Changed vehicles mid-year? How your deduction works
The standard mileage election is made per vehicle, not once for your whole driving career. Trade in your car for a new one in July, and the new car gets its own first-year choice between standard mileage and actual expenses — independent of what you did with the old one.
Track the two vehicles' business miles separately, with an odometer reading at the changeover, and apply the 2026 split rate to each vehicle's own miles by date.
The election resets with the vehicle, not the year
Per the IRS's own guidance on standard mileage, the choice to use it "must be made in the first year the car is available for use in your business," and that choice is tracked per vehicle — you can run standard mileage on one car and actual expenses on another in the same tax year. See the full first-year rule and its lock-in effect on standard mileage vs. actual expenses, which this page assumes you've read.
Practically: if your old car was on standard mileage, your new one starts with a clean slate — you can choose standard mileage again, or switch to actual expenses if that makes more sense for the new vehicle's costs. If your old car was on actual expenses, the new vehicle's standard mileage rate is available to you from day one, unaffected by the old car's method.
What to record at the changeover
- Odometer reading on the old vehicle the day you stop using it for gig work (or the sale/trade-in date).
- Odometer reading on the new vehicle the day you start using it for gig work.
- Keep both vehicles' mileage logs as fully separate records — date, miles, destination, purpose for each trip, per Publication 463's standard four elements. See full log requirements.
The 2026 split rate still applies to each vehicle
The mid-year rate change — 72.5¢ per mile through June 30, 76¢ from July 1 — applies by the date a mile was driven, not by which vehicle drove it. If you switched cars on, say, August 1, both vehicles' business miles from before June 30 use 72.5¢ and everything from July 1 onward uses 76¢, regardless of which car it was.
| Vehicle | Period | Miles | Rate | Deduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old car | Jan 1 – Jul 31 | 9,500 | mixed* | see note |
| New car | Aug 1 – Dec 31 | 4,200 | 76¢ | $3,192.00 |
*The old car's Jan–Jul miles split further at June 30 — e.g. 8,000 at 72.5¢ ($5,800) plus 1,500 at 76¢ ($1,140) for that vehicle alone. The two vehicles' deductions are simply added together at the end.
The rates are set by Notice 2026-10 (IR-2025-128) and Announcement 2026-11 (IRB 2026-29) — see the full 2026 rate explainer.
Selling the old vehicle
Selling or trading in a vehicle you've claimed standard mileage deductions on can have its own tax consequences (a portion of the standard rate is treated as depreciation, which can affect gain or loss on sale) — that calculation is outside the scope of a mileage-log site and is worth a tax professional's attention, not a guess.
MileTruth. "Changed vehicles mid-year? How your 2026 mileage deduction works." Baker Ventures LLC, September 8, 2026. https://miletruth.bakerventuresstudio.com/answers/mid-year-vehicle-change-mileage-deduction