The two rates
| Miles driven | Rate | Announced in |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 – June 30, 2026 | 72.5¢ a mile | IRS Notice 2026-10 |
| July 1 – December 31, 2026 | 76¢ a mile | IRS Announcement 2026-11 |
A mid-year change is rare, but not new — the IRS did the same on July 1 in 2022 and in 2011. It does not reach back: miles driven in the first half keep the first-half rate.
Rate each mile by the day you drove it
The rate that applies is the one in force on the day the miles were driven — not the day the client paid, and not one figure for the whole year. A log that multiplies the year’s miles by a single rate gets 2026 wrong in one direction or the other.
| 1,200 miles × 72.5¢ (January – June) | $870.00 |
|---|---|
| 1,500 miles × 76¢ (July – December) | $1,140.00 |
| Standard mileage deduction | $2,010.00 |
At 72.5¢ for all 2,700 miles, the same log would claim $1,957.50 — $52.50 short. The example’s miles are made up; the arithmetic is the IRS’s.
What the log has to show
Publication 463 asks for a record of each business use of the car: the date, where you went, the business purpose, and the miles — kept as you go. In short: a written record, made at or near the time of each drive (Publication 463). It also asks for the total miles you drove in the year, so write down the odometer on January 1 and again on December 31.
- Date — the day of the drive, which also decides its rate.
- Where — from and to: home to the signing, the signing to the courier drop, and back.
- Why — the job it was for. “Loan signing, Garcia refinance” is a business purpose; “errands” is not.
- Miles — for each leg.
Which miles count
Commuting does not: the cost of driving between your home and your main or regular place of work is a personal commuting expense, and can’t be deducted (Publication 463). A mobile notary’s work is wherever the signer is, and the publication says when travel from an office in your home counts as business travel: when that office qualifies as your principal place of business. Then the drive to a signing, on to the courier with the documents, and home again is the job; a stop for your own shopping on the way is not. Whether yours qualifies, and how the rules fall for you, is a question for your tax professional.
The standard rate, or what the car actually costs
You can deduct the standard rate per mile, or your actual costs — fuel, repairs, insurance, depreciation — for the business share of the car. Choose with care in the first year: for a car you own, the standard mileage rate has to be chosen in the first year the car is available for use in your business (Publication 463).
Travel fees and the self-employment tax
Your fees for notarial acts are income, but the Schedule SE instructions leave “fees received for services performed as a notary public” out of your earnings for self-employment tax. The exemption names only fees for services as a notary public. Hand & Seal counts everything else you charge — for the drive, for printing, for the rest of a loan signing — as ordinary self-employment income. Keep the two apart on every invoice, and your tax professional can treat each as it should be.
How Hand & Seal keeps it
The phone app records your drives — during your working hours by default, or all the time, or only when you tap Record — and matches each leg to the signing it was for: there, the courier drop, and back. Each mile is rated by the day it was driven, both 2026 rates included, and the year’s log and odometer readings go to your tax professional in one export. Invoices keep the notarial fee apart from travel and printing. See the phone app.
This guide explains the IRS’s published rules; it is not tax advice.