The Landlord Mileage Deduction
What Counts and How to Log It

Standard mileage rate or actual expenses

The standard mileage rate covers gas, maintenance, insurance and depreciation in one number. It is the simple choice and the one most small landlords use. The IRS sets it each year; it was 67 cents for 2024 and 70 cents for 2025.

The actual expense method adds up what the car really cost (gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration, lease payments or depreciation) and deducts the rental-use percentage. It can win with an expensive vehicle that is used heavily for the rentals, but you need the receipts and the total miles for the year, not only the rental miles.

Two rules to remember. If you want to use the standard rate for a car you own, you must choose it in the first year you use that car for the rental. And once you have used the actual method with accelerated depreciation on a car, you cannot switch that car to the standard rate later.

What a mileage log needs, and how SealedFolio keeps it

The IRS asks for adequate records made at or near the time of the trip. For each trip, that means the date, the destination, the business purpose and the miles. A notebook in the glove box works. Reconstructing a year of trips from memory in April does not hold up well.

SealedFolio has a mileage tracker on both plans. You log a trip with its date, start and destination, miles, purpose and the property it was for. The app looks up the IRS rate stored for that year, shows the deduction for the trip before you save it, and totals miles and deduction for the year. For 2022, when the IRS raised the rate midyear, the app applies 58.5 cents to every trip, so recalculate trips from July 1 to December 31, 2022 at 62.5 cents. The app also stores 70 cents, the 2025 rate, for 2026 trips, so check the IRS rate for 2026 and recalculate the year total if it differs. The records stay in SealedFolio's encrypted database on your computer, next to the rent, expenses and receipts for the same property. The tracker keeps its own totals and does not post to the Schedule E report by itself: it shows one year total across all your rentals, with no per-property breakdown, so with more than one rental keep your own per-property tally of miles (a notebook column or a spreadsheet works). Then record each property's mileage deduction (plus parking and tolls) as an expense in the Mileage or Tolls & Parking category for that property, and it lands on line 6.

Canadian landlords claim motor vehicle expenses on the T776 instead, using actual costs rather than a per-mile rate. For other deductions, see the 2026 rental property tax deductions guide.

This guide explains general federal rules and is not tax advice. Confirm the current year's mileage rate and your own situation with a tax professional.

Landlord mileage deduction: frequently asked questions