Wisconsin Mileage Reimbursement 2026: Two Tiers by Trip Length

The round trip decides the rate, not the one-way distance. A personal-car round trip under 100 miles pays 51 cents a mile. Once the round trip passes 100 miles the figure drops to 35.2 cents, which is a little more than two thirds of the shorter-trip rate.

A traveler who asks the state fleet portal for a car and finds none can claim 51 cents on the long trip too, so the question at claim time is whether a fleet car was available rather than how far the trip went.

Section F describes a ceiling, not a rate. A personal-car mile may not exceed two cents under the rate paid to federal employees, and the section adds that this is not necessarily the IRS rate. In 2026 that ceiling sits around 70.5 cents, which is roughly twenty cents more than the state pays.

The gap is the reason the state figure has to be printed rather than inferred from the federal one. A policy that follows the IRS pays 72.5 cents through June 30, 2026 and 76 cents from July 1, and an employer that copies the state schedule pays 51 cents on a short trip.

The plan does not make the state figure follow the federal one. It says that when a change to the federal rate is realized, the administrator determines the new state rate and an effective date that is administratively feasible. That is a duty to look, not a formula that moves the number.

So a 2027 answer states the rule and not a figure. The 51 cents and 35.2 cents stand until the administrator sets new amounts, and the date on the plan is what tells a claimant which schedule applied to a trip.

The compensation plan applies to employees whose pay it sets, and it says so in its own introduction. Wisconsin's wage statute runs the other way. It restricts deductions an employer may take from wages and says nothing about paying an expense.

A private claim therefore follows the employer's written policy. The state schedule is a useful benchmark for what a public employer pays, and it is not a floor a Wisconsin business has to meet.

• Ask what the policy pays for a long trip before assuming the short-trip figure applies.
• Keep the fleet or rental decision in writing if the employer mirrors the state's two tiers.

The Division of Personnel Management publishes these figures. State employees whose pay the compensation plan sets, including elected officials and court system employees.

The tier turns on the round trip rather than the one-way distance, and a round trip over 100 miles pays 51 cents again when a fleet car was requested and none was available.

The plan caps a personal-car mile at two cents under the federal employee rate, which is a ceiling rather than the figure the state pays.

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.