Maryland Mileage Reimbursement 2026: A Full and a Half Rate

Maryland publishes the figure on a fleet notice rather than in a travel regulation. The notice dated July 23, 2026 sets the privately owned vehicle rate at 76 cents a mile full rate and 38 cents at half rate, both effective July 1, 2026.

The half rate turns on how the trip happened rather than on the kind of car. A driver who chooses a personal vehicle while a state vehicle was available is paid half, and so is a driver who loses the privilege to drive a state vehicle. The notice points to Section 8.2.01 of the State's fleet policies, where both situations are written out.

The Code of Maryland Regulations does not put the mileage rate in its travel chapter. Regulation 23.02.01.01 carves reimbursement for motor vehicles out of that chapter and places it within the jurisdiction of the State Fleet Administrator, subject to policies the Secretary of Budget and Management issues.

The statute behind it is narrower still. The State Finance and Procurement article lets the regulations establish uniform rates of mileage allowance and leaves the figures to the executive. That is why the number arrives as a dated notice from a budget office rather than as a codified rule a traveler can look up once.

A state claim is documented on the Comptroller's travel forms, with itemized receipts and a vehicle log. The travel regulations set out that paperwork and the fleet policies set out when a personal vehicle may be used at all, so the two documents are read together.

The rate covers insurance, and the fleet policies say so in terms: the allowance includes the cost of insurance, and the State does not reimburse an employee for a premium increase that personal-vehicle use brings. A premium line and a mileage line for the same trip would pay the same cost twice.

Maryland has no clause tying its figure to the IRS rate, so 2027 does not follow from the federal announcement. A 2027 figure needs a new notice from the Department of Budget and Management, and until one arrives the current rates stand.

The State has in practice matched the federal figure at each 2026 change, with a notice effective January 1 and another effective July 1. Matching is not the rule, though: the notice is discretionary, so the date that matters for a claimed mile is the effective date printed on the notice.

No Maryland statute requires a private employer to reimburse business mileage. The Wage Payment and Collection Law defines wages and lists what they include; an expense is not among them. A private claim follows the employer's written policy.

The state notice is useful as a benchmark rather than as a duty. An employer that pays the state's full rate pays the federal figure, and one that pays 38 cents pays half of it, which is a choice the employer makes and not a rule the State imposes on it.

• Read the policy for a half-rate clause before assuming the full figure applies.
• Keep the trip log: a claim paid at two rates over a year needs the date of each trip.

The Maryland Department of Budget and Management publishes these figures. State employees who use a privately owned vehicle on authorized State business.

The half rate covers a driver who chose a personal vehicle while a state vehicle was available, and a driver whose privilege to drive a state vehicle is suspended or who does not meet the assignment criteria.

The rate includes the cost of vehicle insurance, so no separate premium increase is paid on top of it.

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.