Tesla mileage & tax guides for UK drivers
Plain-English guides to keeping HMRC-ready mileage records in your Tesla, from company-car benefit-in-kind and the Advisory Electricity Rate to VAT on charging and self-employed claims. Accurate for the 2026/27 tax year.
How to keep an HMRC mileage log for a Tesla company car
To keep an HMRC-ready mileage log for a Tesla company car, record every business journey contemporaneously with its date, start and end postcodes, purpose and distance, and log home-to-workplace commuting as private. You need this log to reimburse business charging at HMRC's Advisory Electricity Rate and to support VAT recovery on public charging. Your benefit-in-kind is fixed at 4% of list price for 2026/27 regardless of mileage, so the log does not reduce it.
→Can I reclaim VAT on charging my electric company car?
A VAT-registered business can generally reclaim input VAT on public charging of a company electric car used for business. HMRC treats home charging by an employee as a supply to the employee, so the business cannot reclaim that VAT. The recoverable VAT is one-sixth of the charging cost, and you need a business-mileage log plus charging records to substantiate the business proportion.
→How self-employed Tesla drivers claim mileage on an electric car
Self-employed Tesla drivers can claim vehicle costs either through HMRC's simplified flat-rate mileage of 55p per business mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p thereafter (2026/27) or through the actual running costs apportioned by business-use percentage. Both methods require a contemporaneous mileage log distinguishing business from private journeys, and once you use simplified mileage for a vehicle you must keep using it for that vehicle.
→HMRC mileage rates for 2026/27: 55p a mile from 6 April 2026
For the 2026/27 tax year, HMRC's approved mileage rate for cars and vans is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p a mile above that. Announced on 21 May 2026 and enacted by section 2 of the Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Act 2026, the 55p rate replaces 45p and applies from 6 April 2026. Self-employed simplified expenses and the National Insurance qualifying amount use the same 55p.
→Can you claim 55p a mile for an electric car?
Yes, when the electric car is your own. HMRC puts electric and hybrid cars in the same car and van category, so an employee driving their own Tesla for work can receive 55p a mile tax-free for the first 10,000 business miles of 2026/27 and 25p above, and a sole trader can deduct the same rates. A fully electric company car follows the Advisory Electricity Rate: 7p a mile for home charging and 15p for public charging from 1 September 2026.
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