Hawaii Mileage Reimbursement 2026: Two Memoranda, Two Rates

Hawaii does not publish a table that a reader can check once a year. Each time the IRS moves, the State Comptroller issues a memorandum to department heads and fiscal offices, with a number, a date and the figure the state will use.

That makes the memorandum number the thing to quote. A traveler or a payroll office checking a claim names the memo it rests on, and the number is what shows the figure was current for the travel date.

The January memorandum set 72.5 cents a mile from January 1, 2026. The July memorandum set 76 cents for mileage incurred on or after July 1, 2026, and said in the same paragraph that 72.5 cents still applies to mileage incurred from January 1 to June 30.

The dates to keep apart are the memo's date and its effective date. Memorandum 2026-15 is dated July 22, 2026, and its figure runs from July 1. A July trip is therefore priced at 76 cents even though the instruction reached agencies three weeks into the month.

Both memoranda carry a reminder aimed at payroll rather than at the traveler. For employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement that adheres to the IRS rates, any amount paid above the announced figure must be reported as taxable income.

So a Hawaii agency paying more than 76 cents a mile for a trip after July 1, 2026 creates wages out of the difference. The memo asks department heads to forward the reminder to the office that computes the taxable portion, which is why the document is worth keeping beside a claim.

A Comptroller's memorandum instructs state agencies. It creates no obligation for a private employer and sets no rate that binds one, so the employer's written policy decides. Where that policy follows the IRS figures the trip prices at 72.5 cents per mile through June 30, 2026 and 76 cents per mile from July 1.

• Keep a copy of the policy with the claim, because the memoranda cover state travel only.
• Keep the travel date, since the figure moved on July 1, 2026 and the memo announcing it came later.
• Remember that a rate above the federal figure can turn part of a payment into taxable income.

The Hawaii Department of Accounting and General Services publishes these figures. State employees traveling on official business, through memoranda the State Comptroller sends to department heads and fiscal offices. The memoranda bind state travel, not a private employer.

The memorandum number is part of the figure: it is what a payroll office cites to show which instruction a claim was priced under.

The memo also says that amounts paid above these figures are taxable income for employees whose collective bargaining agreement does not adopt the IRS rates. A private policy following the federal rate pays 72.5 cents per mile through June 30, 2026 and 76 cents per mile from July 1.

The IRS moved the business standard mileage rate mid-year, so a 2026 trip prices by its date. This is the benchmark an employer's rate method usually follows.

The IRS has not published a standard mileage rate for 2027. Until it does, two things decide what a trip pays: the year you drove it and the date within that year. A 2026 trip pays 72.5 cents per mile through June 30 and 76 cents per mile from July 1. Miles driven from January 1, 2027 will use whatever figure the IRS publishes next.

The next year's rate has arrived in December in each of the last nine years, between December 14 and December 31. An announcement is not always the last word. The IRS raised the 2026 figure on July 1, halfway through the year, so a 2027 claim may need two rate periods.

A state that publishes a rate for its own travelers follows its own calendar, so it can publish the next period before the IRS does. A private employer's rate changes when its own policy changes, or when the benchmark that policy follows moves. It does not change because the calendar year turns.