UK Mileage Log Template (Free Excel, 2026 HMRC Rates)

A mileage log is the evidence behind every business motoring claim in the UK, and HMRC is strict about it. The claim itself is simple arithmetic: business miles multiplied by the Approved Mileage Allowance Payment rate. What HMRC actually scrutinises is whether the log behind that number was kept at the time of each journey or invented afterwards. This template gives you a log that is already in the right shape and pre-filled with the current rates, so the only discipline left is recording each trip as it happens.

The download is a ready-to-use log with the date, start and end point, business purpose, miles, the rate, and the amount, plus a worked total and a note carrying the full rate rules.

The 2026 HMRC rates

The Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) is set by Parliament. The car and van rate rose to 55p from 6 April 2026, the first change since 2011-12:

If you carry a fellow employee on the same business journey, add 5p per mile per passenger. The template pre-fills the 55p car rate; once your cumulative business miles in the tax year pass 10,000, change the rate column to 0.25 for the miles beyond that point.

What HMRC needs in the log

The mileage log must be contemporaneous, meaning kept at the time of each journey rather than reconstructed later. For each trip it needs the date, the start and end location, the business reason, and the business miles. Commuting between home and a permanent workplace does not count, even if you take a work call on the way, so the log should only contain genuine business journeys.

For the self-employed, mileage records are kept for at least five years after the 31 January self-assessment deadline. For employees claiming Mileage Allowance Relief, the period is four years. The log is what substantiates the deduction, so it has to survive that long alongside the claim.

How to use the template

1. Record every business journey as it happens: date, where you went, why, and the miles.
2. Keep the rate at 0.55 until your running total of business miles in the tax year reaches 10,000, then switch the rate to 0.25.
3. Total the business miles and the amount at the end of each period.
4. If you are an employee reimbursed below the AMAP rate, claim the shortfall as Mileage Allowance Relief on your self-assessment or form P87.
5. If you are self-employed, deduct the AMAP total as a business expense, and keep the log for the retention period.

Common mistakes

• Reconstructing the log at year end. HMRC routinely disallows mileage where the record is not contemporaneous.
• Forgetting the 10,000-mile taper. Claiming 55p on every mile of a high-mileage year overstates the deduction.
• Mixing AMAP with actual costs. You cannot claim the flat rate and also deduct fuel or depreciation for the same car.
• Including commuting. Home-to-permanent-workplace miles are private, not business.

When the log should keep itself

A spreadsheet works, but the weak point is always whether each journey was logged at the moment it happened. Tools that timestamp trips remove that risk:

• Tripcatcher applies HMRC rates automatically and syncs to Xero and QuickBooks.
• ExpenseFlow covers the receipts that sit alongside this log: fuel and running costs for actual-cost vehicles are captured as they happen, flagged for business-use apportionment, and posted into your accounting platform with the right VAT treatment.
• MileIQ detects trips passively and produces HMRC-ready monthly summaries.

Start with the template, log every journey as it happens, and move to automatic capture once the mileage justifies it.