You may be able to claim tax relief if you use cars, vans, motorcycles or bicycles for work.
This does not include travelling to and from your work, unless it’s a temporary place of work.
How much you can claim depends on whether you’re using:
- a vehicle that you’ve bought or leased with your own money
- a vehicle owned or leased by your employer (a company vehicle)
You can claim for the current tax year and the 4 previous tax years, if you’re eligible.
Using your own vehicle for work
If you use your own vehicle or vehicles for work, you may be able to claim tax relief on the approved mileage rate. This covers the cost of owning and running your vehicle. You cannot claim separately for things like:
- fuel
- electricity
- vehicle tax
- MOTs
- repairs
To work out how much you can claim for each tax year you’ll need to:
- keep records of the dates and mileage of your work journeys
- add up the mileage for each vehicle type you’ve used for work
- take away any amount your employer pays you towards your costs, (sometimes called a ‘mileage allowance’)
Approved mileage rates
Your employer may already pay you for some of your business mileage for using your own car. If it is less than the above rate, you could claim the difference for tax relief.
Please note that cars obtained via salary sacrifice arrangements are not private cars but treated as company cars.
Using a company car for business
You can claim tax relief on the money you’ve spent on fuel and electricity, for business trips in your company car. Keep records to show the actual cost of the fuel.
If your employer reimburses some of the money, you can claim relief on the difference.
The rates are much lower than using your own car.
How to claim
When you claim, you must send HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) copies of your mileage logs. These logs must include:
- the reason for every journey
- the postcode for the start point of every journey
- the postcode for the end point of every journey
If you are claiming for more than one employment, you must send a copy of your mileage log for each.
Use the HMRC free service to check:
- if you can claim
- how to claim
If you complete a Self Assessment tax return, you must claim through your tax return instead.
Want to make a claim using the HMRC free service:
PAYadvice.UK 4/8/2026