UK Mileage Allowance (2026/27): AMAP rates, MAR relief and records

HMRC mileage rates for 2026/27: 55p then 25p for cars and vans, 24p motorcycles, 20p bicycles, Mileage Allowance Relief, simplified expenses and records.

2026/27 tax year

Income Tax & Allowances
Employee
Self-employed (SA)
UK-wide

UK mileage allowance is the tax-free amount you can be paid (as an employee) or claim as an expense (if self-employed) when you drive a personal vehicle on business. HMRC sets the rates centrally as the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs): 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in cars or vans, 25p above 10,000, 24p flat for motorcycles, 20p flat for bicycles and an optional 5p per passenger. The cars/vans first-10k rate rose from 45p to 55p on 6 April 2026, the first rise since 2011.

This guide covers the 2026/27 mechanics in detail: the AMAP schedule, the simplified-expenses option for the self-employed, the tax treatment of employer reimbursements above and below AMAP, Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR) claims via P87 or Self Assessment, the permanent versus temporary workplace test that decides whether a journey counts at all, the records HMRC expects, and four worked examples covering the most common archetypes. Every figure cites the relevant gov.uk page or HMRC manual, retrieved 1 October 2026.

1. Overview: what AMAP covers and what it does not

The Approved Mileage Allowance Payment scheme is HMRC's mechanism for reimbursing the running cost of using a personal vehicle for business journeys without creating taxable income or National Insurance liability. It sits in section 229 ITEPA 2003 for employees and section 94D ITTOIA 2005 for the self-employed simplified-expenses parallel. The car, van and motorcycle rates are the same in both; the self-employed flat rates do not include bicycles, and the route to claim differs.

AMAP applies to journeys in a vehicle owned (or hired) by the employee or sole trader personally. It does not apply to company cars (where the Advisory Fuel Rate and a benefit-in-kind charge apply instead), employer-supplied pool vehicles, or to vehicles leased by the business itself. It applies regardless of fuel type: petrol, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles all attract the same 55p / 25p schedule (EIM31240 includes electric and hybrid cars and vans in the car-or-van kind). The cars/vans first-10k rate rose from 45p to 55p from 6 April 2026, with no separate rate by fuel type.

AMAP does not cover any of the following: ordinary commuting (home to permanent workplace), private journeys, journeys reimbursed by a different mechanism (per diem subsistence, fuel cards on a company car), or travel paid for via a salary-sacrifice scheme. It also does not cover passenger costs as a passenger - if a colleague drove and you were the passenger, you cannot claim mileage. The 5p passenger payment goes to the driver, not the passenger.

2. Cars and vans: 55p / 25p with a 10,000-mile threshold

For cars and vans the rate is 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p per mile thereafter. The threshold resets on 6 April each year. Cars and vans are one "kind" of vehicle for AMAP, so business miles in a car and a van you own are added together before the 10,000-mile step is applied (EIM31240, EIM31370).

The 10,000-mile threshold is significant in practice. Most office employees who occasionally visit clients accumulate well under 10,000 business miles per year and stay entirely in the 55p band. Field-based roles (sales reps, engineers, district nurses, parish priests, mobile hairdressers) routinely cross into the 25p band and the relief value drops sharply. A salesperson on 18,000 business miles per year receives £5,500 + £2,000 = £7,500 of tax-free AMAP versus £9,900 if the 55p rate continued throughout - £2,400 of relief lost to the threshold. The 25p rate is calibrated to running cost only (fuel plus wear and tear), removing the wider depreciation and fixed-cost element built into the first-10,000 figure.

The 10,000-mile threshold applies to each employment separately. If you change jobs mid-year and drive 6,000 business miles for employer A and then 5,000 for employer B, each employment has its own 10,000-mile allowance at the higher rate, so all 11,000 miles qualify at 55p. The exception is associated employments - the same employer, or employers under common control or associated companies - where the business miles are added together (EIM31280).

For directors of their own limited companies, the AMAP scheme is one of the most efficient mechanisms for extracting cash from the company tax-free. A director driving 8,000 business miles per year can be reimbursed £4,400 by the company. The company can normally deduct the payment in working out its profits, saving Corporation Tax at its own rate, and the director receives it with no Income Tax or NIC, provided the journeys are genuine business travel backed by a mileage log.

Note that vans owned personally and used "insignificantly" for private journeys (a separate concept from cars) are still on the 55p / 25p rate; the "insignificant private use" exemption is for benefit-in-kind purposes on company-owned vans, not for personal-van AMAP. If the employee owns the van, AMAP applies.

3. Motorcycles, bicycles and the 5p passenger payment

Two-wheeled vehicles and pedal cycles are on flat rates with no threshold. Motorcycles attract 24p per mile for every business mile in the tax year, mopeds included. There is no step-down at 10,000 miles - a courier on 20,000 business miles on a motorcycle receives £4,800 of tax-free AMAP, less than a car driver on the same mileage (£5,500 + £2,500 = £8,000 because the car 55p first-10k band outweighs the lower 25p tail).

Bicycles attract 20p per mile, again flat with no threshold. The bicycle rate has stood at 20p since 2002 and covers both pedal cycles and electrically-assisted pedal cycles (EAPCs) that meet the EAPC rules - pedals that can propel it, a motor of no more than 250 watts continuous rated power that cannot propel the bike above 15.5 mph. Electric bikes outside those rules are classed as motorcycles or mopeds and must be registered and taxed; for AMAP they are on the 24p motorcycle rate (EIM31240). For the everyday e-bike commuter or business traveller the 20p rate applies.

An employee cycling 6 miles each way to a temporary workplace twice a week for 40 weeks of the year covers 960 business miles, worth £192 of tax-free mileage at 20p. The bicycle rate is for employees: the self-employed flat rates do not include bicycles, so a self-employed rider claims the business share of actual cycling costs instead.

The 5p passenger payment is an employer-discretionary top-up. If you carry one or more employees of the same employer on the same business journey, the employer may pay an extra 5p per mile per passenger, tax-free. Two colleagues to a client meeting = 10p per mile passenger payment on top of the 55p AMAP, so 65p per mile total. The passenger payment is not available for self-employed simplified expenses (it is purely an employer mechanism), and there is no MAR top-up if the employer chooses not to operate it. The passengers must be employees travelling on the same business journey.

4. Self-employed simplified expenses: choosing 55p/25p versus actual costs

Self-employed sole traders and partners have a choice between two methods of claiming vehicle expenses against trading profit:

Simplified expenses: 55p/mile for the first 10,000 business miles in cars and goods vehicles, 25p above; 24p for motorcycles. There is no flat rate for bicycles. No further claims for fuel, insurance, repairs, road tax, MOT or capital allowances on the vehicle; the rate covers buying, running and depreciation.
Actual cost: claim the business-use proportion of every running cost (fuel, insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing, repairs, parking, breakdown cover, finance interest) plus capital allowances on the vehicle itself (Annual Investment Allowance on commercial vehicles, writing-down allowances on cars with CO2-graduated rates).

The election is per vehicle. You can use simplified for the car and actual cost for the van, or vice versa, but once you choose simplified for a particular vehicle you must keep using it for that vehicle for as long as it stays in the business. HMRC manual BIM75005 sets out the rule; you can change method only when the vehicle is replaced. Cars designed for commercial use, such as black cabs and dual-control driving-school cars, cannot use the flat rate.

As a rough guide, simplified often suits cheaper cars at modest mileage; actual cost can win for expensive cars, vans and new zero-emission cars. Illustrative arithmetic, with made-up running costs and 2026/27 allowance rates:

£8,000 used petrol hatchback (over 50 g/km CO2), 6,000 business miles, 60% business use: simplified gives 6,000 x 55p = £3,300. Actual cost: 60% of £4,200 running costs plus the 6% special-rate writing-down allowance on £8,000, also restricted to 60%, = £2,808. Simplified wins, with far less bookkeeping.
£40,000 new car over 50 g/km, 12,000 business miles, 70% business use: simplified gives £6,000. Actual: 70% of £8,400 running costs plus 70% of a 6% WDA on £40,000 = £7,560. Actual wins by £1,560 in year 1.
£18,000 van, 18,000 business miles, 100% business use: simplified gives £7,500. Actual: £6,200 running costs plus the Annual Investment Allowance on the full £18,000 = £24,200 in year 1. Actual wins heavily in year 1; from year 2 only running costs remain.
£32,000 new zero-emission car, 9,000 business miles, 80% business use: simplified gives £4,950. Actual: 80% of £1,900 running costs plus the 100% first-year allowance on £32,000, restricted to 80% business use = £27,120 in year 1. From year 2 there is no allowance left and only running costs count.

Per GOV.UK: new and unused zero-emission or electric cars bought before April 2027 qualify for the 100% first-year allowance; other cars of 50 g/km or less (and second-hand electric cars) go in the main pool at 14% a year from April 2026 (18% before); cars over 50 g/km go in the special rate pool at 6%. Cars never qualify for the Annual Investment Allowance, but vans and other goods vehicles do, up to £1,000,000 a year. A sole trader's allowances on a vehicle with private use are restricted to the business proportion, and selling the vehicle later can trigger a balancing charge. The capital allowances calculator models the AIA, FYA and WDA pools end-to-end.

One important constraint: if capital allowances have ever been claimed on a vehicle, the flat rate cannot be used for it, because the rate already includes depreciation (BIM75005). Decide when you buy the vehicle, model both routes, and expect to keep the choice for as long as the vehicle is in the business.

Self-employed taxpayers using simplified expenses for the vehicle can still claim tolls, congestion charges and parking fees incurred solely for business, because the flat rate does not cover incidental journey costs (BIM75005). Fines and penalty charges are not allowable expenses for the self-employed (see BIM38500).

5. Employer reimbursement mechanics: at, above and below AMAP

When an employer reimburses an employee for business mileage, the reimbursement falls into one of three brackets relative to the AMAP schedule, each with different tax consequences:

At AMAP (55p / 25p / 24p / 20p): fully tax-free and NIC-free. No payslip entry, no P11D, no Self Assessment line. This is the cleanest position for both sides.
Below AMAP: the cash paid is tax-free, but the shortfall versus AMAP becomes an allowable deduction the employee can claim via Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR). See section 6 for the mechanics.
Above AMAP: the excess is taxable. A flat 60p per mile is 5p above AMAP for the first 10,000 miles and 35p above from mile 10,001. The employer reports the taxable excess on a P11D or through payroll.

Employers that pay exactly 55p / 25p (with the step-down at 10,000 miles) keep mileage out of the reporting system. Paying 55p flat all year creates a taxable excess from mile 10,001. Paying below AMAP leaves employees to claim the shortfall as Mileage Allowance Relief, and an employer that pays nothing leaves the whole approved amount to be claimed that way.

The 10,000-mile threshold is critical to employer reimbursement design. A flat 55p reimbursement is fine for employees who stay under 10,000 miles in the year, but creates above-AMAP excess from the first mile over the threshold. A blended employer that pays 55p for the first 10,000 and 25p thereafter mirrors AMAP exactly. A blended employer that pays 25p flat is below AMAP by 30p for the first 10,000 miles and at AMAP from 10,001 onward - generating sizeable MAR claims for road-warriors.

For passenger payments: the 5p per passenger rate is permissive, not mandatory. Employers can pay it tax-free if they choose. They cannot pay above 5p without it becoming taxable. Employees cannot claim MAR to top up a missing passenger payment - the 5p exists only on the employer side.

If an employer pays for fuel for your own car (for example with a fuel card) as well as or instead of a mileage allowance, the treatment is different and depends on how the payments are made, so check how your employer reports it before claiming any relief.

6. Claiming Mileage Allowance Relief via P87 or Self Assessment

If your employer reimburses below AMAP, the shortfall is an allowable deduction against employment income. The relief is called Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR), set out in section 231 ITEPA 2003. There are two routes to claim, depending on whether you are already in the Self Assessment system.

Route 1: Form P87 (employees not in Self Assessment)

The P87 ("Tax relief for expenses of employment") is HMRC's form for employees who are not otherwise required to file Self Assessment. You can submit it online via your Personal Tax Account, by post on the printed P87 form. If your total expenses for a tax year are more than £2,500 you must use Self Assessment instead, and HMRC asks you to send copies of your mileage logs with an employee claim.

What you need to fill in for a mileage MAR claim:

Your National Insurance number and employer's PAYE reference (top of your payslip or P60).
Tax year of the claim (you can claim for the current tax year and the 4 previous tax years; in 2026/27 that reaches back to 2022/23).
Total business miles in the year by vehicle type.
Total reimbursement received from the employer for those miles.
Calculation of the shortfall: (AMAP rate x miles) - (employer rate x miles).

For the current year HMRC usually adjusts your tax code, so the relief comes through your pay; for earlier years it either adjusts your code or makes a refund.

A worked P87 calculation. Maria drives 8,500 business miles in 2026/27 for her employer; the employer reimburses at 25p per mile. AMAP at 55p x 8,500 = £4,675. Reimbursed at 25p x 8,500 = £2,125. Shortfall = £2,550. As a basic-rate taxpayer Maria recovers £2,550 x 20% = £510 of tax. As a higher-rate taxpayer she would recover £2,550 x 40% = £1,020. P87 generates the refund cleanly.

Route 2: Self Assessment employment pages

If you already file Self Assessment for any other reason (high earner, side hustle, landlord, dividends above the allowance, High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC)), you must claim MAR through your tax return rather than separately. Box 17 on the SA102 Employment pages is "Business travel and subsistence expenses". The figure to enter is the shortfall: the approved amount for your business miles minus what your employer paid you for them.

The Self Assessment route gives the same relief and lets you claim other employment expenses, such as professional subscriptions, in the same return. It is required if your expenses for the year are more than £2,500. (Working-from-home relief cannot be claimed for the 2026 to 2027 tax year.)

Records to keep

Either route requires a contemporaneous mileage log to back up the claim if HMRC asks. The log should contain, for every business journey: date, postcode or address of start and end, business purpose (with a meaningful description, not just "client"), miles claimed, and (optionally but recommended) odometer reading. If you are self-employed, keep it until at least the fifth anniversary of the 31 January Self Assessment filing deadline of the tax year; other Self Assessment filers must keep records until at least the first anniversary (section 12B TMA 1970). For the self-employed flat rate, HMRC says it is important that a contemporaneous record of business mileage is maintained (BIM75005).

7. Permanent versus temporary workplace: the test that decides everything

All of the AMAP / MAR machinery is moot if the journey is not a business journey. The frontier between deductible business travel and non-deductible "ordinary commuting" is the permanent versus temporary workplace test, codified at section 339 ITEPA 2003 and worked through in detail in HMRC manual EIM32000 onwards. It applies to employees; the self-employed have a different test (see example 3).

A permanent workplace is one you attend regularly to perform the duties of your employment. The drive between home and a permanent workplace is "ordinary commuting" and is not tax-deductible (section 338 ITEPA 2003) - not as mileage, not as train fare, not as anything. Section 338 is absolute: even if your employer reimburses your commute, the reimbursement is taxable.

A temporary workplace is one you go to only to perform a task of limited duration or for a temporary purpose (section 339(3), EIM32075). Mileage between home and a temporary workplace is deductible at AMAP rates. Two steps decide it:

Is attendance for a limited duration or temporary purpose at all? If not, the site is permanent however little time you spend there. In HMRC's example EIM32087, an employee who works regularly at her base only 20% of the time still has a permanent workplace there, because her attendance is not limited in duration.
The 24-month rule (EIM32080): a site that passes the first step is still NOT temporary if you attend it in a period of continuous work - 40% or more of your working time there - that lasts, or is likely to last, more than 24 months. It runs on expectation: a full-time posting expected from the outset to last 28 months is permanent from the start, and becomes temporary if it is cut to 18 months (EIM32085); a posting expected to exceed 24 months only after an extension becomes permanent from the change of expectation.

So the 40% figure is not a safe harbour on its own: it only matters once a site is capable of being temporary. A 6-month full-time placement at one client is temporary; a site you attend one day a week with no end date is usually permanent.

Three further wrinkles to be aware of:

The "depot" exception (EIM32160): a workplace you must attend to start work or collect tools/materials before going to the "real" job site is a permanent workplace - the mileage from home to depot is commuting, but mileage from depot to job site is business mileage.
Travelling appointments (EIM32366): some employees are itinerant - HMRC's examples are a commercial traveller and a service engineer moving between customers' premises during the day. They are travelling on their work from the moment they leave home, so all their business travel is deductible, including journeys that start from home. HMRC applies a strong presumption to anyone required to go to a number of different sites each day on an irregular basis; if you must report to a particular office at the start and end of the day, travel between home and that office is not business travel.
Travel between workplaces (EIM32360): on a journey from home to client A to client B to home, the A to B leg is travel between two places of work in the same employment and is deductible. The home-to-A and B-to-home legs are deductible only if the site at that end is a temporary workplace; travel between home and a permanent workplace is ordinary commuting (EIM32055).

The 24-month rule is easy to mis-apply. HMRC's manual at EIM32105 says a period of continuous work can remain continuous even where there is a break in attendance, so leaving for a few weeks and returning to the same site does not restart the 24-month clock (examples at EIM32106 - EIM32108). Contractors who chain 6-month POs at the same desk for 3+ years have a permanent workplace.

8. Records HMRC expects

Mileage claims are evidence-based. For the self-employed flat rate, HMRC says it is important that a contemporaneous record of business mileage is maintained to support the claim (BIM75005). Under section 12B TMA 1970 a self-employed person must keep records until at least the fifth anniversary of the 31 January Self Assessment filing deadline - for 2026/27, until 31 January 2033 - and other Self Assessment filers until at least the first anniversary.

The minimum content of each log entry:

Date of the journey.
Start location (postcode or address).
End location (postcode or address).
Business purpose: a meaningful description such as "Client meeting - Acme Ltd, project Phoenix" or "Site visit - 14 High Street, replace boiler". Generic entries like "client" or "meeting" fail HMRC scrutiny on appeal.
Miles claimed, ideally backed by an odometer reading or a route-mapping screenshot.

A paper logbook, a spreadsheet or a mileage app will do. For an employee claim, HMRC asks for copies of the log showing the reason for every journey and the postcodes of its start and end point. A log rebuilt at year end from memory or a calendar is weaker evidence than one kept journey by journey.

If you receive passenger payments, note which colleagues you carried on which journeys. For simplified expenses on the self-employed side, the same log standard applies, plus retention of any receipts you might need if you ever switch from simplified to actual cost (the choice is per vehicle and can only change when the vehicle is replaced).

9. Worked examples: four scenarios

The 2026/27 arithmetic for the four most common mileage situations. English rest-of-UK Income Tax bands assumed; the mileage rates apply identically across all four UK regions.

Example 1: Under-reimbursed employee, basic rate, 8,500 business miles

Profile: Aisha is a community outreach worker on £28,000 PAYE. Her employer reimburses business mileage at 25p per mile (about half of AMAP). In 2026/27 she drives 8,500 business miles visiting service users in their homes - all clearly "temporary workplaces" in HMRC terms (no single client takes up more than a few hours per week, and most are visited fewer than 10 times across the year).

AMAP entitlement: 8,500 x 55p = £4,675 (under 10,000 threshold throughout).
Employer reimbursement: 8,500 x 25p = £2,125.
MAR shortfall: £4,675 - £2,125 = £2,550.

At basic rate (20%), Aisha recovers £2,550 x 20% = £510 of tax. She is not in Self Assessment so she files a P87 online via her Personal Tax Account. HMRC adjusts her tax code to release the relief through her remaining monthly pay. She keeps a mileage log throughout the year in a spreadsheet, exported monthly and retained as a PDF backup. Total time per year for the logging-and-claim cycle: roughly 30 minutes per month plus 45 minutes for the year-end P87. Tax recovered per hour of effort: roughly £75 - more than her hourly wage.

Example 2: Self-employed plumber, simplified versus actual costs

Profile: Daniel is a self-employed plumber based in Reading. He drives a 3-year-old £14,000 Ford Transit Custom that he bought in 2026/27 for the business. Annual mileage 18,000 miles, all business (the van is registered as a goods vehicle and he has a personal car for private use). Actual running costs: fuel £3,800, insurance £900, road tax £290, MOT £55, servicing and repairs £680, tyres £400 = £6,125.

Simplified option: 10,000 x 55p + 8,000 x 25p = £7,500 deductible from trading profit.

Actual cost option: £6,125 running cost + Annual Investment Allowance on the £14,000 van in year 1 = £20,125 in year 1. From year 2 onwards: £6,125 running cost only (the van is fully written down), so simplified at £7,500 beats actual by £1,375 a year.

Daniel chooses actual cost in year 1. If his profit is in the basic rate band, the extra £12,625 of deductions over simplified saves about £3,283 at 20% Income Tax plus 6% Class 4 NI. Having claimed the AIA he cannot use the flat rate for this van (BIM75005), so he accepts the lower deduction from year 2. Over a 5-year hold his total deductions are higher than simplified by about £7,125, roughly £1,853 of tax and NI, before any balancing charge when he sells the van. He logs every business journey and keeps fuel and repair receipts.

Example 3: Motorcycle commuter to temporary client site

Profile: Priya is a freelance management consultant operating as a sole trader. 2026/27 contracts include a 6-month engagement with Client A (3 days a week on site in Birmingham, 47 miles each way from her home in Leamington) and a 4-month engagement with Client B (1 day a week on site in Coventry, 12 miles each way). She runs the business from home and rides a motorcycle to both sites.

Client A mileage: 47 miles x 2 x 3 days x ~25 weeks = 7,050 business miles.
Client B mileage: 12 miles x 2 x 1 day x ~17 weeks = 408 business miles.
Total business miles: 7,458.

Simplified expense at the motorcycle rate (24p flat): 7,458 x 24p = £1,790 deductible from trading profit.

Priya's profit is in the basic rate band, so the claim saves her about £465 at 20% Income Tax plus 6% Class 4 NI. The employee 24-month rule does not apply to her: a self-employed person's travel is allowable if it is wholly and exclusively for the business. HMRC accepts travel between home and work sites where home is the base of operations and each site is visited for a temporary job (BIM37620), but home-to-work travel is generally private (BIM37605), so a long, regular engagement at one client can be challenged. She keeps a log of every journey.

Example 4: Charity volunteer driver

Profile: Margaret is a retired teacher who volunteers 2 days a week for a local hospice charity, driving patients to and from medical appointments. She has no contract of employment - she is a pure volunteer. She covered 3,200 miles for the charity in 2026/27.

Reimbursement side: the charity pays Margaret 55p per mile, the approved rate. 3,200 x 55p = £1,760. HMRC's volunteer driver guidance says tax is only due if mileage payments exceed the approved amount, worked out on all the miles she drives for every organisation she volunteers for, so there is no profit and nothing to report.

MAR side: Mileage Allowance Relief (section 231 ITEPA 2003) is an employee relief, so as a volunteer Margaret has no claim if a charity pays her less than the approved rate. At 30p a mile the £800 shortfall would simply be her cost; the only fix is a higher reimbursement rate.

Advisory Fuel Rates: the company car equivalent

Everything above is AMAP, which is for using your own car on business. A company car is a different regime: the employer already owns the car, so only the fuel is reimbursed, at HMRC's Advisory Fuel Rates. Claiming AMAP on a company car is one of the more common errors on a P87, and the two sets of numbers are nowhere near each other.

HMRC reviews these quarterly, on 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December. The set below is the one in force; the previous quarter's rates may still be used for one month after a change.

Engine size	Petrol	Diesel	LPG
1400cc or less	14p	-	11p
1600cc or less	-	15p	-
1401cc to 2000cc	17p	-	13p
1601cc to 2000cc	-	16p	-
Over 2000cc	27p	22p	20p
Electric	7p charged at home, 15p charged publicly

In force from 1 September 2026. Four rates moved at this review: diesel 1601cc to 2000cc 17p to 16p, petrol over 2000cc 26p to 27p, diesel over 2000cc 23p to 22p, lpg over 2000cc 21p to 20p. Next review 1 December 2026.

Two things follow from the electric split that catch people out. The home rate assumes domestic electricity, so a driver who charges mostly on public rapid chargers is being reimbursed well below cost at 7p and can ask the employer for the public rate. And an employer may always reimburse actual cost instead, provided it can be evidenced: the advisory rate is a safe harbour, not a cap.

10. Common mistakes and the commuting exclusion

Common mistakes in UK mileage claims:

Claiming the morning commute as business mileage. Home to a permanent workplace is ordinary commuting and not deductible (section 338 ITEPA). If a workplace is genuinely temporary, note why - the limited duration or purpose, and the expected length - alongside the log.
Estimating mileage after the fact. "I think I did about 6,000 miles" without a contemporaneous log fails HMRC scrutiny. Build the log in real time, journey by journey.
Mixing up the 10,000-mile threshold across employers. Each employment has its own threshold unless the employments are associated, when the miles are added together (EIM31280).
Claiming AMAP on a company car. Company cars use Advisory Fuel Rates for the fuel element; AMAP is for personal-vehicle business use only. The two regimes do not overlap.
Claiming relief that a tax code adjustment has already given. If HMRC adjusted your code for an estimated claim and your actual mileage or employer rate changed, you must tell HMRC.
Claiming for journeys where the "business purpose" is too vague. "Meeting" or "client" is not enough; HMRC wants enough detail to confirm the journey was genuinely for the trade or employment.
Mixing private and business miles on the same trip. A detour to the supermarket on the way home from a client meeting does not extend the business segment to the supermarket. The business portion of the journey is the direct distance to and from the client; the detour miles are private.
Claiming the 5p passenger payment as a passenger. The 5p goes to the driver, only from the employer, only for business passengers carried on the same business journey. Passengers cannot claim it.
Switching simplified to actual mid-life of a vehicle. BIM75005 forbids this. The choice is locked once made until you change the vehicle.

The single biggest source of error remains the commuting exclusion. Read sections 338 and 339 ITEPA and HMRC manual EIM32000 onwards, work out for each workplace whether attendance is temporary and whether the 24-month rule takes it out, and write the conclusion down. The records you keep are your evidence in any compliance check.

Frequently asked questions

What are the HMRC approved mileage rates for 2026/27?

For 2026/27 the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) are: cars and vans receive 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p per mile for every mile above that; motorcycles receive a flat 24p per mile with no upper threshold; bicycles receive 20p per mile with no threshold. Employers can additionally pay 5p per mile for each business passenger carried in the same vehicle, tax-free. The cars/vans first-10k rate rose from 45p to 55p on 6 April 2026 - the first rise since 2011, after years frozen despite fuel and motoring cost inflation - HMRC publishes the rates on the "rates and allowances: travel" page on gov.uk.

Can I claim mileage for my drive to work each morning?

No. The journey between home and your permanent workplace is "ordinary commuting" and is specifically excluded from the AMAP scheme by section 338 ITEPA 2003. HMRC manual EIM32055 sets out the rule. Mileage allowance only applies to business travel: journeys to a temporary workplace (one you attend only for a task of limited duration or a temporary purpose), journeys between two workplaces, or journeys made in the course of duties (a salesperson visiting clients). A second permanent workplace creates a second commute, not business mileage - even if you work at both regularly.

What is a temporary workplace for mileage purposes?

A temporary workplace is one you go to only to perform a task of limited duration or for a temporary purpose (section 339(3) ITEPA 2003, EIM32075). A further rule then takes some of those out: a workplace is NOT temporary if you attend it in a period of continuous work - spending 40% or more of your working time there - that lasts, or is likely to last, more than 24 months (EIM32080). The test runs on expectation: if a full-time posting is expected from the start to exceed 24 months, the site is permanent from day one; if a posting is later extended beyond 24 months, it becomes permanent from when that becomes the expectation. Under 40% does not make a site temporary on its own: a place you attend regularly and indefinitely, even one day a week, is a permanent workplace (EIM32087).

My employer pays only 30p per mile - can I claim the rest from HMRC?

Yes. The shortfall between the AMAP rate (55p for the first 10,000 car miles) and your employer's reimbursement is called Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR) and you claim it from HMRC via the P87 form (online or by post) or via the employment pages of a Self Assessment return. At 30p per mile on 8,000 business miles you would be short by 25p x 8,000 = £2,000 of allowance. As a basic-rate taxpayer that converts into £400 of tax repaid; as a higher-rate taxpayer, £800. You must keep a mileage log showing date, start, destination, business purpose and miles for every claimed journey.

What if my employer pays more than 55p per mile?

Any payment above the AMAP rate is taxable as employment income and must be reported on a P11D by the employer (or processed through payroll under the "payrolling benefits in kind" route). At 60p per mile on 8,000 business miles, the excess is 5p x 8,000 = £400 of additional taxable pay. HMRC will recover the tax through your code or via Self Assessment. The first 10,000 miles and the over-10,000 tranches are tested separately, so a flat 55p employer rate creates an excess once you pass 10,000 miles in the year (55p paid versus 25p approved). Paying 25p from mile 10,001 avoids it.

I am self-employed - should I use the 55p/25p rate or claim actual vehicle costs?

For self-employed sole traders and partners (not partnerships with a company partner), flat rates of 55p / 25p per mile (cars and goods vehicles, first 10,000 / after 10,000 business miles) and 24p (motorcycles) are available as a "simplified expenses" option (HMRC manual BIM75005). Alternatively you can claim actual vehicle running costs (fuel, insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing, repairs, depreciation) apportioned by business-use percentage, plus capital allowances on the vehicle itself. You choose per vehicle, and once you use the flat rate for a vehicle you must keep using it for as long as that vehicle stays in the business; you cannot use it at all for a vehicle you have already claimed capital allowances on. Simplified is far easier for low-cost cars at modest mileage. Actual costs plus capital allowances can win for expensive cars, vans (which qualify for the Annual Investment Allowance) and new zero-emission cars bought before April 2027 (which qualify for the 100% first-year allowance; cars never get the AIA).

Can I claim mileage for cycling to a client meeting?

As an employee, yes: the approved rate for bicycles, including e-bikes that meet the electrically assisted pedal cycle rules, is 20p per mile with no annual threshold, and you can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on any shortfall. The same business-travel test applies as for car mileage - a temporary workplace, travel between workplaces or travel in the course of your duties, not ordinary commuting. If you are self-employed, there is no simplified flat rate for bicycles (the flat rates cover cars, goods vehicles and motorcycles), so you claim actual costs instead. The Cycle to Work scheme is a separate arrangement.

What records does HMRC expect for a mileage claim?

A contemporaneous mileage log covering every business journey: date, postcode or address of start and end, business purpose (e.g. "client meeting - Acme Ltd, ABC123"), and miles. For the self-employed flat rate, HMRC says it is important that a contemporaneous record of business mileage is maintained to support the claim (BIM75005). A spreadsheet or mileage app is fine. For an employee claim, HMRC asks you to send copies of the log with the reason and the start and end postcode of every journey. You also need to keep receipts for any actual-cost element if you ever switch from simplified to actual expenses. If you are self-employed, records must be kept until at least the fifth anniversary of the 31 January Self Assessment filing deadline for the tax year (so a 2026/27 log until 31 January 2033); other Self Assessment filers must keep them until at least the first anniversary (section 12B TMA 1970).

How does the passenger payment of 5p per mile work?

If your employer chooses to operate it, they may pay you an additional 5p per mile, tax-free, for each fellow employee carried as a business passenger on the same business journey. Two colleagues going to the same client meeting in your car generates 10p per mile of passenger allowance on top of the 55p AMAP. The passenger must be travelling for business purposes too. Employers are not required to pay it - it is permissive, not mandatory. Importantly, employees cannot claim a shortfall of passenger payments via MAR. The 5p rate is an employer-discretionary tax-free top-up only.

Are charity volunteer drivers covered by the AMAP rates?

Broadly, yes. HMRC guidance for volunteer drivers says organisations can pay mileage allowances up to the approved rates tax-free, with the 10,000-mile step counted across all the organisations you volunteer for. Tax arises only if you are paid more than the approved amount, and then only on the profit, which you may need to report on a Self Assessment return. Mileage Allowance Relief (section 231 ITEPA 2003) is a relief for employees, so a volunteer who is paid less than the approved rate has no MAR claim to make.

How do I file a P87 to claim Mileage Allowance Relief?

The P87 is HMRC's "tax relief for expenses of employment" form. You can submit it online by signing in to your Personal Tax Account, by post on the printed form, or as part of a Self Assessment return (employment pages, box 17 for mileage and other vehicle expenses). If your expenses for a year are more than £2,500 you need to claim through Self Assessment instead. You need: National Insurance number, employer PAYE reference (top of payslip), total business miles in the year, total reimbursement received from the employer, and a mileage log on file in case HMRC asks. HMRC gives the relief by adjusting your tax code for the current year, and by a code adjustment or refund for earlier years. You can claim for the current tax year and the 4 previous tax years.

Does the 24-month rule reset if I leave and return to the same site?

Not after a short break. HMRC manual EIM32105 says a period of continuous work can remain continuous even where there is a break in attendance. In HMRC examples EIM32107 and EIM32108, a worker moved to another workplace for a week, or for 3 months, and then returned still has the site treated as permanent once the expected period there exceeds 24 months, and the 3-month break is counted inside that period. The point is to stop contractors flipping a site from permanent back to temporary by a short break. Combined with the 40% test, this catches a lot of long-standing "temporary" placements - a contractor who has been on the same client site for 30 months at the same desk, even on a chain of separate 6-month POs, has a permanent workplace and the morning drive is non-deductible commuting.