Kentucky Mileage Reimbursement 2026: 49 Cents From Oct 1

The regulation does not set an annual figure and then adjust it. It fixes a rate for one quarter, then starts the next quarter with a fresh review, which is why 2026 has four state figures and two of them are identical.

A quarterly rate also means a claim can cross a boundary. A mile driven in March belongs to the 42-cent quarter even if the expense report is submitted in April, so the date of the mile rather than the date of the paperwork decides the figure.

• Date every trip, because the quarter it falls in sets the rate.
• Split a claim that runs across two quarters at the boundary rather than averaging the two figures.
• Record the miles while the quarter is open, because the state publishes the rate for it and the evidence is easiest to collect then.
• Check the current version of the regulation before you submit, because it changes four times a year.

Because Kentucky leaves private mileage to the employer, the first thing to ask for is the policy, and the second is the rate it names. A policy that points at the federal rate needs a new figure when that rate moves, and 2026 moved it on July 1.

The state's own 49 cents is neither a ceiling nor a floor for a private claim. It is what Kentucky pays its own travelers, and it has stayed below the federal rate all year, so a policy that pays the state figure is making a choice rather than following a rule.

• Keep the policy and the rate it names with the claim.
• Log the date of each trip, because a benchmark rate changes mid-year.
• Claim travel between worksites or to a customer, and expect a policy to exclude the commute between home and your regular workplace.

The Kentucky Office of Statewide Accounting Services publishes these figures. State officers and employees traveling on official business. It does not set what a private employer owes.

The state revises the regulation four times a year, and the published version carries the history table, so a rate question turns on the quarter rather than the year.

The state figure is a travel rate for state employment, and the federal business rate ran 25 to 31 cents a mile higher in every quarter of 2026. A private employer is free to follow either, or neither, because its own policy is the rule.

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.