Claim Your Tax Back / Lesson 3 of 7
Mileage relief in your own car
Your employer pays 30p a mile. The approved rate is higher. The gap is yours to claim.
The short answer
- ✓ You claim relief on the gap between the approved rate and what your employer paid
- ✓ The lower rate applies above 10,000 business miles, resetting each tax year
- ✓ Commuting to a permanent workplace never counts
- ✓ A workplace expected to last over 24 months stops being temporary
How employee mileage works
When you use your own vehicle for business travel, your employer can reimburse you up to an approved rate per mile with no tax consequences. If they pay less than the approved rate, you can claim tax relief on the shortfall. This is called Mileage Allowance Relief.
| Vehicle | Approved rate |
|---|---|
| Car or van, first 10,000 business miles a year | 55p |
| Car or van, above 10,000 miles | 25p |
| Motorcycle | 24p |
| Bicycle | 20p |
Working out the shortfall
Business miles this year 5,000
Approved amount 5,000 x 55p = £2,750
Employer paid 5,000 x 30p = £1,500
---------
Shortfall you can claim relief on £1,250
Basic rate refund at 20% £250
Higher rate refund at 40% £500If your employer pays nothing at all for business mileage, the whole approved amount is your claim, which for a driver doing real business miles is often the single largest relief in this course.
Which journeys count
| Journey | Business mileage? |
|---|---|
| Home to your permanent workplace | No, ordinary commuting |
| Office to a client and back | Yes |
| Home directly to a client | Yes |
| Between two workplaces in a day | Yes |
| Home to a temporary workplace | Yes, subject to the 24-month rule |
The 24-month rule
Travel to a temporary workplace qualifies. A workplace stops being temporary once you expect to be there for more than 24 months, at which point it becomes permanent and the travel becomes commuting. Contractors and site-based staff hit this without noticing, because nothing changes on the ground the day it applies.
The bit HMRC does not spell out
The threshold of 10,000 miles is per tax year, and it resets every 6 April. It is not per job, not per vehicle and not cumulative across years. Someone who changes employer mid-year does not get two allocations, and someone who did heavy mileage last year starts again at the higher rate this year.
Keeping the record
Date, start and end point, purpose, miles. A claim without a log is very hard to defend, and this is the relief HMRC is most likely to ask about because the sums are the largest.
Common mistakes
- Claiming the full approved rate when the employer already paid some. Only the shortfall.
- Including commuting. The most common reason a claim fails.
- Missing the 24-month rule. A long assignment quietly becomes commuting.
- No mileage log. The largest claim with the weakest evidence.
Try it on your own numbers
This is the same calculator as the full tool page, using 2026/27 rates.
Your business mileage
Work out the tax-free mileage allowance you can claim under HMRC's Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP).
Miles carrying colleagues on business - worth an extra 5p each.
Leave at 0 if your employer pays nothing. We compare it against the AMAP rate.
Used to estimate the tax relief on any shortfall (Mileage Allowance Relief).
AMAP rates: cars/vans for the first miles then ; motorcycles ; bicycles per mile.
Tax-free allowance you can claim
for business miles by
- First miles @
- miles @
- passenger miles @ 5p
- miles @
- Total allowance
Your employer underpays the AMAP rate
unclaimed shortfall
tax relief you can claim
Claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the difference via your tax return or a P87.
Your employer meets or exceeds the AMAP rate
Anything above the AMAP rate () is taxable and should appear on form P11D.
Estimate only. AMAP covers fuel, insurance, servicing and depreciation.
Allowance across the mileage range
claimNotice the line gets shallower past miles, where the rate drops from to .
Compare saved scenarios
| Scenario | Miles | Allowance | Relief | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Key takeaways
- ✓ You claim relief on the gap between the approved rate and what your employer paid
- ✓ The lower rate applies above 10,000 business miles, resetting each tax year
- ✓ Commuting to a permanent workplace never counts
- ✓ A workplace expected to last over 24 months stops being temporary
Check you have got it
3 quick questions. No score is kept, and you can change your mind.
1. Your employer pays 30p a mile and the approved rate is higher. What can you claim?
2. When does the lower mileage rate start applying?
3. You have worked at the same client site for three years. Is the travel claimable?
Sources
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