A mileage reimbursement claim form is an official document used by employees in England and Wales to record and claim reimbursement for the cost of using their own vehicle for authorised business travel. Rather than providing company vehicles or fuel cards, many UK employers operate employee-owned vehicle schemes under which employees use their personal cars, motorcycles, or bicycles for business journeys and are reimbursed at an agreed pence-per-mile rate.

The tax treatment of mileage reimbursements in the United Kingdom is governed by the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA 2003). Under section 230 of ITEPA 2003, HMRC publishes Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) rates. For the 2025/26 tax year, the AMAP rate for cars and vans is 45 pence per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, reducing to 25 pence per mile for any mileage above 10,000 miles. For motorcycles, the rate is 24 pence per mile, and for bicycles it is 20 pence per mile.

The significance of the AMAP rate is straightforward: any mileage reimbursement made to an employee at or below the AMAP rate is entirely free from income tax and National Insurance contributions. No PAYE deductions are required, and the employer does not need to report the payment to HMRC on a P11D form. This provides a highly tax-efficient way for employers to compensate employees for business travel in their own vehicles. If the employer reimburses above the AMAP rate, the excess is treated as earnings and is subject to full PAYE deductions and reporting.

Conversely, where an employer reimburses below the AMAP rate — or does not reimburse at all — the employee may claim tax relief on the shortfall through Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR) under section 231 of ITEPA 2003, by submitting a claim to HMRC via Self Assessment or a P87 form.

The concept of a qualifying business journey is defined by sections 337 to 339 of ITEPA 2003. The crucial exclusion is ordinary commuting — the daily journey between an employee's home and their permanent workplace. This is not a qualifying business journey and cannot be reimbursed free of tax. Qualifying journeys include travel between workplaces, travel to temporary workplaces, and travel undertaken as an intrinsic part of the employee's role.

Our UK Mileage Reimbursement Claim form is designed for use by employees and employers in England and Wales and covers business mileage, vehicle details, cumulative tax-year mileage tracking, and other expenses, with a manager authorisation section to create a complete, auditable record.

A mileage reimbursement claim form should be completed and submitted by any employee in England and Wales who uses their own vehicle for authorised business travel and wishes to be reimbursed by their employer. The claim form is needed each time the employee incurs business mileage for which reimbursement is sought, whether on a journey-by-journey basis, weekly, monthly, or at whatever interval the employer's expenses policy requires.

Common situations requiring a mileage claim include: attending client or customer sites in a personal vehicle; travelling between two or more of the employer's premises; attending training courses, conferences, or professional events at external venues; site visits in connection with the employee's professional duties; and travel from home to a temporary workplace (as defined in section 339 of ITEPA 2003) rather than the employee's permanent place of work.

The importance of submitting claims promptly and regularly cannot be overstated. HMRC expects mileage records to be contemporaneous — that is, recorded at the time the journey is made rather than retrospectively. Employers typically set submission deadlines (such as the last working day of each month) to facilitate accurate accounting, and late claims may be refused under the employer's expenses policy.

The cumulative business mileage in the current tax year is particularly important to track accurately. Once a car or van driver exceeds 10,000 business miles in a single tax year (6 April to 5 April), the AMAP rate drops from 45p per mile to 25p per mile for any further mileage in that year. Submitting claims as they arise, with a running total of tax-year mileage, ensures that the correct rate is applied to each tranche of mileage and avoids overpayment or underpayment.

Employers who use employee vehicles for business travel regularly should have a formal expenses policy in place that sets out the mileage rates paid, the types of journey that qualify, the evidence required (such as mileage logs and receipts), and the procedure and deadline for submitting claims. A well-documented mileage claim form, submitted in accordance with this policy, provides the employer with the evidence it needs to justify the expense in its accounts and to satisfy any HMRC inquiry.

A well-drafted mileage reimbursement claim form for use in England and Wales should contain several key elements that comply with HMRC requirements and provide a clear, auditable record of business travel.

The employee identification section should include the claimant's full name, job title, department, and payroll or employee reference number. This enables the employer's finance team to process the payment accurately and allocate it to the correct cost centre.

The claim period establishes the dates covered by the claim. Claims are typically submitted monthly, quarterly, or at whatever interval the employer's policy requires. The start and end dates of the claim period allow the finance team to reconcile the claim against payroll periods and accounting months.

The vehicle details section should record the type of vehicle used (car, van, motorcycle, or bicycle) and the registration number where applicable. The AMAP rate differs by vehicle type, and having the registration number on record also satisfies HMRC's requirement for employers to be able to demonstrate that the employee used their own vehicle rather than a company vehicle.

The cumulative tax-year mileage section is critical for correctly applying the AMAP threshold. Once a car driver passes 10,000 business miles in a tax year, the reimbursement rate falls from 45p to 25p per mile. Recording the total mileage already claimed in the current tax year before this claim, alongside the miles in this claim, allows both the employee and the employer to identify whether any miles in the current claim straddle the 10,000-mile threshold and to apply the correct rates accordingly.

The journey log should record the date, start point, end point, business purpose, and miles for each individual business journey. HMRC's requirement for contemporaneous records means that a generic or estimated mileage figure is insufficient — each journey should be recorded separately with a clear business justification. Commuting journeys (home to permanent workplace) must never be included.

The reimbursement calculation sets out the number of miles claimed, the applicable rate per mile, and the total mileage reimbursement. Where some miles fall below the 10,000-mile threshold and some above it, separate calculations should be shown for each rate.

The manager authorisation section, signed by the approving manager with the date and cost code, provides the employer with the internal approval it needs to process the payment and ensures that all claims are reviewed before reimbursement is made.