Mileage Reimbursement Calculator
Calculate tax-efficient mileage reimbursement using HMRC approved rates for business travel.
Only count miles for business journeys, not commuting to regular workplace.
Choose the vehicle type you use for business miles.
HMRC Approved Mileage Rates Explained
If you use your own car for business journeys, HMRC lets your employer reimburse you tax-free at 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, then 25p per mile after that. These are the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP). Motorcycles are 24p per mile and bicycles 20p per mile, with no upper threshold. The rates have been frozen since 2011 despite fuel and maintenance costs rising significantly, which is a long-running gripe among high-mileage business drivers.
Crucially, these rates cover everything: fuel, insurance, depreciation, maintenance, road tax. Your employer cannot pay separately for petrol and then add a mileage rate; that would be double-recovery and HMRC treats the petrol portion as taxable income. The 45p figure is meant to be a fair-but-not-generous estimate of total per-mile running cost for a typical UK car.
When Your Employer Pays Less Than the AMAP Rate
If your employer pays mileage at less than the HMRC rate (some pay 30p flat, or have a cap that hits before the 10,000-mile threshold), you can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the difference. The relief is paid at your marginal tax rate: 20% basic, 40% higher, 45% additional.
For example, if you do 8,000 business miles at 30p (paid by employer) instead of 45p (HMRC rate), the shortfall is £1,200. As a basic-rate taxpayer you can claim £240 back from HMRC; as a higher-rate taxpayer you get £480 back. Claim via a P87 form online or include it in your self-assessment if you already file one. The relief covers the previous four tax years, so backdated claims are possible if you missed it.
What Counts as a Business Mile
Only journeys made wholly in the course of business count. The commute to and from your usual workplace is not eligible, even if you use your own car. Driving from your usual office to a client site does count; driving from home directly to a client (where home is not your usual workplace) usually counts; driving from home to head office is ineligible.
Keep a written record. HMRC can ask for evidence going back six years, and the burden of proof is on you. A simple mileage log in a notebook or app showing date, start postcode, end postcode, business reason and total miles is sufficient. Smartphone apps (TripCatcher, MileIQ) auto-track and categorise journeys, which is a good fit if you are doing more than 50 business journeys a year.
When the AMAP Rate Is Generous (and When It Isn't)
For a small petrol car (50+ MPG, low insurance, 10-year-old), 45p per mile is generous: actual running cost might be 25p to 30p, leaving you with a tax-free margin. For a large SUV or executive saloon (25 MPG, expensive insurance, recent purchase), 45p barely covers fuel and depreciation, and you may genuinely be losing money on every business mile. The flat rate is what it is; HMRC has resisted updating it for 15 years despite consultation calls.
If you do 12,000 business miles a year in a large car, you receive 45p × 10,000 + 25p × 2,000 = £5,000 tax-free. Whether that is fair depends entirely on your real-world running cost. The [fuel cost calculator](/fuel-cost-calculator) helps you estimate the petrol portion alone, and the [car loan calculator](/car-loan-calculator) covers the depreciation and finance side; together they give you a realistic per-mile cost to compare against the AMAP figure.
AMAP Rates and Tax Relief Examples (2026/27)
| Annual Business Miles | AMAP Claim | Basic Rate Relief | Higher Rate Relief |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 miles | £450 | £90 | £180 |
| 5,000 miles | £2,250 | £450 | £900 |
| 10,000 miles | £4,500 | £900 | £1,800 |
| 12,000 miles | £5,000 | £1,000 | £2,000 |
| 15,000 miles | £5,750 | £1,150 | £2,300 |
| 20,000 miles | £7,000 | £1,400 | £2,800 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I claim mileage if I have a company car?
Different rates apply. With a company car, you cannot claim AMAP because the car is not yours. Instead, HMRC publishes Advisory Fuel Rates (AFR), updated quarterly, which cover the fuel portion only (not depreciation or maintenance, since the company already covers those). Current AFR ranges from 8p to 23p per mile depending on engine size and fuel type. If you pay for fuel personally and claim back at AFR, the rate is tax-free; if your employer reimburses more than AFR, the excess is taxable.
Do I need fuel receipts to claim mileage?
No. AMAP is a flat per-mile rate that bundles all running costs, so you do not need to itemise fuel separately. What you do need is a mileage log: date, start and end points, business purpose, total miles. HMRC can audit your claims for up to six years back, so keep the records that long. Apps like TripCatcher generate compliant logs automatically; a paper diary works too, as long as it is contemporaneous (filled in at the time, not retrofitted six months later).
What if I have multiple jobs and use the same car?
Each employment counts separately for AMAP purposes, but the 10,000-mile threshold is shared across all of them. You cannot claim 10,000 miles at 45p from each of two employers simultaneously. If your total business miles across all jobs exceeds 10,000, the higher rate applies until the threshold is hit, then 25p kicks in regardless of which job those miles came from. Track miles per employer separately on your claim, but apply the threshold to the total.
Does the AMAP rate include parking and tolls?
No. AMAP only covers running costs (fuel, depreciation, insurance, maintenance, tax). Parking fees, tolls (M6 Toll, Dartford Crossing, Mersey Tunnels) and congestion charges are claimed separately as actual expenses. Keep receipts for these. Most employers reimburse them at cost. If you pay them personally and your employer doesn't, you can claim them on your self-assessment as a business expense.
Can sole traders use AMAP rates?
Yes. Self-employed people can claim 'simplified expenses' which use the same AMAP rates as employees: 45p first 10k miles, 25p after, for cars. The alternative is claiming actual running costs (fuel receipts plus a percentage of insurance, road tax, repairs, depreciation), which involves more record-keeping but can produce a larger deduction for high-mileage or high-cost vehicles. You must use the same method for the entire ownership of any single vehicle; you cannot mix and match year-on-year.
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