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HMRC Mileage Claim Calculator 2026/27

Updated 10 November 2026 · rates checked against GOV.UK

The approved mileage rate for a car or van is now 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year, then 25p. It had been 45p since 2011; HMRC raised it in June 2026 and backdated the change to 6 April 2026. Enter your business miles below to see what you can be paid tax-free, and how much tax relief you can claim if your employer pays less.

Not commuting. Add all your cars and vans together for the 10,000-mile step.
Enter 0 if you were paid nothing, or if you are self-employed.
20 basic, 40 higher, 45 additional. Scottish rates differ.
Car or van only. Passenger miles on the same business trip.
Approved amount
£0.00
Employer paid
£0.00
You can claim relief on
£0.00

HMRC approved mileage rates

VehicleFrom 6 April 2026Before 6 April 2026
Car or van, first 10,000 business miles55p a mile45p a mile
Car or van, each mile over 10,00025p a mile25p a mile
Motorcycle, all miles24p a mile24p a mile
Bicycle, all miles20p a mile20p a mile
Passenger payment (per colleague carried, car or van)5p a mile5p a mile

Sources: GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027; Increase to Approved Mileage Allowance Payments and self-employed simplified mileage rates (17 June 2026); Mileage Allowance Payments (480: Appendix 3).

How the claim works

If you are an employee using your own vehicle for work, your employer can pay you up to the approved rate with no tax or National Insurance to pay. If they pay less, or nothing, you claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the shortfall. You are not paid the shortfall: you get the tax on it back. 4,000 miles at 55p is £2,200; if your employer paid 30p a mile (£1,200), the shortfall is £1,000 and a basic-rate taxpayer gets £200 back.

If your employer pays more than the approved rate, the extra is taxed as pay. The passenger payment only counts if your employer actually pays it: there is no relief to claim for carrying a colleague if they do not.

If you are self-employed, the same flat rates are available as simplified expenses for cars, vans and motorcycles. You multiply your business miles by the rate and claim that as the vehicle expense, instead of adding up fuel, insurance, servicing and depreciation. You cannot use both methods for the same vehicle.

The 10,000-mile step is counted across the whole tax year and across every car and van you use, so a mid-year change of car does not reset it.

Paid at 45p since April 2026? Because the increase was backdated, miles driven from 6 April 2026 that were reimbursed at the old 45p rate leave a 10p-a-mile shortfall. Your employer may top it up; if they do not, you can claim relief on it.

How to claim

  • Employees: claim online through GOV.UK (“Claim tax relief for your job expenses”), or on your Self Assessment return if you file one. You can go back four tax years.
  • Self-employed: enter the total as a vehicle expense on your Self Assessment return.
  • Either way, keep a mileage log: date, destination, business purpose and miles for every journey.

Keeping the paperwork

A mileage claim stands or falls on the log and the receipts behind it. Fuel, parking and toll receipts are printed on thermal paper that fades within a year or two, so scan them when you get them. A phone app is fine for one or two a day; for a glovebox full, a feed scanner does twenty in under a minute.

Best receipt scanners UK
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Frequently asked questions

55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a car or van in the tax year, then 25p per mile. Motorcycles are 24p per mile and bicycles 20p per mile, with no 10,000-mile step. The 55p rate replaced 45p and applies from 6 April 2026.

Yes. HMRC raised the car and van rate for the first 10,000 business miles from 45p to 55p, backdated to 6 April 2026. The 25p rate above 10,000 miles, the 24p motorcycle rate and the 20p bicycle rate did not change. Journeys before 6 April 2026 are still worked out at 45p.

Yes. If your employer pays nothing, or less than the approved rate, you can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the difference. You do not get the difference itself back: you get tax relief on it, so a basic-rate taxpayer gets 20% of the shortfall and a higher-rate taxpayer 40%.

Yes. The approved mileage rates for your own car are the same whatever the fuel: petrol, diesel, hybrid or electric. (Company cars are different: they use the separate advisory fuel rates.)

No. Travel between home and your normal place of work is ordinary commuting and cannot be claimed. Business mileage is travel you have to make to do the job: visiting clients, travelling between workplaces, or going to a temporary workplace.

Yes. Sole traders can use simplified expenses instead of working out actual vehicle costs: the same flat rate per business mile for cars and goods vehicles (55p for the first 10,000 miles from 6 April 2026, then 25p) and 24p for motorcycles. Once you use the flat rate for a vehicle you must keep using it for that vehicle.

A mileage log: the date of each journey, where you went, why (the business purpose) and the miles. Keep anything that backs it up, such as fuel and parking receipts and any statement of what your employer paid you. A scanned copy is fine as long as it is complete and readable.
This calculator is a guide, not tax advice. It uses HMRC's published approved mileage rates and simple arithmetic; your own position (company cars, salary sacrifice, Scottish tax bands, more than one job) can change the answer. Check GOV.UK or ask an accountant before you file.

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