Michigan Mileage Reimbursement 2026: Two Rates, One Schedule

Michigan's schedule answers a question about fleet use before it answers a question about the cost of driving. A traveler who took a personal vehicle because no state car was available gets the premium rate, which tracks the federal business figure. A traveler who refused or turned in a state vehicle gets the standard rate.

The state's fiscal year starts October 1, so 2026 holds two of Michigan's rate changes. The premium rate moved mid-year with the federal figure, and the October schedule raised the standard rate to 57 cents.

Michigan prices a trip from the official workstation, not from wherever the car happened to be. Point-to-point mileage is the shorter of two distances, home to the assignment site and back, or the workstation to that site and back. That rule decides which miles are business miles, and it applies before either rate does.

• Mileage between home and a second office may be reimbursable, but the state treats it as taxable and reviews it case by case.
• Michigan calls driving beyond the point-to-point route vicinity mileage, and the claim has to list it separately with an explanation.
• A permanently assigned state vehicle has to meet the state's mileage requirements to stay assigned, and a traveler who turns one in gets the standard rate.

Michigan has no statute that sets a private-employer mileage rate, so both figures describe state employment only. A private claim pays what the employer's written policy says, and the figure most policies adopt is the federal business rate, at 72.5 cents per mile through June 30, 2026 and 76 cents per mile from July 1.

The standard rate shows the size of the gap. Michigan pays a traveler who turned down a state vehicle 47 cents a mile through September 30, 2026 and 57 cents after, against a federal 76.

• Ask which rate the policy uses, and whether it distinguishes an authorized personal vehicle from a refused state one.
• Keep the date of each trip next to the rate, because the premium figure changed on July 1 and the standard one on October 1.
• Leave commuting out of the claim, and keep the business purpose for every other trip.

The Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget publishes these figures. Classified and unclassified state employees traveling on state business in a personal vehicle. The premium rate depends on whether a state vehicle was available.

The two rates move on different schedules. The premium rate follows the federal business rate, which is why it changed on July 1, 2026. The standard rate comes from the state's fiscal-year schedule and changed on October 1.

Neither rate is a rate for private employment. A private policy that follows the federal figure paid 72.5 cents per mile through June 30, 2026 and 76 cents per mile from July 1, which is the premium figure rather than the standard one.

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.