Commute Mileage

Commute mileage refers to the distance traveled between an employee’s home and their primary place of work. Under IRS rules, this type of travel is considered personal use and is not eligible for tax-free reimbursement.

Even if an employee uses their vehicle for work throughout the day, the trip to and from their main work location is still classified as commuting, not business travel. Because of this, those miles cannot be reimbursed on a tax-free basis.

That said, not all trips that start or end at home are treated as commuting. In practice, there are a few important distinctions:

• Travel between multiple work locations during the day is considered business mileage
• Trips from home to a temporary or secondary work location may qualify as business use

To stay compliant, many companies apply automated commute deductions. This means commute miles are removed from total reported mileage before reimbursement is calculated, helping ensure only eligible business miles are reimbursed.

Accurately separating commute mileage from business mileage is an important part of maintaining compliance and making sure reimbursements are handled correctly and fairly.