GSA Mileage Rate 2027: 76 Cents Now, No 2027 Figure Yet

GSA publishes one table for every vehicle it reimburses on official travel. The row that pays depends on two things: what the traveler drove, and whether a government automobile was authorized and available. Travel that began on or after July 1, 2026 is paid 76 cents a mile in a privately owned automobile, 23.5 cents where a government automobile was available, 74 cents for a motorcycle and $1.935 per statute mile for an airplane.

The table carries both 2026 periods, because the rate moved at midyear. A voucher for travel in June is paid at the figure in force in June, even when it reaches the travel office in July or later.

The rate is chosen by the date the travel began, so a claim that spans June 30 is paid at two rates. GSA's own mileage table carries the years before 2026.

GSA has not published a privately owned vehicle rate for travel that begins in 2027. GSA issues each calendar year's rate as a bulletin after the IRS announces its own figure. Bulletin FTR 26-02, which set the 2026 rate, is dated December 29, 2025. The IRS has released the following year's figure in December in each of the last nine rate years, between December 14 and December 31.

Until a 2027 bulletin exists, 76 cents remains the figure for official travel through December 31, 2026. A 2027 number quoted anywhere else is arithmetic on past notices rather than a published rate.

The lower row is not a cheaper option a traveler can pick. It applies when the trip came with a government automobile that was authorized and available and the traveler drove their own instead. The authorization settles that question, not the traveler's preference.

A calendar-year rate is set once and can still be revised at midyear when the IRS revises its own figure. That is what happened in 2026. The IRS announced the change on July 13, GSA followed with Bulletin FTR 26-03 dated July 27, and travel from July 1 was paid the new rate even though the bulletin arrived later in the month.

The same thing has happened when fuel prices moved sharply, with midyear increases in 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2022. A trip is priced by the rate in force on the day it began, so a claim submitted in December can still need July's figure.

Moving for a job is not temporary duty travel, and GSA prices it on its own line: an automobile on a work-related move is paid 23.5 cents a mile for travel from July 1 through December 31, 2026. The figure matches the row for a traveler who passed up a government automobile, but the two rows answer different questions, and the move also carries a travel-day rule and its own paperwork.

GSA publishes both figures, and they change on different dates. The daily allowance changes on October 1, when the federal fiscal year starts. The vehicle rate changes on January 1, or at midyear by bulletin. A GSA table can therefore show a 2027 per diem beside a 2026 mileage rate on the same autumn day, and neither figure is out of date.

The voucher asks for the same facts every time, and the rate follows from them rather than from the total.

• The date the travel began, because the rate follows that date rather than the date the claim is submitted.
• The vehicle used, and whether a government automobile was authorized and available for the trip.
• The distance from a standard highway mileage guide or an odometer reading, the two sources the federal rule accepts.
• Whether the agency authorized the privately owned vehicle, because using an unauthorized method limits the payment to what the authorized method would have cost.