No Change in Calif. WC Medical Mileage Rate for 2012 Travel

The IRS announced this week that the standard mileage rate for business miles will remain unchanged at 55.5¢ per mile for travel on or after January 1, 2012. As a result, the amount payable to injured workers for 2012 travel related to medical treatment or evaluation of their injuries will also remain 55.5¢ per mile, which is the rate that took effect for travel on or after July 1, 2011 regardless of the date of injury.

California workers’ compensation medical mileage requirements [LC §4600(e)(2)] work in conjunction with Government Code 19820 and Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) regulations. Claims administrators are required to reimburse mileage at the rate adopted by the DPA Director for non-represented (excluded) state employees, which is tied to the IRS published mileage rate.

Fluctuations in the price of gasoline in recent years have led to a string of mileage rate changes, so DWC has posted downloadable mileage-expense forms at http://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/forms.html to show applicable rates based on the travel date. Because there is no change in the rate for travel on or after January 1, 2012, claims administrators should continue to use the Medical Mileage Expense Form in English/Spanish for travel on or after 7/1/11, which is already posted on the DWC site.

The IRS announced the 2012 mileage rate this week in a press release which is posted online at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=250882,00.html. Because this is the first time in several years that claims administrators will not need to make any change in the mileage rate at the beginning of the year, CWCI is issuing a Bulletin and a news release to advise the community that no change in the medical mileage rate should be expected for travel on or after January 1.

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