This page summarises the per-mile vehicle reimbursement most commonly used in Wales (a UK country), with Cardiff as the operating reference. The headline rate follows the HMRC Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP) schedule: £0.45 per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and £0.25 per mile thereafter. Motorcycles attract £0.24 per mile and bicycles £0.20 per mile. Employers headquartered in Cardiff use these figures to keep mileage allowances exempt from income tax and National Insurance and to standardise expense policy across the workforce. The page also lists the five most-searched road trips that begin or end in Cardiff, three concrete use cases — field sales, community healthcare and local government — and answers to the three questions readers ask most often about tolls, P11D reporting and the cliff edge above 10,000 miles. Figures are reviewed every quarter and can be downloaded as PDF to attach to a corporate travel policy.
Wales, with Cardiff as the operating reference point, is a UK country with manufacturing in the south, agriculture in the centre and tourism in Snowdonia. The leading cities beyond Cardiff are Swansea, Newport and Wrexham, which together account for most corporate driving in the country. Motorway tolls, congestion charges and clean-air zones shape the true per-mile cost of each business trip across Wales far more than fuel price alone.
The sectors that consume the most mileage in Wales are steel and manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. Field sales, community healthcare staff and council officers drive trips along the M4 between Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, with weekly averages between 300 and 800 miles per employee. The headline rate follows the HMRC Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP) schedule: £0.45 per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and £0.25 per mile thereafter, with motorbikes at £0.24 and bicycles at £0.20.
From a tax standpoint, mileage reimbursement paid in Wales stays free of income tax and National Insurance up to the AMAP rate when supported by a logbook covering date, origin, destination, distance and business purpose. Employers headquartered in Cardiff typically require an odometer reading at week start and end so the reimbursement is defensible under HMRC enquiry, with anything above AMAP reported on form P11D and subject to Class 1A NICs.
Local nuance: The Severn Crossings are now toll-free, but parking charges in Cardiff Bay and Swansea remain reimbursable separately. As a result, the expense policy applied in Wales should split out the Dartford Crossing, M6 Toll, Severn Bridge (now toll-free), London ULEZ, Birmingham CAZ, parking and electric-vehicle charging from the per-mile figure — all of these are reimbursable separately and do not consume the AMAP allowance. Typical trips — trips along the M4 between Cardiff, Swansea and Newport — should be pre-approved when they exceed 250 miles per day so an overnight can be budgeted instead.
To see the current rates that apply in Wales, follow the related links at the foot of this page: the full UK rate table by tax year, the most-searched road routes that begin or end in Cardiff, and blog articles on AMAP discipline, HMRC evidence and exporting expense reports. The free mileage calculator simulates any trip from Cardiff using the figures above and produces a PDF receipt ready to attach to a monthly expense submission.
In summary, a mileage policy that fits the reality of Wales combines three pillars: the HMRC AMAP ceiling at £0.45/£0.25 per business mile, a regional supplement that reflects the road corridors connecting Cardiff with Swansea, and a documentary trail — logbook, odometer photos, toll and ULEZ receipts — strong enough to defend the reimbursement at an HMRC enquiry. Sectors such as steel and manufacturing benefit directly from that discipline, securing budget predictability and protecting the employer in any future P11D or PAYE compliance check across the country.
| Category | Per-km rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HMRC AMAP — car/van first 10,000 mi (2025/26) | £0.45/mi | HMRC EIM31230 |
| HMRC AMAP — car/van over 10,000 mi | £0.25/mi | HMRC EIM31230 |
| HMRC AMAP — motorcycle | £0.24/mi | HMRC EIM31230 |
| HMRC AMAP — bicycle | £0.20/mi | HMRC EIM31230 |
Sales teams based in Cardiff apply HMRC AMAP rates to claim mileage when visiting customers across Wales, keeping all reimbursements free of income tax and NICs.
District nurses and care workers operating from Cardiff record mileage to each appointment and reconcile claims monthly against the AMAP table above.
Council staff in Wales on official travel apply the NJC mileage allowance, which mirrors the HMRC AMAP rate, and reconcile against the published Green Book schedule.
Local case study: Atlantic Service WAL, a steel and manufacturing employer headquartered in Cardiff with 4 field staff covering the Cardiff–Swansea corridor and the rest of the country, was logging 2335 miles per employee per month before adopting the documentation workflow described above. After rolling out odometer photos at week start/end and aligning the per-mile figure with the HMRC AMAP schedule (£0.45/£0.25), Atlantic Service WAL cut internal expense rejections by 8%, kept the reimbursement fully exempt from income tax and National Insurance, and closed the monthly mileage cycle in three business days instead of two weeks — without changing the overall travel budget for Wales.