UK self-employed mileage records: choosing a useful log

Check the method before calculating a claim

HMRC permits simplified expenses for sole traders and eligible partnerships, rather than limited companies. Its vehicle guidance excludes vehicles with certain prior capital-allowance or purchase-expense claims. Once you use its mileage method for a vehicle, you continue while using that vehicle in the business. Check the vehicle's history before selecting a method.

As checked on 20 October 2026, HMRC lists 55p per mile for the first 10,000 qualifying car or goods-vehicle miles in 2026–27, then 25p. Before 6 April 2026, the first-band figure was 45p. Keep year-specific calculations rather than updating historical rows to the latest rate.

Those figures calculate an expense; they are not a promise of that amount back in tax or a requirement for customers to reimburse you. Employee claims follow a different workflow.

Give each vehicle a short cover sheet

Attach a cover sheet to the log before entering journeys. Include the registration, date you first used the vehicle for this business, method previously used and where the supporting purchase or lease records are stored. Add a question mark beside anything your accountant needs to resolve.

Then record each journey in a consistent format. Use miles throughout the working calculation and keep any original kilometre reading if you convert it. Do not silently mix distance units in a single column.

This is an original record layout, not an HMRC-issued form. Keep enough location detail in the underlying records to identify the actual journey.

Separate the route from its tax treatment

In a fictional afternoon, a decorator drives 18.6 miles from the workshop to a customer, then 5.2 miles to collect paint and 14.4 miles back to the workshop. The route contains 38.2 miles across three legs. Keep the paint receipt and estimate reference with that day's review.

If the decorator instead visits a friend after the customer meeting, record that change. Do not keep the original planned route as though it occurred. HMRC's travel-expense guidance excludes non-business journeys and ordinary home-to-work travel. Resolve uncertain journey treatment separately from distance measurement.

Close the period without losing the trail

At each review, match visits to completed work, inspect unexplained gaps and preserve corrected versions with a short reason. A cancelled estimate with no driving should not appear as mileage simply because it remains in the diary.

For the tax-year handoff, include the dated log, vehicle cover sheet, calculation and unresolved questions. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April; label 2026–27 clearly so an October journey is not accidentally included in a January–December-only summary. Agree the exact accounting-period treatment with your adviser.

Start with the free mileage-log template and adapt its labels to this UK record. Review all fields before relying on a generic template for your return.

Sources

• HMRC simplified-expenses eligibility.
• HMRC vehicle method and tax-year rates.
• HMRC self-employed records.
• HMRC travel-expense exclusions.

Related guides

• UK employee mileage claims: build the employer and tax-relief records
• How to Keep a Mileage Log Without GPS
• A Year-End Mileage Checklist for Closing Your Records

Browse all mileage guides and resources.