Standard Mileage Rate Goes Up a Penny for 2018

The General Services Administration (GSA) just published the 2018 Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Mileage Reimbursement Rates. Although it applies to Government workers, most contractors have adopted the GSA rates as a matter of convenience. Although there is nothing in the FAR cost principles that requires Government to utilize the GSA mileage rates, there is no logical reason for not following the GSA standards - who would want to go through the effort of developing their own set of rates and then have them subjected to some kind of audit? We should note that while FAR does not apply the GSA rates to contractors, sometimes individual contracts will invoke such a requirement (e.g. DOE contracts).

So the rate for calendar year 2018 is 54.5 cents per mile, up from 53.5 cents per mile in calendar year 2017. The following schedule shows how the rate has trended the past few years.

GSA also published rates for airplanes, motorcycles, and POVs used for relocation purposes. You can see all the latest rates at the GSA website should you need those rates.