Какво се случи

HM Treasury published Budget 2026 on 28 October 2026, with HMRC's overview of the tax legislation and rates. These are the measures that touch business vehicles, and whether each is law yet:

  • Fuel duty. The government is cancelling the plan to add 5p back from January 2027 and extending the cut to 1 July 2027, and deferring the planned RPI rise to the same date. The Budget notes diesel went above £2 a litre in October 2026. HMRC's rates table shows the main rate staying at 52.95p a litre to 30 June 2027 and rising to 60.59p from 1 July 2027. Legislation is still to come.
  • Red diesel. The 3.7p cut is extended to 1 July 2027, keeping the rate at 6.48p a litre, after which it returns to its pre-March 2022 rate plus RPI: 11.65p.
  • Mileage rates. The 55p rate for the first 10,000 business miles in a car or van, temporary since May, becomes permanent. The rate above 10,000 miles rises from 25p to 35p from 6 April 2027, by statutory instrument. The Budget says someone driving 15,000 business miles could get up to £300 a year more in tax savings from both changes.
  • Company car tax 2030-31. Every band rises by one percentage point on 2029-30: zero emission cars from 9% to 10%, cars emitting 1 to 50g CO2/km from 19% to 20%, and the rest up to a 40% maximum. This goes in Finance Bill 2026-27. Mandatory payrolling of company cars, vans and fuel benefits starts on 6 April 2027.
  • EV charging. Finance Bill 2026-27 will clarify that electricity from publicly accessible and workplace charge points carries 20% VAT, from 1 November 2026. Alongside Philip New's review of public charging costs, the government is setting up a taskforce on letting drivers use their home tariff at local, lower-powered public chargers, and putting £100 million over two years into cutting the cost of those chargers from spring 2027. The Budget's costings table includes 100% business rates relief for eligible charge points and EV-only forecourts for ten years from 1 April 2026.
  • Road tax. Electric Vehicle Excise Duty starts in April 2028: HMRC says 3p a mile for battery electric cars and 1.5p for plug-in hybrids, legislated in Finance Bill 2026-27. VED for cars, vans and motorcycles rises with RPI from 1 April 2027.
  • ZEV mandate. The government aims to publish its response to the consultation by the end of 2026, with any changes from the 2027 compliance year. We covered the options in our ZEV mandate story.

Какво означава това за Вашата фирма

Mileage allowances are money, not emissions. The approved rate is what you can pay staff for using their own car without tax. The carbon of those miles comes from the government's conversion factors for the car's size and fuel, counted as Scope 3 business travel. Take one employee driving 15,000 business miles a year. This tax year the tax-free payment is £6,750; from April 2027 it is £7,250, about 7% more. The emissions are 4,005 kg CO2e both years, because the miles have not changed. Our company car and grey fleet guide explains the factors and scopes.

Cheaper fuel does not change the factor per litre. Diesel is 2.58354 kg CO2e a litre on the 2026 factor at any pump price. If you estimate fleet or grey fleet emissions from pounds spent, the figure drifts every time duty, prices or mileage rates move: the 35p rate alone would push a spend-based figure up with no extra driving. Our fuel price story works through that with diesel at 200p.

Electric cars stay cheap to tax, but less so. A 10% rate in 2030-31 compares with 20% for cars emitting 1 to 50g CO2/km and a top rate of 40%. For the carbon case, see our electric company car payback. VAT on charging changes the bill, not the kWh: charge point electricity counts at the grid factor whatever it costs.

Какво да направите сега

  1. Update your expenses policy for 35p above 10,000 miles from 6 April 2027. The free advisory fuel rates calculator sets out which rate applies to which car.
  2. Record miles, not pounds, for staff cars, and litres for company vehicles, so tax changes cannot move your footprint.
  3. Plan company car choices to 2030-31 with the new percentages, and budget for eVED on electric and plug-in hybrid cars from April 2028.
  4. Check workplace charging invoices against the VAT clarification from 1 November 2026.
  5. Watch for the ZEV mandate response by the end of 2026.