Mileage Tracking for Nurses
Many nurses drive 5,000 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 $3,625 to $13,050 for the workers who can claim it.
Who can deduct
Most staff nurses are W-2 employees and cannot deduct mileage on the federal return (TCJA 2018, made permanent by the One Big Beautiful Bill). However, travel nurses on agency 1099 contracts, locum-tenens nurse practitioners, and per-diem nurses contracting independently CAN deduct business mileage at the 2026 IRS rate of 72.5 cents per mile. Check your contract before assuming.
How nurses actually drive
A 1099 travel nurse driving between assignments and to per-diem shifts can easily log 12,000 to 18,000 business miles a year. A staff nurse driving from hospital to hospital within one employer's system is typically W-2 (and not federally deductible) but may be eligible for state-mandated reimbursement.
Typical deductible trips
The trips below are the ones nurses most commonly forget to log, plus the obvious ones. Auto-tracking catches all of them, including the small ones that add up.
- Driving between agency assignments (1099 travel nurses)
- Driving to per-diem shifts at multiple hospitals (1099 contracts)
- Driving to home-health patient visits if the visiting-nurse role is 1099
- Driving to required CE classes and license-renewal events (1099 contractors only)
- Driving to professional certification exams (1099 contractors only)
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 nurses
I'm a staff nurse driving between two hospitals owned by the same system. Can I deduct that?
Not on the federal return as a W-2 employee. Some states mandate employer reimbursement for required driving between worksites (California Labor Code 2802, Illinois 820 ILCS 115/9.5, Massachusetts G.L. c. 149 § 148B). Check your state's rules and your employer's policy.
I'm a 1099 travel nurse. What's deductible?
Drives between assignments, drives to credentialing or licensure appointments, drives to required CE, and drives between hospitals when you cover multiple per-diem contracts. Your home is generally your tax home for travel-nurse purposes, which makes most driving deductible. Tax rules around travel-nurse stipends are complex; a CPA familiar with travel-nurse taxation is worth the fee.
What about the medical-mileage rate? Doesn't the IRS have one for healthcare?
The 20.5-cent medical/moving rate is for personal medical travel (driving yourself to a doctor's appointment), not for nurses driving for work. As a nurse, your work-related driving uses the business rate (72.5 cents) if you are 1099. As a W-2 staff nurse, neither rate produces a federal deduction.
Document every business mile.
A clean log is what wins state-mandated reimbursement claims (CA, IL, MA, NY) and what protects you if your employer's records are off. 40 auto trips a month, free forever.
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