How long to keep mileage and expense records

Published 14th October 2026

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A mileage log is a document you write once and may need years later. The claim might be made months after the year ends, queried after that, or made for a tax year you only realise you missed. This article sets out how long the records have to last, what goes in the file alongside the log, and how to store it so that it can be produced when asked.

The retention periods

The period depends on how you are taxed, and GOV.UK gives different answers for different situations.

If you are self-employed, GOV.UK says you must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year. Its example: if you sent your 2022 to 2023 return online by 31 January 2024, you keep the records until at least the end of January 2029. If you send the return more than 4 years late, you keep them for 15 months after sending it.

Applying the same rule to the current year: the 2026 to 2027 tax year ends on 5 April 2027, and its online return is due by 31 January 2028. Records for that year would then be kept until at least the end of January 2033, nearly six years after the last mile was driven. The date is easy to underestimate, which is why it is worth writing on the file when it is closed.

If you file Self Assessment without running a business, the guidance for returns sent on time is at least 22 months after the end of the tax year the return is for. For a return sent after the deadline it is at least 15 months after you sent it.

If you are an employee claiming mileage relief, the GOV.UK claim guidance does not set a retention period, but it does say what is needed to make a claim: you send HMRC copies of your mileage logs, each entry showing the reason for the journey and the start and end postcodes, and you can claim for the current tax year and the 4 previous ones. A log that supports a claim for a year four years back has to survive that long, so in practice the log is worth keeping for at least as long as the claim window and for some time after a claim is paid. That is a reasoned inference rather than a published rule, and it is cheap to over-keep.

Where more than one period could apply, use the longer one.

Lost records

GOV.UK says that if you cannot replace lost or destroyed records, you must do your best to provide figures, and tell HMRC when you file that you are using estimated or provisional figures. That is a fallback. A figure rebuilt from a diary and a map is a weaker position than a dated log, so the aim is not to be in that position.

What belongs in the file

Mileage rates cover the cost of running the vehicle, so there are no fuel receipts to keep for a claim at the approved rates. The file for each tax year is the log plus the things claimed alongside it:

The mileage log itself, with the date, start and end postcodes, miles and reason for each business journey
A total of business miles for each vehicle type, since GOV.UK asks employees to add up the mileage for each type
Parking and other travel costs, which can be claimed on top of the flat rates, with the receipts
Any statement from your employer showing mileage payments made to you, so the shortfall can be worked out
If you use actual costs rather than flat rates, as the self-employed may, the receipts for fuel, servicing, insurance and repairs

Keep the paperwork for each tax year together. A tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, which is not the calendar year, and a file labelled "2025" is ambiguous when you come to look for it. Label it "2026 to 2027".

Paper storage

For originals, an Ad expanding file with a pocket for each month separates receipts as they arrive. At the end of the tax year, move the contents into an Ad archive box file, write the tax year on the front, and put the date on which the retention period ends on a label on the spine. A Ad pack of file labels makes this a two-minute job.

Receipts printed on thermal paper fade, and a till receipt for a car park can be unreadable after a year or two. Take a photograph or scan of anything on thermal paper on the day it arrives, rather than assuming the original will hold.

Digital storage

A scan is not a substitute for the log, but it is a reliable second copy. A Ad document scanner is quicker for a stack of receipts than a phone, and it produces consistent files. Save them with a name that says what they are: "2026-27 mileage log" or "2026-10-14 car park receipt Leeds".

Keep scans in two places. A Ad portable external hard drive held away from your computer is one copy, and a cloud folder is another. Back up the file at the end of the tax year, after the log is complete, and again if you amend it.

If you keep the log on a spreadsheet, keep the original version that was created at the time and avoid overwriting it with a tidier one later. A Ad USB flash drive kept in the archive box with the paper records is a cheap way of keeping the spreadsheet with the receipts.

A yearly routine

At the end of the tax year, total the miles and check that the log has no gaps.
Move the paper into the archive box and label it.
Back up the digital copy.
Write the date the file can be destroyed in your calendar. Do not shred anything before it.