Business mileage

Conditions

• Approved mileage rates for cars and vans are 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p per mile after that (motorcycles are 24p per mile).
• Only genuine business journeys qualify. Ordinary commuting from home to a permanent workplace does not.
• If you use the mileage method, you cannot also claim separately for fuel, servicing, insurance or other running costs of the same vehicle.
• Employees can claim tax relief on the shortfall if their employer reimburses them below the approved rate.

Common mistakes

• Claiming for commuting to a regular place of work.
• Mixing the mileage method with actual vehicle running costs for the same car.
• Not keeping a contemporaneous mileage log, which makes claims hard to defend.

What to keep

• A mileage log with date, journey purpose, start and end points, and miles travelled.
• Records of any reimbursement received from an employer.

Real-world example

A consultant drives 8,000 business miles in the year visiting clients. They claim those miles at the higher approved rate, keeping a simple spreadsheet log of each trip as evidence.

Frequently asked

Related allowances