HMRC mileage and meal rates for 2026/27.

Approved mileage allowance payments, for employees using their own vehicle for business journeys:

• The car and van rate for the first 10,000 miles rose from 45p to 55p on 6 April 2026.
• The 10,000 miles count across the tax year, from 6 April, for each employee.
• You can add 5p a mile for each fellow employee carried on the same business journey.

• Up to the approved rates: nothing to report, and no tax or National Insurance.
• Above them: report the excess on a P11D, or put it through payroll and take tax as normal.
• National Insurance works differently. For cars and vans, 55p a mile is free of National Insurance for every business mile, not only the first 10,000. So after 10,000 miles, pay between 25p and 55p a mile is taxable but free of National Insurance. Only pay above 55p goes into Class 1 National Insurance.
• Below the rates: the employee can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the difference.

HMRC’s benchmark rates let you pay towards meals on a business journey free of tax and National Insurance:

• If you pay the 5 or 10-hour rate and the journey runs past 8pm, you can add £10.
• The journey must be for work, not ordinary commuting, and the employee must have bought a meal after setting off and kept the evidence.
• You don’t need HMRC’s approval to use these rates. Paying more than them is taxed and has National Insurance.

• Keep a record of each journey: the date, where from and to, the purpose and the business miles.
• Keep a running total of each person’s car miles in the tax year, so the rate drops at the right mile.
• Use the rate for the date of the journey, not the date of the claim.