Mileage Tracking for Home Health Aides
Many home health aides drive 8,000 to 18,000 business miles a year. At the 2026 IRS standard rate of 72.5 cents per mile, that is a deduction range of $5,800 to $13,050 for the workers who can claim it.
Who can deduct
Home health aides are split between W-2 agency employees (not federally deductible) and 1099 independent caregivers (deductible at 72.5 cents per mile). Many states with mandated reimbursement (CA, IL, MA, NY) require agencies to reimburse W-2 aides for between-patient driving.
How home health aides actually drive
An aide visiting 4 to 8 patients a day commonly logs 12,000 to 18,000 business miles a year. Part-time aides handling 2 or 3 patients log 5,000 to 9,000.
Typical deductible trips
The trips below are the ones home health aides most commonly forget to log, plus the obvious ones. Auto-tracking catches all of them, including the small ones that add up.
- Driving from one patient's home to the next (1099 only for federal deduction; W-2 aides need state-reimbursement path)
- Driving to pick up supplies or medications for a patient
- Driving to required agency meetings or training (varies by employment status)
- Driving to a patient's medical appointment as part of a care plan
- Driving to certification renewals and required CE (1099 deductible)
How TruMile helps
TruMile auto-detects every drive using motion plus location, so the trips above get logged whether you remember them or not. Smart classification learns your repeat routes (between regular client homes, between job sites, to your supply store) and starts tagging them automatically after a few trips.
At year-end, one tap turns your trip log into an IRS-compliant CSV or PDF you can hand to your accountant or paste into Schedule C. The math is already done.
Free for 40 auto trips a month, every month. If you are anywhere near the high end of the typical mileage range, the unlimited Pro tier at $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year usually pays for itself in the first week of tax season.
FAQ for home health aides
I work for an agency on W-2. Why can't I deduct?
The federal mileage deduction for W-2 employees was eliminated in 2018 and made permanent by the One Big Beautiful Bill. The path forward is your agency's reimbursement program. California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York require employers to reimburse business mileage for W-2 employees.
I'm 1099 with a few private clients. What's deductible?
Drives between client homes, drives to pick up supplies for a client, drives to scheduled medical appointments you accompany them to. The IRS rate is 72.5 cents per mile in 2026. File on Schedule C as a self-employed caregiver.
What if I'm dual-status? W-2 with one agency and 1099 with private clients?
Track them separately. Mileage for the W-2 agency is not federally deductible. Mileage for your private 1099 clients goes on Schedule C. An auto-tracking app that tags trips by client lets you keep this clean at year-end.
Start tracking your health aides miles for free.
40 auto trips a month, free forever. Switch from any tracker with a one-tap CSV import.
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