As an Instacart shopper, you are a 1099 independent contractor. Instacart pays you for the batch, not for the miles you drive to complete it. The IRS lets you claim those miles yourself: 72.5 cents for every business mile driven from January 1 through June 30, 2026, and 76 cents for every mile from July 1 through December 31, 2026. That is real money back on your return, and it only works if the miles are logged, trip by trip, all year long.
Sources: IRS, 2026 business standard mileage rate - 72.5 cents per mile for Jan 1-Jun 30, 2026. IRS, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 - mid-year increase to 76 cents per mile from Jul 1, 2026. IRS, Self-Employment Tax - 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit, with the 12.4% Social Security portion capped at $184,500 of net earnings for 2026. IRS, Estimated Taxes - quarterly payments generally required once you expect to owe $1,000 or more.
Why Instacart doesn't pay you per mile
Some W-2 delivery jobs reimburse a set rate per mile automatically. Instacart does not. As a self-employed shopper, the deduction is not something the app calculates or pays out for you. It lives entirely on your own tax return, and you only get it if you kept a record of the driving yourself.
The 2026 rate is split into two halves
The 2026 IRS rate is not one number for the year. It is two. The standard business rate was 72.5 cents per mile for the first half of 2026, then the IRS raised it to 76 cents per mile starting July 1, a rare mid-year increase driven by rising fuel costs. Miles you drove in March use the lower rate. Miles you drive in September use the higher one. You cannot average the two rates together or apply 76 cents to your whole year of driving.
What counts as a business mile for shopping
Every mile you drive for a batch counts as a business mile: the drive to the store, any driving between stores on a multi-store order, and the drive to the customer's door. Miles you drive to reposition for your next batch count too. Whether the very first drive of the day, from your home to your first stop, counts depends on details covered in our guide to the commuting rule. Keep a log either way, so the miles are there when you need them, not reconstructed from memory weeks later.
For most shoppers, mileage is the single biggest deduction available. There is no office to write off, no equipment to depreciate, no employees on payroll. The car is the business expense, and the miles are how you prove it.
A worked example
Say you drove 5,000 business miles shopping and delivering between January and June, then 4,000 more between July and December.
- First half: 5,000 miles x $0.725 = $3,625.
- Second half: 4,000 miles x $0.76 = $3,040.
- Total deduction: $3,625 + $3,040 = $6,665.
That $6,665 comes off your net profit before you calculate what you owe. Self-employment tax is 15.3%, made up of 12.4% for Social Security (on net earnings up to $184,500 for 2026) plus 2.9% for Medicare, and it is charged on 92.35% of your net profit, on top of regular income tax. Knock $6,665 off your profit and you save roughly $942 in self-employment tax alone, before counting the extra income tax savings. Skip the log and the IRS taxes the full amount you were paid, mileage or no mileage.
That savings matters during the year, not just at filing time. Self-employed shoppers who expect to owe $1,000 or more are generally required to pay quarterly estimated taxes rather than settling everything in April. A smaller net profit from a solid mileage log means smaller quarterly payments, not just a bigger refund later.
Driving for more than one gig app
If you also drive for another gig app the same day, keep your Instacart miles separate from theirs. A single trip belongs to whichever app you were actively working for at the time - you do not get to claim the same mile twice because two apps happened to be open. Log each drive under the platform it was actually for, or just log the drive itself and let the purpose field sort it out later.
How to actually claim it
You claim the deduction on Schedule C, either using the standard mileage rate above or the actual expense method, whichever gives you the bigger number. You cannot switch freely between the two once you have chosen actual expenses on a vehicle, so it is worth comparing both before you file your first year as a shopper. Whichever method you use, the deduction depends on a mileage log the IRS will accept if you are ever asked to show one: the date of each drive, where you started and ended, the business purpose, and the miles driven. A dashboard screenshot from the Instacart app is not a mileage log, and a bank statement showing gas purchases is not one either.
Does Instacart reimburse mileage?
No. Instacart pays shoppers for batches and tips, not a per-mile rate. Any mileage deduction comes from your own tax return, not from Instacart, and nobody files it for you.
What mileage rate should Instacart shoppers use in 2026?
72.5 cents per mile for driving between January 1 and June 30, 2026, and 76 cents per mile for driving from July 1 through December 31, 2026. Add both totals together on your return; do not apply one rate to the full year.
Can I deduct mileage without keeping a log?
No. The IRS requires a contemporaneous record of your business miles, meaning one built as you drive, not reconstructed at tax time from memory or a bank statement.
Instacart doesn't track your miles for you. TruMile logs every shopping and delivery mile automatically, split by date, so your first-half and second-half totals are ready when you file. See how it works for self-employed drivers.
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