What Expenses Can I Claim as a Private Hire Driver?

What makes an expense allowable?

HMRC allows you to deduct any cost incurred wholly and exclusively for your driving business. That means costs you would not have had if you were not working as a private hire driver.

Your vehicle costs, your private hire licence, your platform commission, the business proportion of your phone. All of these pass the test.

The sections below cover the main categories. If you are unsure whether a specific cost qualifies, keep the receipt and ask.

Vehicle running costs

Your vehicle is your biggest expense. The costs you can claim include:

• Fuel or charging
• Hire and reward insurance
• Servicing and repairs
• MOT
• Tyres
• Road tax (VED)
• Breakdown cover
• Car cleaning and valeting

Where the car is also used for private journeys, only the business-use proportion of each cost is deductible. You calculate this as a percentage of your total mileage that is business mileage and apply it to each cost.

There is also an option to use simplified expenses based on a mileage rate, instead of claiming actual running costs. See: Mileage or Actual Costs for Private Hire Drivers.

Leased and rented vehicles

If you lease or rent your vehicle rather than own it, the payments are claimed as a business expense. Only the business-use proportion is deductible. Capital allowances do not apply to leased or rented vehicles.

If the car has CO2 emissions above 50g/km, HMRC disallows 15% of the payment. Only 85% is claimable.

How the restriction applies depends on your contract:

• If the contract separately identifies a hire element and a maintenance element, the 15% disallowance applies only to the hire element. The maintenance portion is not restricted.
• If the contract is a single bundled price with no breakdown, HMRC applies the 15% disallowance to the total amount.

Cars with CO2 emissions of 50g/km or below, and electric cars, are not subject to any restriction.

Buying or financing your vehicle

If you own or are acquiring the car outright, on hire purchase, or through a PCP agreement, you can also claim tax relief on the cost of the car and associated interest. Special rules apply. See: Buying or Financing a Car as a Private Hire Driver: What Can You Claim?

Other expenses you can claim

Beyond your vehicle, the following costs are deductible for most private hire drivers.

• Medical examination fee: the cost of any medical test required as a condition of your private hire licence.
• Platform commission: the fee Uber, Bolt, FreeNow, or another platform deducts from your fares. You declare your gross income (the full fare paid by the passenger) and claim the commission as a separate business expense. See our guide on what counts as your income as a private hire driver for how this works by platform.
• Private hire licence fee: the cost of obtaining or renewing your licence with your local authority.
• Vehicle licence: the PCO badge in London, or the equivalent vehicle licence from your local licensing authority outside London.
• DBS check: the cost of your Disclosure and Barring Service check, where required for licensing purposes.
• Phone (business proportion): the business-use proportion of your monthly phone bill, covering the app, navigation, and driver communications.
• Navigation and booking apps: subscription costs for apps you use as part of your driving work.
• Parking, tolls, and congestion charge: for business journeys only. If you pass through the London Congestion Charge Zone while working, that cost is deductible.
• Accountancy fees: the cost of your accountant is itself a deductible business expense. It reduces your taxable profit, which means part of the cost is effectively covered by your tax saving.
• Bank charges: if you use a dedicated business bank account, charges on that account are deductible.

Expenses you cannot claim

Some costs are not deductible, even if they have some connection to your work.

• Food and drink: in most circumstances, food and drink is a personal cost rather than a business one. HMRC does not allow it as a deduction for self-employed drivers.
• Personal phone use: only the business proportion of your phone costs is deductible. Personal calls, personal data usage, and streaming are not.
• Private health insurance: not an allowable expense for self-employed individuals in the UK. HMRC treats this as a personal cost, not a business one.

Keeping your records

HMRC can ask you to support any expense claim with evidence. For every expense you claim, you need to keep receipts, invoices, or bank statements.

Your platform app records trips while a passenger is in the car or while you are on your way to a pick-up. It does not record the miles you drive between completed trips. Those miles are also business miles and need to be tracked separately, either manually or with a mileage tracking app.

Keep all records for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline for the relevant tax year. HMRC can open a compliance check within this window.