Tax Season Mileage Deductions: What UK, US & Canadian Drivers Need to Know
Quick summary
- UK drivers can claim 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles (25p after) — worth up to £4,500 in deductions if you drive a lot for work.
- US drivers using the IRS standard rate for 2026 can deduct 72.5 cents per mile on qualifying business travel (70 cents/mile for 2025 returns due April 2026) — with no receipts required for the mileage itself.
- Canadian drivers can claim vehicle expenses on a pro-rated basis or use CRA's prescribed per-kilometre rates — the 2024 rates are 72¢/km (first 5,000 km) and 66¢/km after.
- The biggest mistake? Poor records. HMRC, the IRS, and the CRA all require a contemporaneous mileage log.
Why mileage deductions matter right now
Mileage deductions are one of the most commonly missed tax reliefs for self-employed drivers and employees who use their own vehicle for work. Tax season deadlines are fast approaching — 31 January for UK self-assessment (already passed for 2024-25, but the 2025-26 window opens now), 15 April for US federal returns, and 30 April for most Canadian individual filers. If you drove for business, medical, charity, or certain other purposes in the last tax year and didn't track your miles, you're almost certainly leaving money on the table.
The amounts add up fast. A self-employed consultant doing 12,000 business miles in the UK claims £4,750 in mileage relief. A US freelancer doing 10,000 business miles at the 2025 IRS rate of 70¢/mile deducts $7,000 from their taxable income. A Canadian tradesperson logging 20,000 business km can claim over $13,700 CAD in vehicle expenses.
Let's break it down by country.
HMRC Mileage Allowance 2025–26: What UK Drivers Can Claim
What you can claim
If you use your own vehicle for work (not commuting), you can claim HMRC's Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) rates:
| Vehicle type | First 10,000 miles | After 10,000 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Car or van | 45p/mile | 25p/mile |
| Motorcycle | 24p/mile | 24p/mile |
| Bicycle | 20p/mile | 20p/mile |
You can also claim 5p per mile per passenger if a fellow employee travels with you on the same business trip.
Who qualifies
- Self-employed sole traders and partners
- Employees who use their personal vehicle for work travel (not commuting) and are not fully reimbursed by their employer
- Company directors
Commuting — travelling from home to your regular place of work — is not claimable. Travel between client sites, to temporary workplaces, or for business errands is.
Average savings
A self-employed driver covering 12,000 business miles in a tax year can claim:
- 10,000 miles × 45p = £4,500
- 2,000 miles × 25p = £500
- Total: £5,000 deducted from taxable income
At the basic rate of 20%, that's a £1,000 tax saving. Higher-rate taxpayers save £2,000.
Key deadlines & tips
- Self-assessment deadline: 31 January following the end of the tax year (5 April).
- HMRC can investigate returns up to four years back (or longer if they suspect fraud) — so keep records.
- If your employer reimburses you less than the AMAP rates, you can claim the shortfall via a Self Assessment return or form P87.
IRS Standard Mileage Rate 2025/2026: What US Drivers Can Claim
What you can claim
The IRS sets a standard mileage rate each year. For 2026, the rates are:
| Purpose | Rate per mile |
|---|---|
| Business | 72.5 cents |
| Medical / moving (active military) | 21 cents |
| Charitable | 14 cents |
If you're filing your 2025 tax return (due 15 April 2026), use the 2025 rate of 70 cents per mile for miles driven last year.
The business rate is the big one. You can use the standard rate instead of tracking actual vehicle expenses (fuel, insurance, depreciation, etc.) — which makes record-keeping much simpler, provided you log your mileage.
Who qualifies
- Self-employed individuals filing Schedule C
- Partners in a partnership using a personal vehicle
- Employees who itemise deductions (note: W-2 employees lost the employee business expense deduction under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — check current guidance for any reinstatement affecting 2026 filings)
- Medical travel (subject to the 7.5% AGI floor) and charitable travel
Commuting miles are never deductible.
Average savings
A self-employed driver covering 15,000 business miles in 2026:
- 15,000 × $0.725 = $10,875 deducted from taxable income
At the 22% bracket that's a $2,393 tax saving. At 32%, it's $3,480.
The IRS doesn't require fuel receipts if you use the standard rate — but it absolutely requires a contemporaneous mileage log (date, destination, business purpose, miles driven).
Key deadlines & tips
- Federal filing deadline: 15 April 2026 (for 2025 tax year), with extensions available to 15 October.
- The IRS flags returns with high mileage claims — make sure your log is airtight.
- You must choose standard mileage rate in the first year you use the vehicle for business. After that, you can switch to actual expenses.
CRA Mileage Rate 2025: What Canadian Drivers Can Claim
What you can claim
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) uses a pro-rated actual expense model rather than a flat per-kilometre deduction for most taxpayers — but it also publishes per-kilometre rates for employees receiving a reasonable car allowance.
CRA per-kilometre rates for 2025:
| Distance | Rate |
|---|---|
| First 5,000 km | 72¢/km |
| Beyond 5,000 km | 66¢/km |
(These rates are updated annually and apply to most provinces; Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut have higher rates.)
For self-employed drivers and employees deducting vehicle expenses (Form T777), you claim a proportion of actual vehicle costs (fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation/CCA) based on your business-use percentage:
Business use % = Business km ÷ Total km driven in the year
Who qualifies
- Self-employed individuals (sole proprietors, incorporated professionals)
- Commissioned employees (T2200 signed by employer)
- Employees required by their employer to use their vehicle (T2200 required)
Average savings
A self-employed tradesperson driving 25,000 km total, of which 18,000 km is business:
- Business use = 72%
- Total vehicle costs for the year: $12,000 (fuel, insurance, maintenance, lease payments)
- Deductible amount: 72% × $12,000 = $8,640
At a combined federal + provincial marginal rate of 40%, that's a **$3,456 tax saving**.
Alternatively, using the per-km rates as a benchmark: 5,000 km × $0.72 + 13,000 km × $0.66 = $3,600 + $8,580 = $12,180 CAD allowance (tax-free if paid by employer at these rates).
Key deadlines & tips
- Individual filing deadline: 30 April 2026 (for 2025 tax year); self-employed (and spouses): 15 June, but any balance owing is still due 30 April.
- The CRA requires a logbook with date, destination, odometer start/end, purpose, and total km for each trip.
- A simplified logbook is accepted after one full "base year" of complete records — you only need to keep a three-month sample in subsequent years provided your driving pattern hasn't changed significantly.
- Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles qualify for zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) CCA classes, allowing accelerated depreciation — worth checking with your accountant.
The record-keeping rules that apply everywhere
All three tax authorities share the same core requirements for a valid mileage log:
- Date of each trip
- Origin and destination (or at minimum the area/city)
- Business purpose — who you visited, what the errand was
- Odometer reading at start and end (or total miles/km for the trip)
- Total business vs. total miles driven for the year
A few practical rules to stay audit-ready:
- Log trips as they happen, not at the end of the week or month. Tax authorities use the phrase "contemporaneous records" — meaning written at the time of the trip. Recreating a log from memory months later is a red flag.
- Keep records for at least 5–7 years (HMRC: 5 years after self-assessment deadline; IRS: 3–7 years depending on the scenario; CRA: 6 years from end of the tax year).
- Note your year-opening and year-closing odometer readings — you'll need them to calculate business-use percentage.
- Separate personal and business travel clearly — if you combine a personal errand with a business trip, only the incremental business portion is deductible.
How MileEZ makes this effortless
Manually logging every trip in a spreadsheet or notebook is the most common reason drivers fail to claim what they're owed — and also the most common reason claims get rejected. MileEZ is a GPS mileage tracker that removes the friction entirely:
- Automatic trip detection — starts and stops tracking when you drive, no buttons to press.
- One-tap trip categorisation — swipe to mark a trip as business or personal after each drive.
- Work schedules — set your working hours and MileEZ will automatically classify trips taken during those times as business, so most of your log fills itself in.
- Compliant mileage reports — export a PDF or CSV report formatted to meet HMRC, IRS, and CRA requirements, with odometer readings, dates, destinations, and purposes all included.
- Real-time deduction totals — see your running mileage deduction in the app so you know what to expect at tax time, not after.
- Multi-country support — works in the UK, US, and Canada with country-specific rate calculations built in.
Whether you're a self-employed contractor, a freelancer, a landlord visiting rental properties, or an employee occasionally using your own car for work, MileEZ keeps the records you need without adding any effort to your day. If you're also managing an EV, see our guide to EV smart tariffs for UK drivers to cut your charging costs too.
Stop guessing at tax time. Download MileEZ free and let the app build your mileage log automatically — HMRC, IRS, and CRA compliant reports, ready to go when you need them.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim mileage if I'm employed (not self-employed)? Yes, in all three countries — with conditions. UK employees can claim the gap between what their employer pays and the HMRC AMAP rate. Canadian employees need a signed T2200 from their employer. US W-2 employees should check current guidance, as the deduction has been restricted since 2018.
Do I need receipts for every trip? No fuel receipts are needed if you use the standard/flat rate (AMAP in the UK, IRS standard rate in the US, CRA per-km rate in Canada). What you do need is a detailed mileage log — date, origin, destination, purpose, and distance for every trip.
Can I claim mileage for driving to and from work? No. Commuting between your home and a fixed regular workplace is not deductible in any of the three countries. Only travel for business purposes beyond your normal commute qualifies.
What's the IRS mileage rate for 2026? The IRS standard mileage rate for business miles driven in 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile (announced via IRS Notice 2026-10). For miles driven in 2025, the rate is 70 cents per mile.
What's the HMRC mileage rate for 2025–26? HMRC's Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) rate is 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p per mile after that. These rates have not changed since 2011.
What happens if I don't have a mileage log? HMRC, the IRS, and the CRA can all disallow your mileage claim if you can't produce a contemporaneous log. In a worst-case audit, you could owe back taxes plus penalties and interest. Recreating a log from memory or bank statements after the fact is not considered sufficient evidence.
How does MileEZ help with mileage deductions? MileEZ automatically tracks every trip via GPS, lets you categorise trips as business or personal with one tap, and exports compliant mileage reports for HMRC, IRS, and CRA — including all required fields. Download it free.
Summary: what to do right now
| Country | Deadline | Rate | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇬🇧 UK | 31 Jan 2027 (2025-26 tax year) | 45p/mile (first 10k) | Start logging now, pull last year's records |
| 🇺🇸 US | 15 April 2026 (2025 return) | 70¢/mile (2025) · 72.5¢/mile (2026) | File or extend; ensure mileage log is ready |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | 30 April 2026 | 72¢/km (first 5k) | Gather logbook + T2200 if employed |
The single highest-ROI tax action for any driver using their vehicle for work is simply keeping a proper mileage log. Start today, and next year's tax return will be far simpler — and far more rewarding.
Track every mile automatically with MileEZ — download free for iOS and Android.