Business Mileage & Motor Expenses for Sole Traders in Ireland (2026)
· By MyLedgerBook Editorial Team
Updated September 2026 · Based on current Revenue guidance
If you use a car or van for your business, it's natural to ask:
How much of the cost can I claim as a sole trader?
Fuel, insurance, servicing, repairs and motor tax can add up to thousands of euro over a year.
But there's also a common misunderstanding about mileage.
A sole trader generally cannot simply multiply business kilometres by the Civil Service mileage rate and claim that amount as a business expense.
The rules for a self-employed sole trader are different from the rules that allow an employer to reimburse an employee for business mileage.
This guide explains the difference, how business and private vehicle use can be separated, what records you should keep and how motor expenses fit into your overall bookkeeping.
If you're looking for a broader explanation of deductible business costs, see our guide to sole trader expenses in Ireland.
Can a sole trader claim motor expenses?
Yes, where a vehicle is genuinely used for your trade or business, qualifying motor costs can form part of your business expenses.
However, if the same vehicle is also used privately, you normally need to separate the business use from the private use.
Typical vehicle running costs can include:
- fuel
- motor insurance
- motor tax
- servicing
- repairs and maintenance
- tyres
- other qualifying running costs
The important point is that using a car for business doesn't automatically make 100% of the car's running costs a business expense.
If you also use the vehicle privately, the private portion needs to be excluded.
Can a sole trader claim mileage at the Civil Service rates?
This is one of the most important points in this guide.
No — a sole trader should not simply use the Civil Service mileage rates to calculate their own deductible motor expenses.
Civil Service mileage rates are commonly used where an employer reimburses an employee for qualifying business travel in the employee's private vehicle.
A sole trader is in a different position.
Revenue's guidance specifically states that deductions for the travel or subsistence expenses of sole traders are not accepted on the basis of Civil Service rates.
So if you see a mileage rate online and think:
5,000 business kilometres × mileage rate = my motor expense
that isn't the correct basis for calculating a sole trader's own deductible motor costs.
Instead, the focus is generally on the vehicle's actual costs and the proportion relating to business use.
Why are Civil Service mileage rates different?
Civil Service mileage rates are reimbursement rates.
For example, an employee might use their own private car to travel from their normal workplace to visit a customer.
Their employer may be able to reimburse that qualifying business journey using approved mileage rates.
The payment is intended to compensate the employee for the cost of using their own vehicle for their employer's business.
A sole trader isn't reimbursing an employee in this situation.
You're calculating the expenses of your own trade or business.
That's why simply applying employee mileage reimbursement rates isn't the appropriate method.
How do I calculate the business portion of my car expenses?
A practical approach is to establish how much of the vehicle's overall use relates to the business.
Suppose during the year your vehicle travels:
20,000 km in total
and your records show:
8,000 km of qualifying business travel
The business-use percentage would be:
8,000 ÷ 20,000 = 40%
If the vehicle has qualifying running expenses of €6,000 for the year, a starting point for the business portion would therefore be:
€6,000 × 40% = €2,400
The remaining 60% relates to private use and shouldn't simply be treated as a business expense.
This is why maintaining a mileage record can be so useful even though you're not using a per-kilometre Civil Service rate.
The mileage record helps support the percentage of the vehicle that was genuinely used for business.
What motor expenses should I record?
If you use a vehicle for business, keep records of relevant costs throughout the year.
These may include:
Fuel
Keep fuel receipts rather than trying to reconstruct your annual fuel spending at year-end.
Motor insurance
Record the annual premium and retain the policy or supporting documentation.
Motor tax
Keep details of the motor tax paid during the accounting period.
Servicing and repairs
Keep invoices from garages for servicing, repairs and replacement parts.
Tyres
Replacement tyres and other normal vehicle running costs should also be recorded where relevant.
Other vehicle costs
Other genuine running costs may arise depending on the vehicle and how your business operates.
The important thing is to record the actual expense and retain the supporting documentation.
You can then calculate the appropriate business portion.
Why should I keep a mileage log?
A mileage log helps demonstrate how much of your vehicle use relates to the business.
You don't need to make it complicated.
For each business journey, record:
- date
- starting point
- destination
- reason for the journey
- kilometres travelled
For example:
14 September 2026 — Dublin to Naas — customer meeting — 68 km return
Over time, these records allow you to establish your total business kilometres.
You can compare this with the vehicle's total kilometres for the same period to calculate a reasonable business-use percentage.
Record your odometer reading
A very simple habit can make your mileage records much stronger.
At the beginning of your accounting period, record the vehicle's odometer reading.
Do the same at the end.
For example:
1 January: 72,400 km
31 December: 91,900 km
Total vehicle use:
19,500 km
If your mileage log records 7,800 km of qualifying business journeys, your recorded business use would represent:
40% of the vehicle's total kilometres.
This gives you a much more supportable basis for separating business and private use than simply guessing a percentage at year-end.
Is driving from home to work business mileage?
This can be more complicated than it first appears.
Simply driving to your normal place of work isn't automatically a qualifying business journey.
For employees, Revenue explicitly treats ordinary travel between home and the normal place of work as private travel.
For sole traders, the question centres on whether the travel expense was incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade or profession.
The position can depend on how and where your business operates.
For example, someone travelling between business locations during the working day can have a different situation from someone simply driving from home to the same workplace every morning.
Home-based businesses, tradespeople travelling to customer sites and businesses operating from several locations can also present different circumstances.
If a significant part of your business expenses involves travel from home, it's worth checking your particular circumstances with an accountant or tax adviser rather than assuming every journey is deductible.
What about a tradesperson travelling to customers?
Many sole traders don't work from one permanent location.
A plumber, electrician, photographer, consultant, mobile service provider or other tradesperson may regularly travel to different customer locations.
Those journeys can form an important part of operating the business.
You should keep a record showing:
- where you travelled
- which customer or job the journey related to
- why the journey was necessary
- kilometres travelled
This creates a clear connection between the journey and the business activity.
If you're newly self-employed, our Starting as a Sole Trader in Ireland guide covers the wider registration, invoicing, tax and record-keeping basics.
What if I use the vehicle 100% for business?
If a vehicle genuinely has no private use, the business-use calculation can obviously be different.
However, you should be able to support that position.
Simply calling a vehicle a "business vehicle" doesn't automatically prove that every journey was for business.
Good records are particularly useful where you're claiming that a vehicle is used entirely or almost entirely for the trade.
What if I have two cars?
Having a separate vehicle for business can make record keeping easier, but ownership of two vehicles doesn't by itself determine the tax treatment.
What matters is how each vehicle is actually used.
If one vehicle is genuinely dedicated to the business while another is used privately, your records should support that.
If both vehicles have mixed business and personal use, you'll need to consider the appropriate business portion of the relevant expenses.
What if I use a van?
The same basic principle remains important:
What is the vehicle used for?
A van used entirely for a trade can have a very different usage pattern from a family car that's occasionally used to visit customers.
But don't assume that buying something described as a commercial vehicle automatically makes every associated cost deductible.
Record the actual business use and expenses and deal appropriately with any private use.
Can I claim the cost of buying a car or van?
Buying a vehicle is different from buying fuel or paying for a service.
A vehicle is normally a capital asset rather than an ordinary day-to-day expense.
That means you don't normally treat the entire purchase price as a routine motor expense in the year you buy it.
Instead, qualifying business vehicles may be eligible for tax relief through capital allowances, subject to the applicable tax rules and restrictions.
Where there is private use, the business proportion also becomes relevant.
This is an area where it's worth getting professional advice, particularly for an expensive vehicle.
What are capital allowances?
Capital allowances provide tax relief for certain capital assets used in a business.
Rather than deducting the full cost as an ordinary expense, tax relief may be spread according to the rules applying to that asset.
Vehicles can be subject to particular rules and restrictions, including rules relating to the type of vehicle and, in some circumstances, emissions.
So keep the original purchase invoice and details of the vehicle even if you don't record the entire purchase as a normal expense.
Your accountant will need those records when calculating any capital allowances available.
What if I lease the vehicle?
Leasing is different from purchasing a vehicle.
Lease payments can potentially form part of business vehicle costs, but the applicable tax treatment depends on the arrangement and the vehicle.
Private use still needs to be considered.
Don't assume that because a monthly lease payment looks like an ordinary bill, the entire payment is automatically deductible.
Record the lease agreement and payments and obtain advice where necessary.
Can I claim parking charges?
Parking costs incurred specifically for a qualifying business journey can be different from the general running costs of the vehicle.
Keep the receipt or digital parking record and note the business reason for the journey.
For example:
Parking — customer meeting, Galway — €8.50
is much more useful in your bookkeeping records than simply:
Parking — €8.50
The description gives you and your accountant the context later.
What about tolls?
Tolls incurred on genuine business journeys can also be relevant business travel costs.
If you use an electronic toll account for both private and business travel, don't automatically record the entire monthly statement as a business expense.
Identify the journeys relating to the business.
Can I claim speeding fines or parking fines?
Don't confuse the cost of travelling for business with penalties arising from how the vehicle was used.
A fine isn't simply another normal motor running expense because it occurred while you were working.
Keep fines separate from ordinary vehicle expenses and don't automatically treat them as deductible business costs.
Should I keep fuel receipts if I have a mileage log?
Yes.
The mileage log and fuel receipts serve different purposes.
Your mileage log helps establish the proportion of vehicle use relating to the business.
Your receipts and invoices establish the actual costs incurred.
Together they provide a much clearer record of the vehicle's business use and running expenses.
What records should I keep?
For a vehicle used for both business and personal purposes, a good record might include:
- beginning-of-year odometer reading
- end-of-year odometer reading
- individual business journeys
- fuel receipts
- insurance documents
- motor tax records
- servicing invoices
- repair invoices
- tyre invoices
- lease documents where applicable
- vehicle purchase invoice where applicable
- parking and toll records for business journeys
Revenue generally requires business records to be retained for six years.
You don't necessarily need to keep all of this on paper.
Digital records and photographed receipts can make vehicle expense bookkeeping considerably easier.
For more on record keeping and other deductible costs, see our Sole Trader Expenses in Ireland guide.
Example: calculating motor expenses
Let's look at a simple example.
Aoife is a self-employed photographer.
She uses her personal car to travel to customers and photography locations but also uses the car privately.
During 2026:
Total kilometres: 24,000 km
Recorded business kilometres: 9,600 km
Her business-use percentage is therefore:
9,600 ÷ 24,000 = 40%
Her qualifying vehicle running costs for the year are:
Fuel: €2,900
Insurance: €850
Motor tax: €200
Servicing and repairs: €950
Tyres: €500
Total running costs:
€5,400
Using a 40% business-use proportion:
€5,400 × 40% = €2,160
So €2,160 would represent the business portion of those running costs in this simplified example.
The example is deliberately simplified — individual circumstances and the tax treatment of particular costs can differ.
Five common mileage and motor-expense mistakes
1. Using Civil Service mileage rates
This is probably the biggest misunderstanding.
Those rates can be relevant to employee reimbursement, but Revenue does not accept them as the basis for calculating a sole trader's own travel deduction.
2. Claiming 100% of a privately used car
If your car is also used for shopping, holidays, school runs or other private journeys, don't automatically put every motor cost through the business.
3. Guessing your business percentage
"I reckon about half my driving is for work" isn't nearly as useful as a mileage log supported by odometer readings.
4. Keeping mileage but no expense receipts
Your mileage record establishes business use.
It doesn't prove what you actually spent on fuel, insurance, servicing and other costs.
5. Waiting until the end of the year
Trying to remember twelve months of journeys in December is unnecessarily difficult.
Record business journeys when they happen.
A simple system that takes less than a minute
Whenever you make a business journey, record:
Date → Destination → Business reason → Kilometres
That's it.
For example:
18 Sep → Bray → Client meeting → 46 km
At the same time, keep receipts for vehicle expenditure as it occurs.
At the end of the year you'll have:
total vehicle kilometres + business kilometres + actual vehicle costs
instead of a pile of fuel receipts and a guess.
How motor expenses fit into your bookkeeping
Motor expenses shouldn't sit separately from the rest of your business records.
They form part of the same picture as:
- customer invoices
- supplier bills
- other business expenses
- receipts
- bank transactions
- VAT records where applicable
- tax preparation
If you're looking for the bigger picture, our Sole Trader Accounting in Ireland guide explains the basic bookkeeping and accounting responsibilities of a sole trader.
And if you're just getting started, download our free 2026 Sole Trader Starter Pack, covering registration, invoices, expenses, VAT, record keeping and tax admin.
Download the Free 2026 Sole Trader Starter Pack
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If you're VAT registered, our VAT3 Ireland guide explains how VAT3 returns work, while our RTD Ireland guide covers the annual Return of Trading Details.
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Important
This guide provides general information only and isn't tax, accounting, financial or legal advice.
Whether travel or vehicle expenditure is deductible depends on the particular facts and circumstances of the business. Vehicle purchases, capital allowances, leasing arrangements, VAT and mixed private/business use can require additional consideration.
Check current Revenue guidance or consult a qualified accountant or tax adviser where you're unsure.