reasons, you can count only the direct distance.
Sources
- IRS, Publication 463, chapter 4, Transportation (commuting expenses, temporary work location, two places of work, office in the home, Figure B) (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov
- IRS, Revenue Ruling 99-7 (local transportation expenses), published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 1999-5 (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov (PDF)
- IRS, Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), Part IV, line 44 (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov
- IRS, Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home (principal place of business): irs.gov
- Treasury Regulation 26 CFR 1.62-2 (accountable plans; business connection) (checked November 12, 2026): ecfr.gov
- IRS, Publication 5137, Fringe Benefit Guide (commuting reimbursements are taxable) (checked November 12, 2026): irs.gov (PDF)