How do I claim mileage back from HMRC?

Employees claim tax relief on business mileage either through a Self Assessment tax return or, if you do not file one, using HMRC's employment expenses process. Self-employed people include simplified mileage expenses in their Self Assessment.

What records do I need for a mileage claim?

For each business journey keep the date, start and end points, the reason for the trip and the miles driven. HMRC expects a contemporaneous record rather than an estimate made at year end.

How far back can I claim mileage?

You can claim for the current tax year and the four previous tax years.

What evidence does HMRC need for a mileage claim?

For PAYE claims HMRC asks for copies of your mileage logs showing the reason for every journey and the postcodes of its start and end points, with a separate log for each employment.

What is the HMRC mileage claim form?

Employees who do not file Self Assessment and claim up to £2,500 use the P87 (online or on paper). Employees who file Self Assessment claim on the Employment pages (SA102). Self-employed people claim on the self-employment pages (SA103S or SA103F).

How to claim mileage from HMRC

What you can claim, what records HMRC expects, and how to actually submit it.

1. Check the journey qualifies

Business travel means travel you have to do for your work — between workplaces, to a temporary workplace, or to see clients. Your normal journey from home to a permanent workplace is ordinary commuting and cannot be claimed.

2. Keep a record of every trip

For each journey you need the date, where you went from and to, why, and the distance. HMRC expects records kept as you go, not reconstructed months later — this is the part people lose money on, because forgotten trips simply never get claimed.

3. Total it at the approved rates

Apply 55p per mile to your first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p after that. Subtract anything your employer already paid you for those miles.

4. Submit it

If you complete a Self Assessment return, you must claim there — the figure goes in the employment expenses section (or as a simplified expense if you are self-employed). If you do not file a return and you are an employee claiming up to £2,500, you claim through PAYE using HMRC's online form or the paper P87 form.

Which mileage claim form do I use?

You are	Form
An employee, no Self Assessment, claiming up to £2,500	P87 — HMRC's online form or the paper version
An employee who files Self Assessment, or claiming over £2,500	SA102 Employment pages of your SA100 tax return
Self-employed	SA103S (turnover below the VAT threshold) or SA103F self-employment pages

There is no separate HMRC "mileage claim form" beyond these. If your employer gave you their own mileage claim form, that is their internal expenses process for reimbursing you — tax relief on anything they pay below 55p a mile is claimed from HMRC on one of the forms above (see mileage allowance relief).

5. Send your mileage log as evidence

Since October 2024 HMRC will not process a PAYE expenses claim without evidence. For mileage, GOV.UK says you must send copies of your mileage logs showing, for every journey:

the reason for the journey
the postcode of the start point
the postcode of the end point

If you claim for more than one job you need a separate log for each. A total typed into a form is no longer enough, which is why the mileage log matters more than the calculator.

6. What you actually receive

As an employee you get tax relief, not the full amount — so a £1,000 claim is worth £200 to a basic-rate taxpayer and £400 at higher rate. If you are self-employed, the mileage total reduces your taxable profit instead.

Work out your mileage claim

Business miles this tax year Vehicle Passengers carried (optional)

£1,100.00you can claim for 2026/27

Every forgotten trip is money left unclaimed. Odo records each drive for you automatically →

Uses the HMRC approved mileage allowance payment (AMAP) rates for 2026/27: 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles, then 25p.

Stop reconstructing your mileage from memory

Odo logs your drives automatically in the background, you swipe each one business or personal, and it totals your claim at the 2026/27 rates — with a CSV export of every trip: date, reason, distance and the start and end postcodes HMRC asks for in a PAYE claim.

Get Odo for iPhone