Self-employed mileage: what records does HMRC need?
To claim self-employed mileage in the UK, keep a record of your business miles and the journeys behind them. Use the flat rate for the relevant tax year and check that simplified expenses are available for your vehicle.
The method determines the paperwork
Eligible self-employed people can use simplified vehicle expenses at a flat rate per business mile. The rate replaces the costs of buying and running the vehicle. Check whether your vehicle is eligible, whether you have claimed capital allowances on it, and which method you have already used for it (see HMRC — Simplified vehicle expenses).
Make the distance explainable
A useful working record connects a journey with its date, business purpose and distance. Keep the unit clear, especially if you work across borders or use several platforms. Save the source behind any total you transfer into a tax calculation.
A contractor might group travel by job or customer; a driver might check platform statements against their own journey record. Either way, the useful question at year end is whether you can trace the total back to the work that produced it.
Where platform statements fit
Keep the statement's distance exactly as printed, including its label and period. If the same distance appears on a weekly and annual statement, compare the periods before combining them. A clear record lets you identify the overlap.
In Bilbx, distance explicitly printed on a payout statement is saved with its label and unit. Use that evidence alongside your other vehicle records when checking the business travel behind a claim.
Keep expenses with the vehicle records
Store the receipts and supporting documents you will use for the method you choose. Mark the vehicle or job in a way that will still make sense months later. Our income record guide explains how to connect customer payments and project costs.
Prepare the claim in Bilbx
Bilbx includes a free vehicle logbook where you can add a trip in a tap (with the odometer carried forward and regular journeys saved for next time), take a photo of your odometer for Bilbx to read, or add the distance printed on a payout statement straight to your logbook. Your logged trips can feed your vehicle's business-use percentage or your simplified flat-rate mileage claim in Tax Lab, and you can export the logbook anytime as a CSV or PDF.
Tax Lab preparation, SA103 tax categories, the vehicle logbook and business/personal receipt splitting are free. Tax Lab report exports (CSV and ZIP) are included with Premium. Money in and projects are free.
See Bilbx for the UK and the published tax rules for the UK alongside the regulator's guidance.
Sources
Ask about this guide
Got a question about your own receipt? Ask it, and get an answer from Bilbx's reviewed guides for the UK.
General information, not tax or legal advice.
Common questions
Can I use the distance printed on a payout statement?
You can keep the distance printed on a payout statement with its original label, unit and period, and use it alongside your other vehicle records when checking business travel. Bilbx saves distance explicitly printed on payout statements.
Does Bilbx save the label and unit for statement distance?
Yes. Distance explicitly printed on a payout statement is kept with its original label and unit, in kilometres or miles. Keep the statement period with your other records so you can check overlapping documents.
Every figure on this page is checked against HMRC's own guidance and linked in the sources above. Last checked . Thresholds change each tax year, so if you are reading this well after that date, confirm the current figures before you rely on them. Terms.
The tax rules behind this guide
Records of business use
Mileage log, for its own year
Business use: your vehicle and your home
How HMRC asks you to split a vehicle's and a home's costs between business and private use, and the years Bilbx's Tax Lab applies each split for.
Read the ruleA rate for each kilometre or mile
55p a mile
Simplified expenses for vehicles: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles
A sole trader can claim a flat rate for each business mile in place of a vehicle's actual costs: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p a mile after, 24p a mile on a motorcycle. What HMRC says, and how Bilbx's Tax Lab claims it.
Read the ruleKeep reading
Self Assessment allowable expenses: SA103 boxes 11 to 19 explained
Which receipts go into boxes 11 to 19 on your Self Assessment SA103 return, what HMRC disallows (like client entertaining), and the records to keep.
ReadHow to split receipts and bills between business and personal use in the UK
How UK sole traders split mixed shop receipts, phone contracts and car costs for Self Assessment under HMRC's wholly and exclusively rules.
ReadHow to record self-employed income in the UK
Self-employed income records: invoices, payments and the documents to keep for HMRC. A practical way to connect earnings with business expenses.
Read