Are Tolls Tax Deductible?

Tolls are tax deductible, but only when you travel for business purposes and are self-employed. If you are an employee, you can't deduct tolls even if your employer doesn't reimburse you for this expense due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act law changes, effective from 2018 to 2025.

You can claim all tolls for your business-related driving during the course of your job and when you travel away from your home for work purposes.

There are a few caveats to what is considered travel away from home for work. The most important condition is to be away from home to conduct business. The IRS considers two types of homes - tax home and family home. The tax home is your permanent job’s address, and the family home, as the name suggests, is your personal residence. So, expenses related to any of the two types of homes are not deductible.

Determining your tax home

Due to the variety of job types, it can be difficult to determine your tax home. If you are a seasonal worker or work in multiple locations, your tax home would be your main place of work. The main place of work is the location where you spend the most time, conduct most of your work duties, and where you earn the most amount of money.

If you work remotely or don’t have a main place of work, you still have to determine your tax home. Your tax home and your place of residence can be at the same address. The criteria to determine your tax home in this case are:

• You conduct part of your business in the location and might also use it for leisure activities
• You pay double the living expenses because you also have to be away from the tax home for business purposes
• You have been present in both homes – your tax home and your historical place of lodging, have family residing at the tax home location, or you use that location often

If you don’t satisfy all three criteria, you might still be eligible for travel tax deductions, depending on your circumstances. The IRS places significant weight on where you earn your income and perform your duties when determining if your personal and tax home are the same.

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Deducting business travel tolls

You can write off highway, bridge, tunnel, EZ pass, and all other tolls whenever you travel away from your family home or tax home for business purposes, or you drive during the course of your job.

However, tolls not tightly connected with work are not deductible. Just like you don’t get paid to commute to work, you can’t write off your travel expenses for commuting to work.

If you travel for business and have to rent a car, you can only deduct the portion of the expenses related to work. For example, any tolls you paid in your leisure time would not be deductible. However, tolls are deductible if you have to travel for a business lunch or other work-related activities. 

Methods for claiming tolls on tax

You can write off business-related tolls using the standard mileage rate or the actual expenses method.

The standard mileage rate method

The standard mileage rate is a fixed rate per mile for using your vehicle for business purposes, determined by the IRS annually. The standard mileage rate for 2024 is 67 cents per mile. Tolls are not included in the rate, so you can add the tolls you've paid to the standard mileage rate for your deduction.

The actual car expenses method

The actual car expenses method lets you deduct all actual expenses you've accrued for the portion of driving related to work purposes. You must keep all receipts of your expenses, including tolls, to file a compliant tax claim.

Check out our dedicated guide to claiming your business mileage as self-employed.

Tolls when driving for charity purposes

If you travel to contribute to a charity, you can deduct your running car expenses, including tolls, if they were not reimbursed. You can choose the standard mileage rate (14 cents per mile) and claim tolls on top of it, or use the the actual expenses method. Keep all receipts for your car-related expenses.

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