Expenses · Vehicle costs

Claiming mileage: 45p per mile explained

For most sole traders with a car or van, mileage is the single biggest expense they under-claim. 10,000 business miles is a £4,500 deduction — if you logged them.

The rates

Vehicle	First 10,000 miles	After 10,000 miles
Car or van	45p / mile	25p / mile
Motorbike	24p / mile	24p / mile
Bicycle	20p / mile	20p / mile

The 10,000-mile threshold applies per tax year (6 April to 5 April) and only to cars and vans. The rate covers everything— fuel, insurance, MOT, repairs, depreciation. You can't claim those separately on top.

What counts as a business journey

Travel to a client's site or premises

Trips to the merchant or supplier for materials

Travel between two jobs on the same day

Driving to a temporary workplace

Home to a regular, fixed workplace (commuting)

School run, shopping, personal trips

The commuting trap

If you drive to the same workplace every day — a salon chair you rent, a unit, a regular yard — that's commuting, and it isn't claimable, even though you're self-employed. But trades travelling to different sites are usually fine: for a builder or electrician whose base is home, each site is a temporary workplace and the miles count. The difference is worth thousands a year, so if your situation is borderline, get advice.

Mileage rate vs actual costs

The flat rate is one of two methods. The alternative is claiming the business proportion of your actualvehicle costs (fuel, insurance, repairs, capital allowances on the vehicle). Actual costs can win for expensive vans doing low miles; the flat rate usually wins for ordinary cars doing real miles — and it's dramatically less paperwork.

One-way door

Once you use the flat rate for a vehicle, you must stick with it for as long as you use that vehicle in the business. You can't flip between methods year by year to cherry-pick. Choose once, per vehicle.

The log HMRC expects

1
Record the date, start point, destination, purpose, and miles for every business journey — at the time, not reconstructed in January.
2
Round trips count both ways: 15 miles to the wholesaler is 30 miles in the log.
3
Track your running total against the 10,000-mile threshold — the rate drops to 25p mid-year the moment you cross it.
4
Don't claim fuel receipts on top of mileage — the 45p already includes fuel. Claiming both is a classic enquiry trigger.
5
Parking and tolls ARE claimable on top of mileage. Parking fines are not — ever.

Log a journey in two taps

Get Sorted's mileage log applies the 45p/25p rates automatically, tracks your 10,000-mile threshold across the tax year, and feeds straight into your tax estimate.

Try Get Sorted free →

HMRC sources

gov.uk — Simplified expenses: vehicles gov.uk — Expenses if you're self-employed: travel

Always verify current thresholds and rates directly with HMRC or a qualified accountant.