Tracking your business mileage is one of the quickest wins for lowering your tax bill. It’s a straightforward concept: log the distance you drive for work, then claim it back as a business expense. Simple.

Yet, so many sole traders and small business owners leave this money on the table. Why? Often, it’s down to messy records, confusion over the rules, or just not realising how much it all adds up. Let's clear that up and make sure you’re claiming every single mile you're entitled to.

Your Guide to Business Mileage Tracking

At its heart, accurate mileage tracking is about proving your journeys were for business. It’s not enough to just jot down a number; you need to build a clear record that would stand up to scrutiny from HMRC.

It all boils down to understanding two things: what counts as a business trip and what information you absolutely have to record.

What Qualifies as a Business Journey?

This is where people often get tripped up. The rule of thumb from HMRC is that the journey must be 'wholly and exclusively' for business. Commuting from your home to your permanent office or workshop doesn't count—that’s just personal travel.

So, what can you claim?

Visiting clients or travelling between different office locations.
Running business errands, like heading to the post office or picking up supplies from a vendor.
Journeys to a temporary workplace. This is key for contractors—if you’re working at a particular site for a period expected to be less than 24 months, that travel is claimable.

Getting this right is fundamental. If you start claiming for your daily commute, you’re heading for trouble.

The Financial Impact of Mileage Rates

The real motivation for keeping detailed records is the payback. HMRC sets approved tax-free amounts, known as Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs), that you can claim for using your own vehicle.

For cars and vans, the rate is a generous 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles you drive in a tax year. After that, the rate drops to 25p per mile.

Just think about that for a moment. If you drive 10,000 business miles in a year, that’s a £4,500 deduction you can make against your profits. For many small businesses, that’s a significant saving.

HMRC regularly updates these figures, and it's always wise to check the latest government guidance on travel allowances to ensure you're using the correct rates.

Below is a summary of the current approved rates, which you’ll need to calculate your claims.

HMRC Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs) for Personal Vehicles 2026

The table below outlines the current tax-free mileage rates approved by HMRC. These are the figures you'll use to calculate deductions if you’re self-employed, or to process reimbursements for employees using their personal vehicles for work.

Vehicle Type	Rate for First 10,000 Miles	Rate After 10,000 Miles
Cars and Vans	45p per mile	25p per mile
Motorcycles	24p per mile	24p per mile
Bicycles	20p per mile	20p per mile

These rates are designed to cover the costs of fuel, insurance, and general wear and tear on the vehicle. Remember, the 10,000-mile threshold for cars and vans resets each tax year.

The bottom line is that your records must be impeccable to withstand an HMRC audit. Every single entry needs the date, the reason for the trip, your start and end points, and the total distance. This is non-negotiable, which is why having a solid tracking system from day one is so important.

Choosing the Right Mileage Tracking Method for You

When it comes to tracking your business mileage, there isn’t a single “best” way to do it. The right method really boils down to what works for you, your business, and frankly, how much paperwork you can stand.

A local tradesperson who drives the same few routes every day might get by just fine with a simple logbook in the glovebox. But if you’re a consultant crisscrossing the country, trying to keep track of every trip on paper will become a nightmare, fast.

Let's look at the three main approaches: the old-school manual logbook, a digital spreadsheet, and a modern mileage tracking app.

Manual vs Digital vs Automated

The classic pen-and-paper logbook has its appeal—it’s simple and doesn't rely on any tech. The problem? It’s a huge manual slog and incredibly prone to human error. It’s all too easy to forget to log a trip, get the distance wrong, or end up with a messy, illegible record that would be tough to defend in an HMRC review.

Moving to a spreadsheet is a step up. It certainly makes the maths easier and keeps things tidier. But you're still the one responsible for keying in every single journey detail, usually at the end of a long day when it's easy to forget a stop or two. Those hours spent on data entry are a hidden cost that quickly adds up.

This is where dedicated mileage apps have a clear edge. They use your phone’s GPS to automatically log your drives in the background. This simple shift from manual entry to automatic capture makes your records far more accurate and creates a clean, time-stamped log that's ready for inspection at a moment's notice. The decision really comes down to whether the small cost of an app is worth the time you'll save and the accuracy you'll gain.

This flowchart can help you decide which route to take.

Flowchart explaining business mileage tracking decisions: track personal car mileage for reimbursement, no tracking for company cars.

The key takeaway here is pretty clear: if you use your personal car for work, you need to track your mileage. It's the only way to prove your claims for tax deductions or get properly reimbursed. If you have a company car, the rules are different, focusing more on fuel and benefits.

Finding Your Ideal Workflow

Think about how you actually work. Your daily routine is the best indicator of the system you need.

Low-Mileage & Predictable Journeys: Are you a freelance writer who just visits a few local clients each month? A well-organised spreadsheet might be all you need. The key is discipline.
High-Volume & Varied Routes: If you’re in sales, field service, or any role that involves multiple, unpredictable stops every day, an automated app isn't just a nice-to-have; it's essential. The time it saves and the accuracy it provides will almost certainly outweigh the subscription fee. In fact, many businesses find their mileage claims drop by around 25% after switching, simply because they’ve eliminated guesswork and accidental over-reporting.

At the end of the day, the best method for tracking mileage is the one you’ll actually use consistently. An automated app removes the friction and forgetfulness from the equation. It ensures every eligible mile is captured without turning your bookkeeping into a second job—and that consistency is your best defence against compliance issues.

Building an Audit-Proof Mileage Logging Habit

Picking a mileage tracking tool is the easy part. The real challenge, and what ultimately gets you paid or keeps HMRC happy, is using it consistently. I've seen it time and again: a shiny new app or a perfectly formatted spreadsheet that gathers dust because the records are incomplete. Your best defence against a rejected claim isn't the tool you choose, but the routine you build around it.

A car dashboard with a smartphone showing a map and a physical planner for audit-ready logs.

The trick is to weave logging into your daily work so it feels automatic. For some, this means carving out two minutes at the end of each day to fill in a spreadsheet while the trips are still fresh in their mind. For others, the only way it'll stick is with an app that tracks automatically in the background, leaving them to simply swipe left or right to classify journeys later on.

Whatever your method, the goal is to make it effortless. If logging feels like a chore, you’ll find excuses to put it off. Those "I'll do it later" trips quickly add up to hundreds of pounds in lost expenses. The less you have to actively think about logging, the more likely you are to get it right.

Mastering the Details HMRC Demands

HMRC is very specific about what a compliant mileage log looks like. Get this wrong, and you risk having your claims dismissed during a review. For every single business journey, your log must show:

The date of the trip.
Your start and end locations (postcodes are best for this).
The business purpose of the journey—be specific! "Client meeting with ABC Ltd" is good; "Meeting" is not.
The total miles you drove.

That little "purpose" field is where so many people fall down. It's the "why" that proves to an auditor that a journey was for business and not just a personal errand.

A Word of Advice: Consistency trumps technology. A detailed, complete log kept daily in a simple notebook is worth more to HMRC than a fancy app that's only used once a week. Your record is your evidence—make sure it tells the whole story.

Separating Business from Personal Travel

Drawing a clear line between work and personal drives is the foundation of legitimate mileage claims. Your daily commute to your main office or permanent workplace? That’s never claimable. But the drive from your office to a client's site, or between two different company locations, absolutely is.

Don't underestimate how much this can be worth. Data on annual driving habits in Great Britain from Statista.com shows that it’s not uncommon for people to drive 4,000-5,000 business miles annually in their private cars, with this figure often doubling for company car drivers. Every one of those miles you fail to log is money left on the table.

To make this easier, try setting up "favourite" or recurring journeys for those regular trips to clients or suppliers. Another great habit is to pop a weekly reminder in your calendar—say, every Friday afternoon—to quickly review and finalise your log. It’s a simple system of checks that catches mistakes and makes sure nothing gets missed.

How to Calculate Your Mileage Deductions

You’ve diligently logged your journeys, and now it’s time for the payoff. So, how do you turn those miles into actual savings on your tax return? The calculation itself is straightforward, but the rules you need to follow depend entirely on whether you’re driving your own car or a company vehicle.

Getting this part right is what makes all that tracking worthwhile. It’s the difference between a nice deduction and a missed opportunity.

Calculating for Your Personal Vehicle

If you're self-employed or using your personal car for work, you'll be using HMRC's simplified rates, known as Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs). These are set, tax-free amounts designed to cover not just fuel, but also the general wear and tear on your car.

The maths is pretty simple. You can claim:

45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles you drive in a tax year.
25p per mile for any business miles after that.

Let’s run through a quick example. Say you're a freelance photographer who has clocked up 12,000 business miles driving to and from shoots this year. Here’s how you’d work out your claim:

First 10,000 miles: 10,000 x £0.45 = £4,500
Remaining 2,000 miles: 2,000 x £0.25 = £500
Total Claimable Expense: £4,500 + £500 = £5,000

That £5,000 is a business expense you can list on your Self Assessment tax return. It directly reduces your taxable profit, which means you pay less tax. It's a simple calculation, but one that can make a huge difference to your bottom line. For a more detailed look at expenses, our complete guide on self-employed tax deductions is a great resource.

Understanding Company Car Rates

But what if you’re driving a company car? The situation is completely different. Because the business is already paying for the car, insurance, and maintenance, you can’t claim the same 45p/25p rate. Instead, you can only claim for the fuel you use on business trips.

This is where Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs) come into play.

Advisory Fuel Rates are the official figures from HMRC that state how much employers can reimburse their team for business travel in company cars. Paying at these rates means there's no taxable benefit and no extra National Insurance to pay.

These rates are updated every quarter to reflect changing fuel prices and vary based on the car's engine size and fuel type (petrol, diesel, LPG, or electric). For instance, a small petrol car might have a rate of around 16p per mile, while a larger diesel could be higher.

It's crucial for employers to stick to these AFRs. If you reimburse an employee at a higher rate without a specific reason, that extra money is treated as taxable income. This can quickly create a compliance headache for everyone involved. Keeping on top of the latest AFRs is a non-negotiable part of managing company vehicles correctly.

Automating Your Mileage and Expense Workflow

Let’s be honest, nobody enjoys spending their evenings trying to match a shoebox full of faded receipts to a mileage log spreadsheet. Manually keying every trip and expense into your accounting software isn't just slow; it's a surefire way to introduce errors. The real goal is to build a connected system where your mileage and travel costs flow into your books almost without you thinking about it.

This is about more than just tracking drives. It's about creating one central, accurate record for all your travel-related spending.

Digital expense automation setup with a laptop, smartphone, and printer on a wooden desk.

Think about a typical day out visiting clients. Before you even leave, you might pay for parking and top up the car with fuel. With an automated setup, your mileage app quietly logs the journey in the background. Instead of stuffing crumpled receipts into the glove box, you simply snap a photo or forward the email receipt to an expense tool like Snyp.

That's where the heavy lifting gets done for you. The software uses AI to read the receipt, pulling out the vendor, date, total amount, and even the VAT. It then categorises the expense and, because it's linked to your accounting platform, sends all that information straight across, ready for reconciliation.

Creating a Watertight Financial Record

This kind of integrated system finally connects the dots between your journeys and your spending. Your mileage log shows where you went, and the captured receipts show what you spent to get there.

When these two streams of information meet in your accounting software, they create a complete, fully supported record for every single business trip. The practical benefits are huge:

Real-Time Clarity: You get an immediate and accurate view of what your travel is actually costing you, not just an estimate.
Less Admin, More Business: It slashes the hours spent on manual data entry, giving you that time back to focus on what matters.
Fewer Mistakes: Automation drastically reduces the risk of typos, forgotten claims, and miscalculations that can happen when you're rushing.

In the end, your mileage claim for a trip is perfectly aligned with the real costs of fuel, tolls, and parking, all backed up by digital receipts.

Manual vs Automated Expense Workflow

The difference this makes is profound. We see it all the time with businesses using platforms like Xero or QuickBooks. A process that was once a major headache becomes a simple, background task. If you're curious about the technical side, we break down a typical setup in our article on Xero integration strategies.

Let’s look at how a truly automated workflow stacks up against the old way of doing things.

The table below shows just how much an integrated tool like Snyp can change the game when it comes to managing mileage and travel expenses.

Manual vs Automated Expense Workflow

Task	Manual Process (Spreadsheets & Paper)	Automated Process (with Snyp & Integration)
Mileage Logging	Manually record start/end, purpose, and distance for every trip.	GPS app automatically tracks drives; you classify them with a swipe.
Receipt Handling	Collect paper receipts; manually enter data into a spreadsheet.	Forward email receipts or snap a photo; AI extracts and categorises data.
Accounting Entry	Manually key in mileage totals and expense figures into Xero/QuickBooks.	All approved data syncs automatically to your accounting software.
Reconciliation	Spend hours matching bank transactions to expense entries and logs.	Bank feeds reconcile against auto-synced data in seconds.

As you can see, the right tools don't just speed things up; they fundamentally change the nature of the work.

By linking your mileage tracking directly to your expense management, you create a single, reliable source for all your business travel data. This not only saves an incredible amount of time but also means you're always audit-ready with clean, verifiable, and complete records.

Common Mistakes in Business Mileage Tracking

Even with the best intentions, it's surprisingly easy to get business mileage tracking wrong. We see the same slip-ups time and again, and they can turn a straightforward tax deduction into a real headache with HMRC. Knowing what these common pitfalls are is the best way to steer clear of them.

One of the biggest and most frequent errors is logging your daily commute. Let's be crystal clear: the journey from your home to your permanent workplace is not a business expense. It’s a classic mistake, but claiming it puts you on the back foot immediately if HMRC ever takes a look at your records. Every trip you claim must be 'wholly and exclusively' for business.

Guesstimating and Forgetting the Details

Another habit that can land you in trouble is 'guesstimating'. Rounding a 7.8-mile trip up to 10 might not feel like a big deal, but those extra miles add up fast over a year and can look like a deliberate over-claim. This usually happens when you put off logging your journeys until Friday afternoon, by which point the week’s trips are a blur.

A mileage log with an entry like "Client visit" is a red flag for an auditor. What they need to see is context: "Visit to ABC Ltd in Manchester for project kick-off meeting". That tells a clear, defensible story.

Just as crucial is recording the why of the trip. Your mileage log needs to do more than just list dates and distances. Without a specific purpose for each journey, you’re leaving your claims open to question, and they could easily be disallowed.

Mixing Up the Rules

This is where things often get tricky. Many people get confused about the rules for personal versus company cars, but the distinction is critical.

The 45p per mile rate (the Mileage Allowance Payment or MAP) is specifically for when you use your personal car for work. This figure is designed to cover not just fuel but also the running costs like insurance, servicing, and general wear and tear.

If you drive a company car, you can only claim for the fuel you buy yourself for business trips. For this, you must use the much lower Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs). Applying the generous 45p rate to a company car journey is a major compliance blunder that HMRC will spot instantly. Getting this right is crucial, and you can get a full breakdown on how to manage fuel and vehicle expenses correctly.

Finally, don't fall at the last hurdle: record-keeping. HMRC requires you to keep your mileage logs and all supporting evidence for at least five years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year. If you can’t produce those records during an audit, you have nothing to back up your claims. That could lead to having to repay the tax, plus penalties and interest.

Frequently Asked Questions About Business Mileage

Mileage is one of those business expenses that seems simple on the surface but can get complicated fast. Get it wrong, and you could be leaving money on the table or, worse, facing a headache with HMRC. Let's clear up some of the most common questions I hear from business owners and freelancers.

Getting to grips with what actually counts as a business trip is the first hurdle. Once you're clear on that, the rest becomes much easier.

What Journeys Can I Actually Claim For?

The official line from HMRC is that you can claim for journeys that are "wholly and exclusively" for business. This simple phrase is key—it’s what separates a legitimate business trip from your daily commute, which you almost certainly can't claim.

So, what does that look like in the real world?

Driving from your office to a client meeting.
Travelling between different work sites (if you have more than one).
Making a trip to a temporary workplace—that’s somewhere you expect to work for less than 24 months.

If you work from home, your first trip of the day to visit a client or pick up supplies usually counts. The golden rule is to be specific in your mileage log. A note like "Trip to meet new client" is good; "Trip to meet Jane Smith at ABC Corp to discuss project proposal" is even better. That’s the kind of detail an inspector loves to see.

Do I Need to Keep Fuel Receipts if I Use the HMRC Mileage Rate?

This is a big one, and the answer is usually no. If you're self-employed and using the approved mileage allowance (the 45p then 25p per mile rate), you don't need a folder stuffed with fuel receipts to back up your claim.

Why? Because that rate is designed to cover everything—fuel, insurance, road tax, and the general wear and tear on your car.

The single most important document you need is your detailed mileage log. It’s the log, not the receipts, that proves where you went, why you went there, and how far you travelled. Without it, your claim has no leg to stand on.

The exception is if you’re a VAT-registered business on the Flat Rate Scheme; it’s wise to keep fuel receipts as supporting evidence. And if you’re an employee claiming for fuel in a company car using the Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs), then yes, you absolutely need to keep your fuel receipts.

How Long Do I Need to Keep My Mileage Records?

HMRC has a long memory, and they expect your record-keeping to match. You are required to keep all your business records, including your mileage logs, for at least 5 years after the 31st January submission deadline for that tax year.

Let’s break that down. For the 2025-2026 tax year (which ends 5 April 2026), the filing deadline is 31 January 2027. That means you need to hang onto those records until at least 31 January 2032.

Honestly, the best way to handle this is with a digital system. Whether it's a dedicated app or part of your accounting software, it keeps everything organised, secure, and ready to go if you ever get that dreaded audit letter.

Can I Claim for Passengers or Equipment?

You can, but the rules are quite specific. An employer can pay an employee an extra, tax-free passenger payment of up to 5p per mile for each colleague they take with them on the same business journey. This isn't an allowance for the self-employed, though—it’s strictly for employees.

As for equipment, the standard mileage allowance is intended to be all-inclusive. It already accounts for the cost of running your vehicle, which includes carrying the necessary tools of your trade. So, unfortunately, you can't make an additional claim just for having your gear in the car.

Stop wasting time on manual data entry. Snyp uses AI to automatically capture and categorise your receipts from emails or photos, syncing them directly with your accounting software. Keep your mileage and expense records perfectly aligned and get hours back in your week. Start your free trial at Snyp.ai.

Mastering tracking business mileage in the UK for 2026