Mileage Reimbursement Calculator
A standard mileage rate is meant to cover everything driving costs — fuel, wear, tyres, servicing, insurance and depreciation — in a single figure per mile. This turns your miles into money, and then checks that figure against what your particular car actually costs, because the standard rate suits some vehicles far better than others.
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The rate is an average, and you are not average
A standard mileage rate is built from national averages for fuel, depreciation, insurance and maintenance across a typical vehicle. It is deliberately a single number, because administering anything else would be impossible. The consequence is that it over-compensates some drivers and under-compensates others, and the difference is not small.
An efficient, paid-off, cheap-to-insure car can clear a meaningful surplus at the standard rate. A large truck doing 16 mpg, or a new car losing value quickly, will not cover its costs. If you drive a lot for work, it is worth knowing which side you are on rather than assuming the rate is neutral.
Fuel is the smaller half
Most people mentally equate the mileage rate with petrol money, and on an efficient car with cheap fuel it can be under a fifth of it. The rest is depreciation — usually the largest single component — plus insurance, servicing, tyres and repairs. This matters because the miles you drive are genuinely consuming your car, at a rate you never see as a transaction. The rate is compensation for that consumption, not a fuel refund.
Commuting does not count
Travel between home and your regular workplace is personal, not business, however far it is. What counts is travel between workplaces, to clients, to temporary sites, and to work-related errands. A journey from home directly to a client can qualify where the client is not your regular place of work. Getting this boundary wrong is the most common problem in a mileage audit.
Keep the record as you go
A claim needs date, destination, purpose and distance for each trip, contemporaneously recorded. Reconstructing a year of mileage from memory in April is both painful and unconvincing to a tax authority, and it reliably understates the total — people forget the short trips, which in most jobs are the majority. A note on the phone at the end of each journey takes seconds and is worth real money.
If your employer pays less than the standard rate
Employers are not obliged to pay any particular figure, and many pay below the standard rate. In some countries the shortfall can be claimed as a deduction; in others, and for US employees since the 2018 changes, it generally cannot. Either way it is worth calculating: a shortfall of ten cents a mile over 10,000 miles is $1,000 a year of your own money spent on your employer’s behalf, which is a reasonable thing to raise.
Frequently asked questions
What does the standard mileage rate cover?
Fuel, depreciation, insurance, maintenance, tyres and repairs — the full cost of running the vehicle for those miles, not just fuel.
Does my commute count as business mileage?
No. Home to your regular workplace is personal travel however long it is. Travel between workplaces, to clients or to temporary sites does count.
What if my employer pays less than the standard rate?
They are generally allowed to. Whether you can claim the shortfall depends on your country and your employment status, but it is worth quantifying before raising it.
Is the mileage rate enough to cover my costs?
It depends on the vehicle. An efficient, older, cheaply insured car usually clears a surplus; a thirsty or rapidly depreciating one usually does not.
What records do I need?
Date, destination, purpose and distance for every trip, recorded at the time. Reconstructed logs are weak evidence and almost always understate the total.