The Mileage Rate Goes to 76 Cents, Back to July 1: What It Means for Your Travel Vouchers

Bottom line

Three and a half cents. That is how much more agencies now owe per mile when an employee drives a personal car on official business: 76 cents, up from 72.5 cents ^{[2, 3]}. The increase reaches back to travel on or after July 1 and runs through December 31 ^{[1, 2]}. If you drove for work in July and have already been reimbursed, nothing in GSA’s notice tells you whether the difference will come to you on its own ^[1].

What happened: the IRS moved first, and GSA followed

The IRS change. On July 13, the IRS published Announcement 2026-11 in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 ^[4]. It raised the business standard mileage rate to 76 cents and the medical and moving rate to 23.5 cents ^[4]. The stated reason, in full: the change “results from recent increases in the price of fuel” ^[4]. The new IRS rates cover expenses incurred on or after July 1, and mileage allowances paid to an employee on or after July 1 for driving done on or after that date ^[4]. Driving before July 1 stays under Notice 2026-10, the January rates ^[4].

Why that binds GSA. The government’s car rate is not GSA’s choice. Under 5 U.S.C. 5707, GSA must set the privately owned automobile rate at the single standard mileage rate the IRS establishes ^[2]. The IRS medical and moving rate in turn sets two other federal figures: the reduced rate when a government car was available, and the mileage rate for official relocation ^[1]. When the IRS changed its numbers midyear, the federal ones followed.

The GSA bulletin. GSA Bulletin FTR 26-03 is dated July 27 and is addressed to the heads of federal agencies ^[2]. It cancels Bulletin FTR 26-02, the January bulletin, effective July 1 ^[2]. The Federal Register notice, FR Doc. 2026-16306, appeared August 11 ^[1]. GSA calls that notice “the only notification to agencies” of the revised rates, apart from its website ^[1].

GSA also ran new cost studies on private airplanes and motorcycles, which it said were “prompted in part by the IRS midyear rate modifications” ^[1]. Those rates moved as well, by GSA’s own calculation rather than by the IRS formula ^{[1, 2]}.

The rates, January versus July:

Sources: January rates, Bulletin FTR 26-02 ^[3]; July rates, Bulletin FTR 26-03 ^[2].

Readers comparing the two bulletins will find that they cite different section numbers of the Federal Travel Regulation for the same rates ^{[2, 3]}. The bulletins differ in the citations, and a voucher uses the rates.

How it got here. In May, NTEU President Doreen Greenwald wrote to IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano asking for a midyear adjustment ^[5]. NTEU put the average cost of fuel at $2.81 a gallon in January, when the 72.5-cent rate was set, and $4.56 a gallon on May 21 ^[5]. High prices, Greenwald wrote, are “placing an especially hard burden on those who must drive their own vehicle to perform their official work duties” ^[5]. She added that failing to raise the rate “shifts unreimbursed business expenses onto employees” ^[5]. NTEU counts three midyear IRS adjustments since 2000, the most recent in 2022 ^[5].

What it means for you

If you drove on official travel in July and have not filed yet. Claim 76 cents a mile for driving on or after July 1 ^[2]. A trip that started in late June and ran into July is split: miles driven before July 1 are claimed at 72.5 cents and miles on or after it at 76 cents ^{[2, 3]}. Keep your mileage log by date for that reason.

If you filed a July voucher and were paid at 72.5 cents. This is the gap. The bulletin took effect on publication, July 27, yet applies to travel back to July 1 ^[2]. Some July vouchers may have been processed before it appeared. Neither the bulletin nor the notice tells agencies to reopen paid claims, and neither tells employees to file amended ones ^{[1, 2]}.

If a government car was available and you drove your own anyway. The reduced rate rises from 20.5 to 23.5 cents ^{[2, 3]}. It is still less than a third of the full rate. Whether a government car was “authorized and available” is the line that decides which rate applies, and the bulletin does not redraw it ^[2].

If you are relocating. The standard mileage rate for moving purposes is 23.5 cents for relocation performed on or after July 1 ^[2]. A permanent change of station drive in August is paid at the new rate; one completed in June is not ^{[2, 3]}.

Motorcycle and private aircraft users. These are small groups, but the changes are not trivial: 74 cents for motorcycles and $1.935 for airplanes ^[2]. These rates come from GSA’s own studies, not the IRS formula, so the figures do not move in step with the car rate ^{[1, 2]}.

Retirees. The bulletin concerns official travel and relocation ^[2]. It has no bearing on annuities.

Contractors. GSA’s bulletin is addressed to federal agencies and governs federal employees’ travel claims ^[2]. It says nothing about contractor staff. The IRS announcement does apply to them in one respect: it sets the rate at which any employer’s mileage allowance is deemed substantiated for tax purposes, and that rate rose to 76 cents on July 1 ^[4]. Whether a contractor employee is actually reimbursed at that rate depends on the company’s policy and the contract, which neither document addresses ^{[2, 4]}.

One more distinction worth keeping straight. NTEU’s release describes the IRS figure as a ceiling the federal rate “cannot exceed” ^[5]. GSA describes it as the rate the statute requires it to adopt ^{[1, 2]}. In practice the two readings give the same number for cars this year, since GSA matched the IRS exactly ^{[2, 4]}.

No agency had published its own instructions on paid vouchers as of this memo.

Questions you’re probably asking

What is the federal mileage reimbursement rate for August 2026?

76 cents a mile for a privately owned automobile when no government car was authorized and available, for travel on or after July 1, 2026 ^[2]. The rate before July 1 was 72.5 cents ^[3].

Does the new mileage rate apply to trips I took in July?

Yes. GSA says the adjusted rates apply to travel and relocation performed on or after July 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026 ^{[1, 2]}. Trips before July 1 stay at the January rates ^{[3, 4]}.

I already got paid for a July trip at 72.5 cents. Will my agency pay the difference?

Neither GSA’s bulletin nor its notice says ^{[1, 2]}. Ask your agency travel office whether it will adjust paid vouchers or wants an amended claim.

What is the rate if a government car was available and I drove my own?

23.5 cents a mile for travel on or after July 1, up from 20.5 cents ^{[2, 3]}.

Did the relocation mileage rate change too?

Yes. The standard mileage rate for moving purposes under a relocation is 23.5 cents a mile for relocation performed on or after July 1, up from 20.5 cents ^{[2, 3]}.

What I’m watching

• No date set: agency travel office instructions, if any, on vouchers already paid at 72.5 cents for July travel ^{[1, 2]}.
• December 31, 2026: the midyear rates expire for travel after that date ^{[1, 2]}. The calendar 2027 rates will follow the IRS’s 2027 announcement; last year GSA’s bulletin was dated December 29 ^[3].