If you drive your own truck or van from job to job, your work miles are probably the biggest single thing you can take off your 1099 income. A tech driving 20,000 work miles in 2026 takes roughly $15,000 off the income all three taxes are figured on. That’s worth getting right.
The 2026 rates
| Miles driven | Rate per work mile |
|---|---|
| January 1 – June 30, 2026 | 72.5¢ |
| July 1 – December 31, 2026 | 76¢ |
The IRS raised the rate in the middle of 2026 because of fuel prices, which it rarely does. That means you need to know which miles were driven in which half of the year. Monthly records make that easy.
9,000 work miles Jan–Jun × $0.725 = $6,525
11,000 work miles Jul–Dec × $0.76 = $8,360
Total: $14,885 off your income
What the rate covers
The mileage rate is meant to cover everything about running the vehicle: gas, oil changes, tires, repairs, insurance, registration and wear. So if you use the mileage rate, you don’t also count gas receipts or repair bills.
Don’t save gas receipts. Your miles already cover gas. Counting both means counting the same gas twice. Why we use miles instead of gas receipts.
Two things count on top of the mileage rate: parking and tolls on work trips. Keep those receipts.
The other way: actual costs
Which way fits your truck, with examples.
Instead of the mileage rate, you can add up what the vehicle really cost you (gas, repairs, insurance, a share of the payment or the vehicle’s value over time) and take the work share of it. It’s more paperwork and it’s usually only better for a costly-to-run vehicle you use almost entirely for work.
One thing to know: if you want the option of the mileage rate for a vehicle, use it in the first year you use that vehicle for work. If you start with actual costs, you generally can’t switch to the mileage rate later for that vehicle. A tax preparer can tell you which comes out ahead.
Which miles count
This is where techs get confused, because the IRS rule on commuting depends on how your work is set up.
- Job to job: counts. Every mile between customer sites is work.
- To the warehouse, supply house or company office during the day: counts.
- From home to your first job and from your last job home: this is the tricky one.
- If your home is your main place of business (you do your scheduling, paperwork and ordering there and have no other office), these trips generally count.
- If you go to customer sites that are temporary work locations (places you work for a day or a few weeks, not a permanent post), these trips generally count when you also have a regular work location, or when the job is outside the area where you normally live and work.
- If you drive to the same warehouse or shop every morning before going out, that first trip from home to the warehouse is usually commuting and doesn’t count. The miles after it do.
- Personal stops: school runs, errands and the drive to the gym don’t count, even in the work truck.
If your setup doesn’t fit cleanly, ask a tax preparer once and then track the same way all year.
What the IRS wants to see
The IRS wants records made at or near the time, not reconstructed a year later from memory. The ideal is a log showing the date, where you went, why, and the miles. Most techs never keep that, and a guess at tax time is exactly what doesn’t hold up.
Here’s a setup that’s realistic for someone running jobs all day:
- Odometer picture on the first day and the last day of each month. That gives you total miles for the month, with a dated photo as proof.
- Note your personal miles for the month. School runs, errands, weekend driving.
- Keep your job history. Your dispatch or work-order app already records the date and address of every job you ran. Export or screenshot it monthly. That’s your record of where you went and why.
Total miles minus personal miles gives you work miles, and your job history backs up that those miles were work. That’s far stronger than an estimate, and it doesn’t need GPS running in your pocket all day.
Mileage reimbursement
If a company reimburses you for miles and the reimbursement shows up as part of your 1099 pay, you still count your work miles as a work cost. If the company reimburses you separately and doesn’t include it on your 1099, you generally can’t also count those same miles. Look at how it’s reported and tell your preparer.
How the app handles it
Tech Tax Helper asks for two odometer pictures a month: first day and last day. You enter your personal miles and it works out your work miles, at the right rate for that month. No location tracking, no battery drain. At tax time the totals and every odometer picture go into one file for your preparer.
This is general information about U.S. federal taxes, not advice for your situation. If something here doesn't match your paperwork, ask a tax preparer.