Business mileage and the distance calculator

What it is

The miles you drove for the work, and the tax allowance they generate. JoltMile keeps business and commuting miles separate because HMRC treats them completely differently.

Why JoltMile asks for both

Business miles earn you a deduction. Commuting miles do not - but they still burn fuel, and leaving them out would make your hourly rate look better than it is. Both are recorded; only one reduces your tax.

How the allowance is calculated

For a car or van, 55p for each of your first 10,000 business miles in the tax year, then 25p. Motorcycles are a flat 24p and bicycles 20p, with no threshold.

JoltMile carries your cumulative business miles forward across every shift in the tax year, so it knows exactly where you are against the threshold. A shift that straddles it is split: the miles below the threshold get the higher rate and the miles above it get the lower one, within the same shift. The counter resets on 6 April.

Miles measured, not estimated

Start a shift in the app and your miles are measured while it runs, so there is nothing to work out afterwards. Your commute is worked out from your home postcode and the postcodes where the shift started and ended, and you can change it before you save.

For a shift you log afterwards, use your odometer readings. Two readings are the best evidence of a business journey that there is.

Mistakes to avoid

• Guessing the miles for a shift you log afterwards. Odometer readings, or a timed shift next time, are both better than a guess.
• Recording commuting miles as business miles. It inflates your claim and it is the thing HMRC is most likely to query.
• Forgetting the return leg where it is genuinely business, such as a run back to the depot with undelivered parcels.