Doctors’ mileage claims, and the tax back on top.
Enter your work miles. See what your trust pays at the NHS rates, 59p a mile for the first 4,500 miles in a year and 36p after, how that compares with HMRC’s 55p, and the tax HMRC gives back when your trust pays less.
Every mile logged. Every claim ready.
Log each trip as you drive. Reimbsr gets both claims ready: your trust’s and HMRC’s.
- Log the tripThe date, the reason and the postcodes HMRC asks for.
- Send the claimDrafted for your trust, ready for you to check.
- Download your tax formThe rest on your P87, HMRC’s form for tax back on work costs.
Nothing is sent until you’ve checked it.
Mileage rates for 2026/27.
Your trust pays the NHS rates. HMRC’s approved rates set what can be paid tax-free, and the tax back you can claim when your trust pays less.
What your trust pays (NHS, England)
| Vehicle or allowance | Rate a mile |
|---|---|
| Car, first 4,500 miles a year | 59p |
| Car, after 4,500 miles | 36p |
| Motorbike | 30p |
| Bicycle | 20p |
| Each passenger | 5p |
| Reserve rate | 30p |
NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, Section 17 (England), table 7, from 1 July 2026. The rates are reviewed each April and October, and a change starts the next July or January.
HMRC’s approved rates
| Vehicle | Rate a mile |
|---|---|
| Car or van, first 10,000 miles | 55p |
| Car or van, after 10,000 miles | 25p |
| Motorbike | 24p |
| Bicycle | 20p |
HMRC’s approved mileage allowance payments for the 2026/27 tax year, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. The car rate rose from 45p, back to 6 April 2026.
At the NHS car rates, your trust pays more than HMRC’s approved amount until you pass 5,447 work miles in a year. Below that, there’s no tax back, and the extra counts as pay. Above it, HMRC gives you tax back on the gap.
Which miles count.
Your trust pays for work journeys beyond your normal commute. Say you live 15 miles from your base hospital:
| Journey | Miles your trust pays |
|---|---|
| Base to another site and back, 12 miles each way | All 24 |
| Home straight to another site, 25 miles | 10: the 25 less your 15 |
| Home straight to another site, 9 miles | None: it’s shorter than your commute |
| Last visit back home, 20 miles | 5: the 20 less your 15 |
| Home to base | None: that’s your commute |
From table 8 of Section 17 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, which Schedule 12 of the 2016 doctors’ contract uses. HMRC’s rules for tax: travel to a temporary workplace counts, your commute to a permanent one doesn’t (HMRC’s guide 490 and its manual, EIM32000 onwards).
Questions doctors ask about mileage.
What is the NHS mileage rate for doctors in 2026?
From 1 July 2026, trusts in England pay 59p a mile for the first 4,500 miles in a year in your own car, then 36p. Motorbikes get 30p, bicycles 20p, and 5p a mile is added for each colleague you carry. Doctors on the 2016 contract get these rates through Schedule 12 of their terms.
What is HMRC’s mileage rate for 2026/27?
55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a car or van, then 25p. Motorbikes are 24p and bicycles 20p. The car rate rose from 45p in May 2026, back to 6 April 2026.
When can I claim tax back on mileage?
When your trust pays less than HMRC’s approved amount for all your business miles in the tax year. At the NHS car rates that starts above 5,447 miles. At 6,000 miles your trust pays £3,195.00 and HMRC approves £3,300.00, so £105.00 comes off your taxable pay: £42.00 back at 40%. If your trust pays nothing, you claim on the whole approved amount.
Is the NHS’s 59p a mile taxable?
Partly. HMRC lets employers pay up to 55p a mile tax-free, so on 2,000 miles at 59p the extra 4p a mile, £80.00, counts as pay. At 40% that’s £32.00 of income tax, plus National Insurance on each payment above 55p a mile. Your trust either taxes it through payroll or reports it to HMRC.
Can I claim my commute?
No. Travel between home and your permanent workplace is commuting for your trust and for HMRC. A trip that starts at home counts only beyond your normal home-to-base distance.
I rotate between hospitals. Can I claim travel to my placement?
It depends on your contract. HMRC’s guidance for doctors on rotations says that where each hospital’s trust employs you for its placement, that hospital is your permanent workplace, so the journey there is commuting. Where one contract covers the whole programme, as with a lead employer, each hospital is a temporary workplace (under 24 months), so the journey can count for tax. Your trust usually won’t pay for it, so the tax back is on the whole approved amount.
How do I claim the tax back?
If you don’t do Self Assessment, claim online or on a P87, HMRC’s form for work costs you pay yourself, up to £2,500 of costs a year. HMRC asks for your mileage log: each journey’s date, reason, and start and end postcodes. If you send a tax return, claim on that instead. You can claim this tax year and the four before.
Can I claim fuel, parking or my car’s running costs?
Not on top of the mileage rate: HMRC’s rate already covers fuel, tax, insurance, servicing and wear. Parking, tolls and ferries on work journeys are separate, and your trust pays them back with receipts, but not parking at your own base hospital.