Mileage Allowance Calculator
Work out your approved mileage allowance for 2026/27, and what you can claim back if your employer pays you less than the HMRC rate. Uses the new 55p rate, not the 45p one nearly every other page is still showing.
Rates last checked 11 September 2026 · Tax year 2026/27
Mileage allowance rates for 2026/27 #
These are the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments, or AMAP. The mileage allowance HMRC publishes is the most your employer can pay you per business mile without it being taxed, and the figure your own claim is measured against if they pay you less. There is no separate rate for different makes of car, engine sizes or fuel types: one rate covers all cars and vans.
| Vehicle | First 10,000 miles | Above that |
|---|---|---|
| Car or van | 55p | 25p |
| Motorcycle | 24p | 24p |
| Bicycle | 20p | 20p |
| Each passenger carried | 5p | 5p |
Only cars and vans have the two-band structure. Motorcycles and bicycles run at one rate however far you go. The 10,000 mile threshold applies per tax year and per employment, so changing jobs mid-year restarts the count.
Why the mileage allowance UK rate finally moved #
The 45p rate was set in 2011 and then left alone for fifteen years, through a period in which running a car became considerably more expensive. It rose to 55p on 6 April 2026.
Because it sat still for so long, 45p became a number everybody simply knew. That is exactly why it is worth checking now: expenses policies, mileage claim forms, payroll settings and published guides all have the old figure baked in, and unlike a rate that changes every April, nobody has a habit of revisiting this one.
If you search for mileage allowance 2025 you will find the old 45p rate, and for journeys before 6 April 2026 that is still the right figure. For anything after it, it is not.
Mileage allowance for 2025 and earlier years #
The mileage allowance for 2025 was 45p for the first 10,000 miles, and it was the same in 2024, 2023 and every year back to 2011. For a journey before 6 April 2026 that older rate is the correct one, and a backdated claim covering earlier years has to use it rather than the new rate.
Mileage allowance for electric cars is the same as for any other car: there is no separate electric rate under AMAP, and the approved figure covers the whole cost of running the vehicle rather than just fuel. Mileage allowance on Motability vehicles uses the same approved rates where the journey is genuine business travel in a car you are responsible for. What changes is not the rate but whether a particular journey qualifies at all.
Mileage allowance relief, if you are paid less #
An employer does not have to pay the approved rate. Many pay less, and some pay nothing at all. Where you are paid less than the approved amount, the difference is Mileage Allowance Relief and you can claim tax relief on it.
The important thing, and the thing most people get wrong: relief is not a refund. You do not get the shortfall back. You get the tax on it. A £3,000.00 shortfall is worth £600.00 to a basic rate taxpayer and £1,200.00 to a higher rate one.
This doubles as a mileage allowance relief calculator, and mileage allowance self assessment claims use exactly this figure. Claim through Self Assessment if you already file a return. If you do not, claim through HMRC's employment expenses route. Claims can be backdated four tax years, which for someone driving a lot of business miles on a low reimbursement rate is often the largest single thing they are owed.
If your employer pays more than the approved rate #
The excess is taxable. Pay 60p a mile against an approved 55p and the extra 5p per mile is earnings, subject to Income Tax and National Insurance, reported through payroll or on a P11D.
Mileage allowance with car allowance is the common version of this. A car allowance is salary and is taxed as salary; the mileage paid on top is what the approved rates apply to. Receiving a car allowance does not reduce what you can claim per mile. This is worth knowing now specifically because the approved rate has gone up. An employer paying 50p was paying above the old 45p rate and creating a taxable excess. At 55p the same 50p is now entirely below the approved rate, so the taxable element disappears and the employee has a small claim instead.
What counts as a business mile #
- Counts: travel to a temporary workplace, travel between workplaces during the day, visiting clients, sites or suppliers.
- Does not count: ordinary commuting between home and a permanent workplace, and any private travel.
A workplace is generally temporary if you attend it for a limited duration or a temporary purpose, and there is a 24 month rule that turns a temporary workplace into a permanent one once you expect to be there longer than that. For anyone on long site-based work, including construction, that rule decides whether years of mileage qualifies or none of it does.
Keep a record, because HMRC can ask #
A claim needs to be supported. Date, start and end point, reason for the journey, and miles. A mileage log kept as you go takes seconds a trip and is the difference between a claim that survives a check and one that does not. Reconstructing a year of journeys from memory at the point HMRC asks is both painful and unconvincing.
Self-employed rather than employed #
Mileage allowance for self employed work uses the same approved rates. If you are a sole trader you can use the same rates as simplified expenses, deducting 55p and 25p per mile from your profit instead of claiming the actual running costs of the vehicle.
You choose per vehicle, and once you have used the mileage method for a vehicle you must keep using it for that vehicle. The alternative is claiming actual costs plus capital allowances, which usually wins for an expensive vehicle with low business mileage and loses for a cheap one doing a lot of miles.
Business mileage rate 2025 and 2026 compared #
The business mileage rate 2026 figures above replaced rates that had been frozen since 2011. The business mileage rate 2025 was £0.45 for the first 10,000 miles; it is now £0.55.
If you are working out a claim that straddles the change, apply the rate in force on the date of each journey rather than the rate at the year end.
Common questions #
What is the mileage allowance rate for 2026/27?
55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a car or van, then 25p a mile after that. Motorcycles are 24p and bicycles 20p at any mileage.
Did the HMRC mileage allowance change?
Yes. The car and van rate for the first 10,000 miles rose from 45p to 55p on 6 April 2026. It had been 45p since 2011, so most published guidance and most company expenses policies still use the old figure. The rate above 10,000 miles did not change.
What if my employer pays less than the approved rate?
You can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the difference. It is tax relief, not a refund of the shortfall, so it is worth the difference multiplied by your tax rate. Someone paid 25p instead of 55p on 10,000 miles has a £3,000 shortfall, worth £600 to a basic rate taxpayer.
What if my employer pays more than the approved rate?
The excess is taxable as earnings. It goes through payroll or is reported on a P11D, and both Income Tax and National Insurance can apply to the amount above the approved rate.
Does the 10,000 mile threshold reset each year?
Yes. It runs per tax year, per employment. If you change jobs during the year, the new employment starts its own count from zero.
Can I claim for carrying passengers?
Your employer can pay you up to 5p a mile for each fellow employee carried on a business journey. If they do not pay it, there is no relief you can claim yourself. Passenger payments are the one part of mileage with no equivalent to Mileage Allowance Relief.
Does commuting count as business mileage?
No. Travel between home and a permanent workplace is ordinary commuting and does not qualify. Travel to a temporary workplace does, as does travel between workplaces during the working day.