Who incurs the operating expenses on a leased car is irrelevant.  If I lease a car for three years and turn it back in at 36,000 miles, the leasing company pays for the major maintenance that is due at 40,000.  The question is, when IRS started allowing the standard mileage rate for leased cars, did they define "lease" or require a specific term?  Two years? One year? Six months?  Six weeks?  Please try to answer without going off on a tangent about airplanes.