Your Guide to Claiming Mileage Expenses

your guide to claiming business mileage expenses

Do you drive your own car or ride your bike for business? If so, you may be able to claim mileage expenses. Using the infographic below, you’ll find it easy to get to grips with what you can and cannot claim and how to go about it (updated 26th February 2024).

To claim business mileage expenses tax free, HMRC recommend that you use the approved mileage allowance payments. This is 45p per mile for cars (25p per mile after 10,000 miles). In the infographic, you’ll see these mileage rates as well as the employee passenger rate at 5p per mile.

The infographic also covers all the information you need to record for your business journeys. This will ensure your records, for claiming mileage expenses, are HMRC compliant.

If you are VAT registered (not flat rate), you can also reclaim the VAT on the fuel portion of your mileage expense claim, saving your business money. The calculation for reclaiming VAT uses the HMRC Advisory Fuel Rates. The rate to use depends on the fuel type and engine size of your car. The reclaiming of VAT is shown in the infographic. You can reclaim the VAT on fuel as well as claiming the 45p per mile when you drive your own car or van for business. There is also a chart showing the VAT savings that can be made.

You may only take a few short journeys for business, every so often, so you may think it’s not worth claiming for. But you’d be shocked by how much tax-free money you could be losing out on if you haven’t claimed before. Even occasional or short mileage journeys are definitely worth logging – every penny adds up.