HMRC AMAP rates 2026: 45p / 25p explained
How HMRC's tax-free Approved Mileage Allowance Payment rates work for UK business mileage in 2026.
What AMAP rates are
Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) are the per-mile rates HMRC lets employers reimburse for business use of an employee's own vehicle without triggering Income Tax or National Insurance Contributions.[^hmrc-amap-78] For 2025/26 (and unchanged into 2026/27 at the time of writing), the headline rates are:
| Vehicle | First 10,000 business miles per year | Above 10,000 | |---|---|---| | Car / van | 45p / mile | 25p / mile | | Motorcycle | 24p / mile | 24p / mile | | Bicycle | 20p / mile | 20p / mile |
Frequent passenger payments are 5p/mile per qualifying business passenger (no NIC/Income Tax up to that amount).
What "business miles" means
HMRC distinguishes:
- **Business travel** (eligible): visits to clients, between work locations, to a temporary workplace, or work-related training. - **Ordinary commuting** (NOT eligible): home to your permanent workplace, or to a place that is not significantly different from it. - **Private travel** (NOT eligible): personal trips.
The "24-month rule" applies to temporary workplaces: if you expect to spend more than 24 months at the same site, it counts as a permanent workplace from the start, and travel to it becomes commuting.
How the 10,000-mile threshold resets
AMAP is calculated by tax year (6 April to 5 April), per employee, regardless of how many employers they had. The first 10,000 business miles in the year qualify at 45p, anything over 25p. The threshold doesn't reset per job: the employee aggregates across employers via self-assessment.
Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR)
If your employer reimburses LESS than the AMAP rate, you can claim the difference back as Mileage Allowance Relief on your tax return or via Form P87. Example: employer pays 25p/mile, you drive 8,000 business miles in a tax year. Eligible relief: 8,000 × (45p − 25p) = £1,600. You claim relief on £1,600 against your taxable income.
If your employer reimburses MORE than AMAP, the excess is taxable as employment income and reportable on the P11D.
VAT on fuel element
If your employer is VAT-registered and reclaims VAT on the fuel portion of mileage, they need to keep VAT receipts for the fuel and use HMRC's quarterly Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs) to compute the deductible VAT. This is separate from the AMAP claim and often forgotten.
Record-keeping
HMRC requires contemporaneous mileage logs with:
- Date of journey - Origin and destination - Reason for the trip (business purpose) - Number of miles - Vehicle used
Keep records at least 22 months after the end of the tax year (or longer for the self-employed). Digital logs with integrity hashes — like those issued by Quilometragem — meet HMRC's contemporaneous requirement.
Common pitfalls
- Treating commuting as business travel. - Forgetting the 10,000-mile threshold and overpaying the higher rate (taxable for the employee). - Mixing AMAPs with company fuel cards (incompatible without P11D adjustment). - Not separating the VAT fuel element when reclaiming input VAT.
Bottom line
For 2026, 45p / 25p remains the simplest and most common approach for UK SMEs. Combine it with a digital log, a 30-day submission policy, and a yearly P11D check, and you stay onside with HMRC at near-zero administrative cost.