DropLaneGuide · 2026/27 tax year · Checked September 2026
Mileage allowance for self-employed couriers, 2026/27
What HMRC lets you take off per mile, which miles count, and the record you need to have if they ask.
If you drive your own car or van for the work, HMRC lets you take a flat amount per business mile off your profit instead of adding up what the vehicle actually cost. For most couriers it is the bigger number and the simpler one. This is how it works for the 2026/27 tax year, which runs from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027.
The rate
| Business miles in the tax year | Cars and vans |
|---|---|
| The first 10,000 miles | 55p a mile |
| Every mile after that | 25p a mile |
The counter starts again on 6 April. Motorbikes and bicycles have their own, lower rates; check HMRC's current figures if that is what you ride.
A year's worth, added up
A courier who drives 25,000 business miles in the year:
10,000 miles × 55p = £5,500
15,000 miles × 25p = £3,750
Off the taxable profit: £9,250
That is not £9,250 back in your pocket. It is £9,250 less profit to pay tax and Class 4 National Insurance on. At the basic rate that is worth a little under £2,600 a year, which is still a good return on tapping a screen.
Which miles count
- Depot to first drop, drop to drop, last drop back. All business.
- Empty miles on the way to a pick-up. Business. The van was working, even if nothing was in it.
- Going to fetch fuel, or to the garage for the van. Business.
- The school run in the same van. Personal, and it must come out.
- Home to the depot. This one depends on where HMRC treats your business as based, and it is the question worth asking an accountant. Record the miles anyway, then the answer can be applied to the whole year rather than guessed at in January.
Instead of, not as well as
The flat rate stands in for everything it costs to own and run the vehicle: fuel, insurance, MOT, servicing, tyres, repairs and the loss in value. You cannot claim those on top. You can still claim what the rate does not cover, such as parking, tolls and congestion charges, and things that are not the vehicle at all, such as a phone, a mount or work clothing.
Two rules bite. Once you use the flat rate for a vehicle you stay on it until you change the vehicle. And if you have already claimed the vehicle's actual costs, or capital allowances on buying it, you cannot switch that vehicle to the flat rate.
The record HMRC expects
HMRC does not ask you to send the log in. It asks you to have one if they ever ask, and to keep it for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline of the year it belongs to. For each business journey:
- the date
- where it started and where it ended
- why it was made
- the miles
A round-number estimate at the end of the year is the thing that gets picked apart. A log with 312 miles on Tuesday and 96 on Wednesday, with the routes behind them, does not.
Where DropLane comes in
DropLane records every drive on its own, with the route it actually took, so the log exists whether or not you remembered. You tap each drive's type once: business, empty, running to a pick-up, or personal. The Tax screen keeps the year's business miles against the 10,000-mile line and moves to 25p when you cross it. The PDF report lists every drive with its date, route and miles, in the order HMRC would want to read them.
This is a courier's plain-English reading of HMRC's rules, not tax advice. Rates are as the app carries them for 2026/27; confirm the current figures with HMRC or an accountant before you file, and ask about your own circumstances, especially the home-to-depot question.