HMRC advisory fuel rates from September 2026

These rates apply only to employees using a company car. Use them when the employer reimburses business travel in that car, or when the employee must repay the cost of fuel used for private travel. HMRC says you must not use them in any other circumstances. An employee's own car uses the 55p and 25p approved mileage rates, not these pence. The rates from 1 September 2026 are 14p, 17p and 27p for petrol, 15p, 16p and 22p for diesel, and 7p home or 15p public for a fully electric car.

If the mileage rate you pay is no higher than the advisory rate for that engine and fuel, there is no taxable profit and no Class 1A National Insurance on that reimbursement. If you pay more and cannot show that the fuel cost per mile is higher, the excess is taxable profit and Class 1 National Insurance. For private fuel, there is no fuel benefit charge if you record all private mileage and repay at the correct rate or higher.

You can use the previous quarter's rates for up to 1 month from the date new rates apply. Hybrids use the petrol or diesel rate. Fully electric company cars use the home or public charging rate, and you can apportion mileage fairly where charging is mixed.

A 1,600cc diesel sits in the 1,600cc or less diesel band at 15p a mile from 1 September 2026. Eight thousand business miles at 15p is £1,200. If the employer pays 15p or less, there is no taxable profit on that reimbursement. If the employer pays 25p and cannot show a higher fuel cost per mile, 10p of each mile is taxable profit and Class 1 National Insurance.

Fully electric company cars have two rates from 1 September 2026: 7p a mile for home charging and 15p a mile for public charging. HMRC says you can apportion mileage fairly where a car charges at both. A higher amount than the public rate can be used if you can show the public charger cost per mile is higher. The public rate is built from slow or fast chargers under 50 kilowatts, not from every rapid charger on the market.

Hybrid cars are treated as petrol or diesel cars for advisory fuel rates. There is no hybrid column. A petrol hybrid uses the petrol engine-size band. A diesel hybrid uses the diesel engine-size band. Plug-in hybrids are still hybrids for this table.

An employee's own electric car does not use 7p. It uses 55p and 25p AMAP. Mixing those two systems is the usual error in a household that has one company car and one private car.

HMRC reviews the rates on 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December. You can use the previous rates for up to one month after a change. A 20 September journey can still use the 1 June table. A 20 October journey should use the 1 September table. The underlying pence are rounded to a whole penny from fuel prices and fleet miles per gallon.

These rates are UK HMRC rates. They are not a Scottish court tariff and they are not a DVLA figure. A company car in Glasgow uses the same 15p diesel band as a company car in Exeter. What changes in Scotland is the employee's income tax rate if a taxable excess is created, not the advisory pence per mile.

Private fuel in a company car is also how the car fuel benefit is avoided: record the private miles and repay at the advisory rate or higher, or show that a lower repayment still covers the full private fuel cost. Fail to do that and the fuel benefit multiplier applies, which is a different HMRC table.

That they apply to a private car. They do not. That a hybrid has its own column. It uses petrol or diesel. That you must use the new rate on day one. You may use the previous rate for a month. That 7p is a bad AMAP rate. It is not AMAP. That paying 30p on a 15p diesel is 'generous and tax free'. The excess is taxable unless you can show the fuel really cost that much per mile.

Journey date, miles, fuel type, engine size or charging location, and the pence paid. For electric cars, a fair split of home and public miles if both are used. For private fuel, a log of private miles and the repayment. HMRC's fuel benefit rule is about recording private travel and repaying at the correct rate or higher. A missing private-mileage log is how a fuel benefit appears even when someone 'meant to' repay.

A 1,999cc petrol is 17p from 1 September 2026, not 14p. A 1,601cc diesel is 16p, not 15p. The band edges are inclusive as HMRC prints them: 1,400cc or less, 1,401cc to 2,000cc, over 2,000cc for petrol and LPG; 1,600cc or less, 1,601cc to 2,000cc, over 2,000cc for diesel. A 1,400cc petrol is 14p. A 1,401cc petrol is 17p. One cubic centimetre moves the band.

If fuel prices move, wait for the next quarterly table. Do not invent a mid-quarter pence. You may use the previous table for one month after the change. After that month, use the new table. A September journey in the first week can still use June's pence. An October journey should not.

Late repayment is a facts question for the fuel benefit. HMRC's page says there is no fuel benefit charge if you correctly record all private travel and use the correct rate or higher to work out the repayment. It also says you will not need the advisory rates where you can show employees cover the full cost of private fuel by repaying at a lower mileage rate. Keep the arithmetic. A round '£50 a month' that does not match miles is the weak version of that showing.

Mixed charging on a fully electric company car can be apportioned fairly between 7p home and 15p public. HMRC says the public rate is built from slow or fast chargers under 50 kilowatts. A rapid charger that costs more per mile can justify a higher pence if you can show it. Guessing 20p for every public mile without a receipt is not that showing.

A director's company car is still a company car. Advisory fuel rates still apply. AMAP does not. Benefit in kind on the car itself is a different calculator on this site. Do not net the two.