HMRC mileage rates and mileage allowance

What are the HMRC mileage rates for 2026/27?

55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a car or van, then 25p a mile. Motorcycles are 24p a mile however far you go. The same rates apply to the self-employed and to employees using their own vehicle.

From 6 April 2027 the rate above 10,000 miles is set to rise to 35p, once the regulations are made, and the 55p rate is now permanent. What else the Budget changed.

The rate covers everything it costs to run the vehicle, so you do not claim fuel, insurance, servicing or repairs on top. Parking, tolls and train fares are claimed separately.

HMRC manual BIM75005: The mileage rate covers the costs of buying, running and maintaining the vehicle, such as fuel, oil, servicing, repairs, insurance, vehicle excise duty and MOT. The rate also covers depreciation of the vehicle. The mileage rate does not include incidental expenses incurred in connection with a particular journey, such as tolls, congestion charges and parking fees.

Is it still 45p a mile?

Only for journeys before 6 April 2026. It had been 45p since April 2011, and it is now 55p.

The rate follows the tax year the return covers, not the date you fill it in. Your 2025-26 return, due by 31 January 2027, still uses 45p. The return for 2026-27 uses 55p.

GOV.UK heads its new column Flat rate per mile for 2026-2027 tax year. HMRC’s manual gives the old rate as applying up to and including the 2025-26 tax year.

How do I work out my mileage claim?

Multiply your business miles by the rate: the first 10,000 at 55p, and anything above that at 25p. Add the two together.

Say you are a self-employed plasterer and you drive 12,500 business miles in your van in the 2026-27 tax year, using the flat rate:

The same miles in 2025-26 come to £5,125, because the first 10,000 were at 45p. The claim goes in as an expense on your Self Assessment return, so it lowers your taxable profit. It is not paid to you as cash. Mileage is one of several costs you can claim; the rest are in our allowable expenses guide for builders and trades.

To work out your own figure for either year, use our mileage calculator.

Which journeys count as business mileage?

Only journeys made wholly and exclusively for your business. Of the flat rate, HMRC’s manual says: It is not available for private journeys, such as travel from home to work, or for journeys that serve both a business and a private purpose. GOV.UK’s list of costs the self-employed cannot claim includes travel between home and work.

If one trip mixes business with something personal, only an identifiable business part of it can count. HMRC’s manual puts it this way: The mileage rate is only available for journeys, or any identifiable part or proportion of a journey, that are wholly and exclusively for business purposes.

Can I claim mileage from home to site?

HMRC allows it for what it calls an itinerant trader, and the example in its own manual is a builder. The instruction to HMRC staff reads:

“Where an 'itinerant' trader's base of operations is at their residence, you should allow the costs of travelling between the residence and the sites at which the trader works.”

An itinerant trader is someone with no fixed place of work, who moves from one temporary job to the next. In the manual’s words: A typical example would be a jobbing builder.

The rule comes from a court case, Horton v Young. Mr Horton was a bricklayer who moved from site to site and worked on each site for three weeks or so. He lost at first: The General Commissioners held that the expenses of travelling between Mr Horton's home and building sites were not an allowable deduction. The High Court reversed that, and the instruction above comes from its decision.

The same manual sets out where it stops:

• Keeping your paperwork and your tools at home does not by itself make home your base.
• Living well outside the area you work in breaks it, however itinerant the trade.
• If any part of the journey's purpose is letting you live where you live, the whole claim goes.

Source: HMRC manual BIM37635, for example: The site at which business records (financial, accounting and the like) and 'tools of the trade' (clothing, equipment and the like) are kept and maintained does not automatically become the 'base of operations'.

Whether your own journeys qualify depends on how your work is organised, so check before you claim if you are not sure. Whether to ask a bookkeeper or an accountant

What records do I need for a mileage claim?

A log of your business journeys, written up as you go rather than pieced together at the end of the year. HMRC’s manual says: It is therefore important that a contemporaneous record of business mileage is maintained to support any claim using the flat rate.

For each journey, a simple log notes:

• the date
• where you started and where you went
• why, such as the job or the supplier
• the business miles

The flat rate means you do not need fuel or repair receipts for that vehicle, but you still need the log. Keep it with the rest of your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline.

GOV.UK: Keep records of your business miles for vehicles. You must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year.

Can I claim mileage allowance if I am self-employed?

Yes, if you are a sole trader or in a partnership with no company as a partner. GOV.UK calls this simplified expenses. It works for cars, vans and motorcycles, and the rules that catch people out are:

• You cannot use it for a vehicle you have already claimed capital allowances on, or put through your accounts at its actual costs.
• Once you use it for a vehicle, you stay on it for as long as that vehicle is in the business. You can only switch when you replace the vehicle.
• It is decided vehicle by vehicle. The van can be on the flat rate and the car on actual costs.

GOV.UK: You cannot claim simplified expenses for a vehicle you've already claimed capital allowances for, or you've included as an expense when you worked out your business profits. HMRC manual BIM75005: The business can only change to or from an 'actual' basis when a vehicle is replaced.

You add the figure to your other expenses on your tax return. GOV.UK: Include these amounts in the total for your expenses in your Self Assessment tax return.

Is mileage allowance different for employees?

The rates are the same, but an employee is paid them by the employer rather than claiming them as an expense. HMRC calls these Mileage Allowance Payments: Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs) are what you pay your employee for using their own vehicle for business journeys.

The approved amount is the rate times the business miles. Up to it, the payment is tax free: You're allowed to pay your employee a certain amount of MAPs each year without having to report them to HMRC. This is called an 'approved amount'. Above it, the employer has to add anything above the 'approved amount' to the employee's pay, and deduct and pay tax as normal.

If you work through your own limited company, simplified expenses is closed to you, but the company can pay whoever drove at the same rates for using their own vehicle. A vehicle the company owns is a separate set of rules that this page does not cover.

One difference: Simplified expenses lists cars, goods vehicles and motorcycles. It has no bicycle rate. The employee scheme does, at 20p.