For reasonable employee automobile allowances, the 2026 CRA prescribed rate in the provinces is 73¢ per kilometre for the first 5,000 km and 67¢ for each additional kilometre. These are the main prescribed per-kilometre rates CRA uses in its guidance for reasonable employee automobile allowances.
CRA publishes prescribed per-kilometre rates that are commonly used when an employer pays an employee an automobile allowance for using their own vehicle for employment duties.
CRA says using the prescribed rate to cover the employee’s main vehicle ownership and operating costs is generally considered reasonable. A higher or lower rate can still depend on the facts of the situation.
The words are often used interchangeably in mileage searches, but CRA defines them differently. The 73¢ / 67¢ figures are prescribed per-kilometre allowance rates.
CRA describes an allowance as a payment for using an employee’s own vehicle for employment duties without requiring the employee to account for the actual vehicle costs. A reasonable allowance based only on business kilometres may be non-taxable when CRA’s other conditions are met.
Typical calculationCRA defines a reimbursement as repayment for expenses an employee incurred while conducting the employer’s business. The employee generally submits a claim or expense report showing the amounts spent.
Typical supportIf you are simply trying to estimate a kilometre-based payment, use the calculator below. The actual tax treatment depends on how the payment is structured and whether CRA’s conditions are met.
Calculate a 2026 mileage payment →The lower rate applies only to kilometres beyond the first 5,000 covered by the prescribed allowance.
The important question is whether you are looking at an employee allowance or calculating self-employed motor vehicle expenses.
An employer may reimburse employment-related driving using a reasonable per-kilometre automobile allowance.
A self-employed person generally does not simply multiply business kilometres by the 73¢ prescribed allowance rate to determine their motor vehicle expense deduction.
Each prescribed rate increased by one cent per kilometre from 2025 to 2026.
There is no separate prescribed allowance rate for each province. The 73¢ / 67¢ schedule applies across the provinces; the three territories use the higher 77¢ / 71¢ schedule.
This section refers to CRA’s prescribed per-kilometre allowance rates. The separate CRA Directive on Travel uses province-specific rates and is covered below.
It is not the same table.
The 73¢ / 67¢ provincial rates on this page are the prescribed rates used in CRA guidance about reasonable employee automobile allowances.
Annual threshold-based ratesCRA also publishes province- and territory-specific kilometric rates for CRA employees and other individuals travelling on CRA business under the CRA Directive on Travel.
Province-specific · reviewed quarterlyThese Travel Directive rates are effective July 1, 2026 and may change quarterly. They apply only to people covered by the CRA Directive on Travel.
Official July 2026 CRA Travel Directive table ↗Whatever calculation applies, the underlying driving still needs useful records. For business trips, CRA guidance includes the date, destination, purpose and kilometres driven, along with vehicle-level kilometre records.
Quick answers and the official sources behind the figures.
For prescribed automobile allowances in the provinces, the 2026 rates are 73 cents per kilometre for the first 5,000 kilometres and 67 cents for each additional kilometre.
The territory rates are four cents higher: 77 cents per kilometre for the first 5,000 kilometres and 71 cents for each additional kilometre.
Not generally. The prescribed allowance rate and the self-employed motor vehicle expense calculation are different rules. Self-employed vehicle expenses are generally allocated using the business-use proportion of the vehicle.
For CRA’s prescribed employee automobile allowance, Ontario uses the same provincial rate as the rest of the provinces: 73 cents per kilometre for the first 5,000 kilometres and 67 cents for each additional kilometre. If you mean the separate CRA Travel Directive rate, Ontario is 65.5 cents per kilometre effective July 1, 2026.
The 73¢ figure is CRA’s 2026 prescribed allowance rate for the first 5,000 business kilometres in the provinces. It is a benchmark used in CRA guidance about reasonable employee allowances; a reimbursement is a different type of payment that repays expenses the employee actually incurred.
No. The CRA Travel Directive has separate province- and territory-specific rates for people travelling under that directive, and those rates are reviewed quarterly.
