IRS offers sneak peek at possible 2001 travel reimbursement rate

The Internal Revenue Service will increase its standard mileage reimbursement rate two cents to 34.5 cents per mile in 2001, a rate that could be adopted by the General Services Administration for all federal employees.

GSA sets the reimbursement rate for federal employees. The rate cannot exceed the rate established by the IRS. Last year, the rates GSA set for mileage reimbursement mirrored those set by the IRS.

GSA has the IRS study that determined the new rates, said Bill Rivers, acting director of GSA's travel management policy division. "By law we have to review it independently to see if it applies from the federal employee perspective, which we're doing now and we would anticipate we would have an adjustment effective Jan. 1," he said.

According to Rivers, GSA cannot yet determine what the new mileage reimbursement rate will be, as it hinges on the IRS findings as well as other data agency officials need to review. The IRS said rising gasoline prices drove up the mileage reimbursement rate.

The current standard mileage rate is 32.5 cents per mile. From January 1999 to January 2000, the rate fluctuated by 1.5 cents three times. Each rate change was based on a similar change made by the IRS.

Under federal travel regulations, an employee may use a personal vehicle for official travel if authorized by his or her agency. If an agency authorizes travel by another means, such as airplane, and an employee still drives his or her own car, the employee's reimbursement is limited to the cost of the authorized means of travel.