
For the 2011
tax year, the IRS has made mid-year standard mileage deduction rate adjustments for both business and health related car expenses; it has increased the rate of mileage deduction to cushion against the ever seemingly high and rising fuel prices. The IRS does not customarily make such mid-year adjustments and instead provides an annual standard mileage rate guideline once during fall to apply for the next tax year. However, when the fuel prices rise significantly within a year, the IRS can raise these rates as it did for 2011. The last time that the IRS made such mid-year adjustments was in 2008, when the fuel prices drastically rose following the economic recession.