How to Claim Mileage as a Sole Trader Tradesperson — and Get Paid What You're Owed

Whether you are an electrician doing consumer unit swaps, a plumber responding to emergency callouts, or a builder hauling materials, your vehicle is constantly running. Fuel, insurance, servicing, and road tax cost thousands.

Fortunately, tax authorities in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa recognize this and allow you to offset these costs against your income. The key is understanding how to claim them legally and without triggering an audit.

Actual Vehicle Expenses vs. Simplified Flat Rates

As a sole trader, you generally have two choices for claiming vehicle-related tax write-offs. Your choice will depend on whether you use a dedicated work van or a personal car used partly for work.

Method A: Simplified Flat Rate (Mileage Allowance)

Instead of keeping track of every single fuel receipt, toll charge, and tyre replacement, you calculate your business travel using flat rates set by your local tax authority. This rate covers fuel, servicing, insurance, depreciation, and wear and tear.

You do not need to keep receipts for fuel or servicing, but you **must** keep an accurate travel log showing the date, start and end locations, purpose, and distance of every business trip.

Method B: Actual Vehicle Cost Method

Under this method, you claim the actual business proportion of all vehicle-related expenses. This includes:

• Fuel receipts and electricity charges (for EVs)
• Insurance premiums and breakdown cover
• Servicing, MOTs, repairs, and tyres
• Road tax (VED) and clean air zone tolls
• Capital allowances on the purchase price of the vehicle

If the vehicle is used 80% for work and 20% for personal trips (like doing grocery shopping on weekends), you can only claim 80% of these actual costs. You must keep every receipt and a logbook to justify your business-use percentage.

Official Travel Rates for 2026

For those choosing the simplified flat-rate method, here are the current approved mileage and kilometre rates by country:

• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (HMRC)

  45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year. 25p per mile for any distance over 10,000 miles. You can also claim an additional 5p per mile per passenger if you are transporting another business associate (like an apprentice) to the same job. You can estimate your annual tax savings using our Mileage Claim Calculator.

• 🇦🇺 Australia (ATO)

  88 cents per kilometre (cents per km method) for up to 5,000 business kilometres per vehicle. If you drive more than 5,000 business km, you must use the logbook method (keeping a logbook for 12 continuous weeks to determine your business percentage) and claim actual costs.

• 🇳🇿 New Zealand (IRD)

  Tier 1 rate: $1.04 per kilometre for the first 14,000 business kilometres (covers fixed and running costs). Tier 2 rate: approx. 35c per kilometre for any business travel exceeding 14,000km (covers running costs only).

• 🇨🇦 Canada (CRA)

  70¢ per kilometre for the first 5,000 business kilometres, and 64¢ per kilometre for any distance above 5,000km. If you drive in Yukon, NWT, or Nunavut, the rate increases by 4¢ per km.

Commuting vs. Business Travel: The Legal Boundaries

The most common mistake tradespeople make is claiming for their daily commute. Tax authorities are very clear: **regular commuting is not tax-deductible.**

However, the definition of a commute is different for tradespeople. If you are an "itinerant worker"—someone who does not have a single regular workplace but travels directly from home to different client sites daily—those journeys are business travel and are 100% claimable.

Audit Protection: What to Do if Inspected

If a tax inspector audits your self-assessment, a rough spreadsheet with estimated travel distances or round numbers (like "50 miles a week") will be instantly rejected.

To survive a mileage audit, your travel log must record:

• The exact date and time of the travel
• The starting address and destination postcode
• The business reason for the trip (e.g. "CEF merchant run for active consumer unit job" or "Client site visit for quote")
• The exact distance covered (odometer reading or GPS calculation)

Factor Travel Costs into Job Profitability (P&L)

Logging mileage for tax is great, but it is only half the battle. If you do not factor travel costs into your job estimates, you are underpricing your work.

If you drive 40 miles round-trip to a job site, that trip costs you £18 at HMRC flat rates. If you spend 5 days on that site, your travel costs you £90. If you do not include that £90 in your materials and expenses budget for the quote, that money is coming directly out of your labor profit.

How VanLog Pro Automates Travel Tracking

We built VanLog Pro specifically to handle the real-world scenarios of busy tradespeople:

• Automatic Regional Tax Integration: During sign-up, you choose your region. VanLog automatically configures your currency and default flat rate (e.g. 45p in the UK, 88c in Australia) so you do not have to do any math.
• Multi-Job Cost Allocation: If you drive to a merchant to pick up cables for Job A and pipes for Job B, you can split the mileage cost by percentage (e.g. 50/50) between both jobs, feeding into each job's live profit and loss statement.
• One-Click Accountant Exports: Download a clean, audit-compliant mileage report in CSV or PDF formats at the end of the year, ready to send straight to your accountant.

Related Guides

• → Sole Trader Tax Tips for Tradespeople: What You Can Claim
• → Why Sole Traders Lose Money on Materials — And How to Stop It
• → Stop Wholesaler runs from eating your profit: How to Manage Van Stock
• → How to Calculate True Job Profit as a Sole Trader