HMRC approved mileage rates: 55p from 6 April 2026
For cars and vans the HMRC rate went from 45p to 55p a mile on 6 April 2026, for the first 10,000 business miles of the tax year. Here is how the year and the threshold work, as I read them on gov.uk.
The rates per business mile
- Cars and vans, 2024-25 and 2025-26: 45p for the first 10,000 miles of the tax year, then 25p.
- Cars and vans, from 6 April 2026 (2026-27): 55p for the first 10,000 miles of the tax year, then 25p.
- Motorcycles: 24p a mile.
- Bicycles: 20p a mile.
The tax year is not the calendar year
The year runs from 6 April to 5 April. Miles driven between 1 January and 5 April 2026 count in the 2025-26 year at 45p, and the 10,000-mile threshold starts again on 6 April. A trip that crosses the threshold is split in two, the miles up to 10,000 at the first rate and the rest at 25p.
One threshold, all cars and vans together
gov.uk says that when a person uses more than one vehicle in a year, "it's all calculated together". I read that as one threshold for all the cars and vans a person uses, and not one per vehicle.
What to keep
For employees claiming relief, gov.uk asks you to keep the dates and mileage of your work journeys, and to send the reason for every journey and the postcodes of its start and end point.
A log that applies the rate of the day
Trajan, the iPhone app I built, prices each trip at the HMRC rate of its day, handles the 6 April year and the 10,000-mile split, and writes the year's report as a PDF or CSV. Recording is free, the report is the paid part, and there is no account.