What are the HMRC AMAP mileage rates?

What AMAP is

When an employee uses their own vehicle — car, van, motorcycle, or bicycle — for a business journey, the employer can reimburse them per-mile for fuel and wear-and-tear. HMRC's Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP) are the per-mile rates at which that reimbursement counts as tax-free.

Pay at or below the AMAP rate: no tax, no NICs, no P11D entry. Pay above the AMAP rate: the excess becomes taxable income, subject to PAYE and NICs and reportable on the P11D.

The standard rates

The AMAP rates have been unchanged for many years.

| Vehicle | First 10,000 business miles a year | Each mile over 10,000 | |---------|-----------------------------------|------------------------| | Cars and vans | 45p | 25p | | Motorcycles | 24p | 24p | | Bicycles | 20p | 20p |

The two-tier rate applies to cars and vans only. For motorcycles and bicycles, the rate is flat regardless of mileage.

How the 10,000-mile cliff works

The 10,000-mile threshold is:

• Per employee (not per vehicle)
• Per tax year (6 April to 5 April)
• Counted across all business journeys in the tax year

So an employee who racks up 15,000 business miles in a year can claim:

• 10,000 × 45p = £4,500
• 5,000 × 25p = £1,250
• Total tax-free: £5,750

The threshold resets each 6 April. An employee changing roles or vehicles mid-year keeps a single running total.

The passenger payment

If the employee is driving a colleague (also an employee, also on the same business journey) they can be paid an additional 5p per passenger per mile, tax-free. This is per passenger — three passengers in the car earn 15p per mile on top of the 45p / 25p rate.

The passenger payment is optional. If the employer doesn't pay it, the employee cannot claim it as a tax deduction either. Few employers actually pay passenger rates; those who do tend to be in sectors with lots of multi-employee travel (consultancy, construction).

What counts as business mileage

Business mileage is travel for work purposes — visiting clients, between sites, to training, to a temporary place of work. It does not include:

• The daily commute from home to a permanent place of work
• Travel for primarily personal reasons (even if some work is done)
• Travel between home and work locations that fall within the "ordinary commute" definition

The temporary workplace rule (section 339 ITEPA 2003) is the main complexity. A workplace is "temporary" if the employee will work there for less than 24 months and not regularly. Travel to a temporary workplace is business mileage. Travel to a permanent workplace is not.

This matters because some long-running projects can fall foul of the 24-month rule, retroactively reclassifying business mileage as commuting.

Paying above AMAP

Employers can pay above the AMAP rate. The portion above the rate becomes a taxable benefit:

• Subject to PAYE and Class 1 NICs in the period it's paid
• Reportable on the employee's P11D (or payrolled, from April 2026 onwards mandatory for most BiKs)
• Forms part of the employee's gross income

For example, paying 50p per mile for the first 10,000 miles:

• 45p tax-free under AMAP
• 5p taxable

The 5p has to be processed through payroll like normal pay. Most employers stick to AMAP precisely to avoid this admin burden.

Paying below AMAP

If the employer pays less than the AMAP rate (or pays nothing), the employee can claim Mileage Allowance Relief through Self Assessment or by writing to HMRC. The relief is the difference between the AMAP rate and what the employer paid, multiplied by business miles.

This happens often in low-paying sectors where mileage is reimbursed at fuel-cost rates. Employees with significant business mileage should check whether they're entitled to claim the difference.

Electric vehicles

AMAP rates apply equally to electric, hybrid, petrol, and diesel cars. They are treated identically: 45p / 25p, with no special EV rate.

A separate consideration: Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs) apply to company cars (cars provided by the employer) for fuel reimbursement, including a separate rate for electric. AFRs and AMAP are different things — AFRs cover fuel for company cars, AMAP covers per-mile costs for personal cars used for business.

For company-car drivers using their own electricity to charge an electric company car for business travel, HMRC publishes a separate Advisory Electric Rate (AER), updated quarterly.

Record-keeping

For each mileage claim, the employee should record:

• Date of journey
• Start and end points
• Miles driven
• Business purpose
• Vehicle used (relevant if employee has more than one)

Records can be kept on paper, in a spreadsheet, or in dedicated mileage software. HMRC may ask for them in a compliance check; sketchy records risk reclassification of the payments.

The employer should keep these records for at least three years from the end of the tax year.

VAT on fuel

If the employer is VAT-registered and reimburses mileage at AMAP rates, they can reclaim the VAT on the fuel element of the journey — but only if the employee provides VAT receipts for the fuel. The fuel element is a smaller proportion of the AMAP rate; HMRC publishes Advisory Fuel Rates for VAT purposes.

This is a marginal benefit. Most small employers don't bother. Larger employers with significant mileage spend often automate the VAT reclamation through their expense system.

Common mistakes

Paying full AMAP for commuting

The most common error. Reimbursing the daily home-to-work commute at AMAP turns the entire payment into taxable income — there's no tax-free element for ordinary commuting.

Forgetting the 10,000-mile switch

Paying 45p per mile beyond 10,000 miles makes the excess (20p) taxable. Mileage software should automatically switch rates at the per-employee 10,000-mile mark.

Round-figure mileage

"50 miles return to client" without an actual route check is a red flag in HMRC compliance. Miles should be derived from a route calculation, not estimated.

Paying for business mileage in a company car

Company-car drivers can't claim AMAP — they're already getting fuel benefits via the company-car BiK system. They use Advisory Fuel Rates instead.

Putting it into practice

A clean mileage process should:

1. Record each journey with date, route, miles, and purpose
2. Apply 45p for the first 10,000 miles per employee per tax year
3. Apply 25p for cars/vans above 10,000 miles
4. Track the 10,000-mile threshold per employee, not per claim
5. Distinguish business journeys from commuting using the temporary workplace test
6. Report any above-AMAP element via P11D or payroll
7. Retain records for at least three years from tax-year end

AMAP is one of the simplest UK HR rules and one of the most consistently mishandled. The arithmetic is straightforward; the discipline is in applying it consistently.