You were on a delivery or a rideshare trip and someone clipped you, or you slid into a curb on wet leaves. The car needs $4,000 of bodywork, insurance covers all but your deductible, and you want to know what goes on your taxes. Can you write off the repair? Or the deductible? Or the week of missed work?
Short answer: if you use the standard mileage rate (72.5¢ a mile through June 30, 2026 and 76¢ from July 1), you can't deduct the repair bill as a car expense. The rate already covers repairs. What may be deductible is a business casualty loss: the business share of the damage that insurance didn't pay, often your deductible. It's limited to the car's remaining business basis, which the standard rate lowers by 35¢ for every 2026 business mile. It goes on Form 4684, Section B, not Schedule C. The personal share of the loss isn't deductible unless the damage came from a federally declared disaster.
Who this is for: US delivery and rideshare drivers, and other self-employed people, who use their own car for 1099 work and had an accident in 2026. Who it is not for: W-2 employees driving for an employer. Unreimbursed employee car costs aren't deductible on a federal return, so ask your employer about reimbursement. It also isn't for anyone whose crash was the other driver's fault and whose costs that driver's insurer is paying in full. If you're fully reimbursed, there's no loss to deduct.
What the standard mileage rate already covers
Publication 463 is blunt: in a year you use the standard mileage rate, "you can't deduct depreciation, lease payments, maintenance and repairs, gasoline (including gasoline taxes), oil, insurance, or vehicle registration fees." Rev. Proc. 2019-46, which sets the rules for the rate, uses the same list.
So the $4,200 body-shop invoice doesn't go on Schedule C line 9, and neither do the higher insurance premiums that follow. Your business miles keep earning the 2026 rates, and parking and tolls still sit on top of the rate as before.
Neither list mentions casualty losses. Publication 463 handles car damage separately: "If your car is damaged, destroyed, or stolen, you may be able to deduct part of the loss not covered by insurance," and it sends you to Publication 547. That's where a deduction may still exist.
Be honest about the gray area. No IRS publication says in so many words that a business casualty loss is allowed in a year you take the standard mileage rate. The rate's list of covered costs doesn't include it, and Publication 463 points car damage to Publication 547. A preparer may well treat it as allowed on that reading, but it's a question to put to yours, not a sure thing.
Business share versus personal share
Most gig cars are mixed-use: deliveries on weeknights, groceries and school runs on Saturday. Publication 547 says that when property is used partly for business and partly for personal purposes, you figure the loss "separately for the personal-use portion and for the business or income-producing portion." You split the cost, the value before and after, and the insurance money between the two uses.
- Business share: deductible as a business casualty loss. The $100 and 10%-of-AGI floors don't apply to it.
- Personal share: for tax years after 2017, deductible only if the loss is "attributable to a federally declared disaster." A fender bender isn't one.
The split follows how you use the car, not what you were doing when the crash happened. A wreck during a DoorDash run doesn't turn a 60% business car into a 100% one. Your mileage log is what sets the percentage: business miles divided by total miles on that car.
The 35¢ catch: your business basis may already be gone
Publication 547 limits a loss to the smaller of two numbers: the drop in the car's value, or your adjusted basis in it. Then you subtract what insurance paid. A repair bill can stand in for the drop in value, but only if you actually made the repairs, they just restore the car, they aren't excessive, and they don't leave it worth more than before.
The adjusted basis is where standard-mileage drivers get caught. Part of every business mile you claimed counts as depreciation. Notice 2026-10 sets it at 35¢ a mile for 2026, 33¢ for 2025, 30¢ for 2024 and 28¢ for 2023. Each business mile lowers the car's business basis by that much, but not below zero. The July increase to 76¢ (Announcement 2026-11) changed the operating rate only. It didn't publish a new depreciation figure.
Jordan: newer car, part-time driving
Jordan bought a car for $20,000 in January 2026 and uses it 60% for deliveries. In November a pickup truck backs into the front fender while Jordan waits at a restaurant. The truck leaves, and Jordan's collision coverage pays a $4,200 repair minus the $1,000 deductible. By then Jordan has driven 9,000 business miles in the car.
| Form 4684 logic | Business 60% | Personal 40% |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of the car | $12,000 | $8,000 |
| Less depreciation in the rate (9,000 × 35¢) | −$3,150 | — |
| Adjusted basis | $8,850 | $8,000 |
| Drop in value (repair cost $4,200) | $2,520 | $1,680 |
| Loss: smaller of basis or drop in value | $2,520 | $1,680 |
| Less insurance paid ($3,200) | −$1,920 | −$1,280 |
| Deductible loss | $600 | $0 (no disaster) |
Of the $1,000 deductible Jordan paid, $600 may be deductible. In the 12% bracket that's about $72 of federal income tax. It's worth claiming, but it won't change your year.
Maria: high-mileage car, basis used up
Maria bought her car for $16,000 in January 2023 and drives it 85% for rideshare, so its business share of cost is $13,600. She logged 25,000 business miles in 2023 (× 28¢ = $7,000) and 26,000 in 2024 (× 30¢ = $7,800). That's $14,800 of depreciation, more than $13,600, so her business basis hit zero before 2025 began. When she's rear-ended in 2026, her business casualty loss is $0. The business share of her deductible isn't deductible because there's no basis left to lose, and the personal share isn't deductible either.
That isn't money lost. Maria already deducted the car's value, a few cents at a time, through the standard rate. The same running total matters if she sells the car later, as the guide to selling a car after the mileage deduction explains.
What else people try to deduct
- Traffic tickets: no. "You can't deduct fines you pay or collateral you forfeit for traffic violations" (Publication 463).
- A crash you caused willfully: no. Publication 547 excludes a car accident caused by "your willful negligence or willful act."
- Skipping the claim to protect your premium: if the car is insured and you don't file, you can deduct only the part your policy wouldn't have covered anyway, such as the deductible (Publication 547).
- A rental car while yours is in the shop: it isn't part of the casualty loss, but Publication 547 says costs like this "may be deductible as business expenses" when the damaged property is business property. Keep the rental agreement and log the work miles you drive in it.
- Lost earnings while the car is out: not deductible. You simply have less income to report.
- A leased car: Publication 547 asks you to show you were "contractually liable to the owner for the damage." Keep the lease's damage clause with the repair papers.
- On actual expenses instead: repairs you paid are already part of your car costs, times your business-use percentage. Publication 547 says the cost of repairs "isn't part of a casualty loss," so don't count them twice.
Timing: a November crash may land on your 2027 return
Under Publication 547, you have no deductible loss while a claim with "a reasonable prospect of recovery" is still open. If your insurer is going after the other driver's company to get your deductible back, which is common when you weren't at fault, wait. Claim whatever is left in the year you know you won't get it back. If the claim settles before you file, use the settled numbers.
What to keep from this week
- Photos of the damage and the scene, with dates, plus any police or incident report number. Publication 547 asks you to show the type of casualty and when it happened.
- The insurance claim: claim number, adjuster's estimate, and the final settlement or payment letter.
- The repair invoice, showing the work was done and what it cost.
- The trip record for the drive, and the year's business and total miles, which set your business-use percentage.
- The car's purchase paperwork and your business miles for each year you've owned it. That's how your preparer works out the remaining basis.
At tax time, your preparer figures the business part on Form 4684, Section B. Per the Form 4684 instructions, the result flows to Form 4797, or straight to Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 4, if you don't otherwise need Form 4797. It doesn't go on Schedule C.
Where TaxMiles fits, and where it doesn't
We make TaxMiles, so weigh this accordingly. Here's what the app does and doesn't do for this.
- It records each drive with its date, time and route. Open the trip in your log and type what happened in its Notes field, such as "rear-ended at pickup, claim #…". That gives you a dated record made the same day.
- Its business and total miles for the year give you the business-use percentage that splits the loss.
- US users can open Taxes → Vehicle Basis (a Pro tool) to enter the purchase price and date. It shows the total depreciation the standard rate has taken so far, using each year’s IRS cents per mile. One caveat: it subtracts that from the whole purchase price. For a casualty loss you need the business share of the price, so multiply the price by your business-use percentage first, as in Jordan's table.
- It doesn't figure casualty losses or fill in Form 4684, and it has no category for them. Don't log the deductible as a car expense. On standard mileage that isn't where it belongs, and an expense entry could be read as an ordinary Schedule C cost in an export.
- The free plan covers your first 40 business trips in total. Pro costs $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year and adds tax tools like Vehicle Basis, receipt scanning and PDF/CSV exports.
Frequently asked questions
Can I deduct my car insurance deductible if I use the standard mileage rate?
Possibly the business share of it, as a casualty loss on Form 4684, not as a car expense on Schedule C. Publication 547 says the part insurance doesn't cover, such as a deductible, can be part of a casualty loss. The personal share is deductible only after a federally declared disaster. IRS guidance doesn't say in so many words that a business casualty loss is allowed alongside the standard mileage rate, so confirm it with your preparer.
Can I deduct car repairs after an accident on Schedule C?
Not if you use the standard mileage rate. Publication 463 says that in a standard-mileage year you can't deduct maintenance and repairs separately. If you use actual expenses, repairs you paid are part of your car costs, times business-use percentage, and you don't count them again as a casualty loss.
Does it matter that the crash happened during a delivery?
It proves the car is business property and records when the casualty happened, but it doesn't make the whole car business. Publication 547 says to split a mixed-use car's basis, value and insurance money between business and personal use and figure each part separately.
Are traffic tickets from the accident deductible?
No. Publication 463 says you can't deduct fines you pay for traffic violations. A loss caused by your own willful negligence or a willful act isn't deductible as a casualty loss either.
When do I claim the loss if my insurance claim is still open?
In the year you can reasonably tell how much you'll get back. Publication 547 says there's no deductible loss while a claim with a reasonable prospect of recovery is pending. If your insurer is chasing the other driver for your deductible, wait for that answer.
Know your car's business basis before you need it
The log that proves your miles also shows how much of the car you've already deducted. TaxMiles keeps both, using the right 2026 rate for each trip's date.
Get TaxMilesSources: IRS Publication 547 (2025), Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts (car accidents as casualties; willful-negligence exclusion; federally declared disaster limit for personal-use property; mixed-use allocation; $100 and 10% rules for personal-use property only; smaller of basis or decline in FMV; repair cost as measure of decline; timely insurance claim rule and deductible exception; reasonable prospect of recovery; proof of loss; reporting on Form 4684/4797); IRS Publication 463 (2025) (costs you can't deduct with the standard mileage rate; casualty and theft losses; traffic fines; basis reduction for depreciation in the rate); Rev. Proc. 2019-46, section 4.02; Notice 2026-10 (depreciation component 28¢/30¢/33¢/35¢ for 2023–2026); Announcement 2026-11, IRB 2026-29 (76¢ from July 1, 2026); IRS standard mileage rates (72.5¢ January 1–June 30 and 76¢ July 1–December 31, 2026); IRS Instructions for Form 4684 (Section B for business property; Schedule 1, line 4). Checked October 22, 2026.
This article is general information for US federal income tax, not tax or legal advice. The examples are simplified: one car, one business-use percentage, a purchase price with no sales tax or improvements, and no other casualties or gains for the year. States have their own rules. TaxMiles is published by Gigabyte LLC, the company that wrote this article.