Can I deduct both mileage AND toll costs? IRS website confused me

I've been working on my taxes for my side business and I'm a bit confused about vehicle deductions. When I was entering my mileage deduction for my business vehicle in the tax software, it's now asking if I want to deduct toll costs too? I always thought it was an either/or situation - either you take the standard mileage rate OR you itemize all your actual expenses (gas, maintenance, insurance, tolls, etc.). This seems different than what I've done in previous years. If this is legit and I can add in the toll expenses (I spent about $780 on tolls this year for business trips), I'd actually get a refund instead of owing money. I just want to make sure I'm not making a mistake that'll come back to bite me later. Has the IRS changed something this year about how vehicle deductions work?

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20 comments

Zoe Dimitriou

•8M

You're actually in luck here! The standard mileage rate (65.5 cents per mile for 2025) covers the basic costs of operating your vehicle - things like gas, maintenance, insurance, depreciation, etc. However, tolls and parking fees are considered separate business expenses that you CAN deduct in addition to your standard mileage deduction. Think of it this way: the mileage rate covers everything related to running your car, but not the extra costs you incur while using it for business, like parking and tolls. These are considered separate business expenses. Just make sure you're only deducting the business portion of these expenses. If some of your toll costs were for personal trips, you'll need to separate those out and only claim the business-related ones.

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Zoe Dimitriou

•8M

The standard mileage rate already includes car insurance, so you can't deduct that separately - that would be double-dipping. You can only deduct tolls and parking fees as separate expenses when using the standard mileage rate. If you want to deduct car insurance separately, you'd need to use the actual expenses method instead of taking the standard mileage deduction, and then you'd calculate the business percentage of ALL your car expenses (gas, insurance, repairs, etc.).

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Jamal Anderson

•8M

I discovered this same thing last year and it saved me so much! I drive for a living (sales rep) and use the standard mileage deduction, but I cross a toll bridge almost daily for client visits. I was shocked when I found out I could deduct both! I was using TurboTax and getting frustrated with some of the deduction questions, so I tried https://taxr.ai to double-check everything. Their system analyzed my receipts and confirmed I could take both deductions. Ended up getting back almost $900 more than I expected because of all the toll receipts!

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Jamal Anderson

•8M

It worked really well for my self-employment income. I have a regular job plus my side business, and it helped identify deductions I was missing for my business expenses. The receipt analyzer is what impressed me most - I just uploaded photos of my receipts and it sorted everything into the right categories. As for comparing to a CPA, I actually found it more thorough in some ways. My previous accountant missed some deductions that taxr.ai caught. Plus it's way more affordable than the $350 my CPA was charging. The big advantage is you still have full control over your return but with expert guidance.

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Mei Zhang

•8M

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai that was mentioned above. I was really impressed! I had over 200 business receipts from my construction side gig and was dreading sorting through them all. The system automatically categorized everything and flagged a bunch of toll receipts I had completely forgotten about. Between the mileage and the additional toll deductions, I'm getting about $430 more back than I initially calculated. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with vehicle deductions!

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Amara Eze

•8M

If you're still confused about this or have other tax questions, trying to get through to the IRS is a nightmare right now. I spent THREE HOURS on hold last week trying to ask a simple question about my deductions. Finally gave up and tried https://claimyr.com after seeing it mentioned in another thread. You can check out how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c but basically they wait on hold with the IRS for you and then call you when an agent is on the line. Got my question about mileage and toll deductions answered in like 20 minutes total instead of wasting my whole afternoon.

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Amara Eze

•8M

They use some kind of system that holds your place in line with the IRS. I'm not sure about all the technical details, but they basically manage the hold time for you, and when an IRS agent finally picks up, they call you and connect you directly to that agent. No more sitting with your phone on speaker for hours. And it definitely works faster than calling yourself. The trick is they're already in the queue with multiple lines, so they can get you connected through whichever line gets answered first. I was skeptical too, but after wasting half a day on hold myself, it was worth trying something different. The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed that yes, you can deduct both mileage and tolls separately.

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NeonNomad

•8M

I have to publicly eat my words. After posting that skeptical comment above, I was still stuck with a tax question about my vehicle deductions that was potentially worth thousands. Decided I had nothing to lose and tried Claimyr. I'm genuinely shocked - got a call back in about 40 minutes with an actual IRS agent on the line. The agent confirmed that I could deduct both my standard mileage and the tolls I paid for business travel. They also helped clear up a question about my home office deduction. Annoying that this service has to exist, but it absolutely works and saved me hours of frustration.

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Isabella Oliveira

•2M

This is exactly the kind of confusion that trips up so many taxpayers! You're absolutely right to double-check this before filing. The good news is that several people here have already confirmed what you're seeing - you CAN deduct both standard mileage AND tolls/parking fees. I'd recommend keeping detailed records of your toll expenses going forward. Since you mentioned $780 in tolls, that's a significant deduction that could definitely swing you from owing to getting a refund. Just make sure you can document that these were all business-related trips if the IRS ever asks. The key thing to remember is that the standard mileage rate covers your vehicle's operating costs, but tolls and parking are considered "above and beyond" expenses that you pay to use your vehicle for business. It's not double-dipping because these costs aren't built into the per-mile calculation.

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