If an app or courier firm pays you without PAYE, you are usually filing as self-employed on an SA103S. For a car or van you can claim 45p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles of 2025/26, and 55p from 6 April 2026. A bike gets real costs, not a flat rate. ac-co drafts the SA103S from your bank feed.
For a delivery driver the car, van and travel line carries most of the claim. These are the boxes that matter, and the choices behind them.
What you were paid by apps, couriers and customers in the year. HMRC's notes say box 9 takes all payments, by any method, including tips, fees and commissions.
Source: Self Assessment: self-employment (short) (SA103S) and notes — gov.ukEither the flat mileage rate for each car, van or motorbike, or its real running costs — never both for the same vehicle. Parking and other travel sit on top of the flat rate.
Source: Simplified expenses: vehicles — gov.ukThe business share of your phone and data plan — the app on your phone is how the job arrives.
Source: Expenses if you're self-employed — gov.ukIf you began delivering during the tax year, turnover and expenses only cover the months you worked.
Up to £1,000 instead of real expenses, across all your trading combined. With any serious mileage, claiming real costs or the flat rate is usually worth more.
Source: Tax-free allowances on property and trading income — gov.ukThe choice that matters most is how you claim each vehicle. gov.uk's simplified expenses cover cars, goods vehicles and motorcycles; everything else, including bicycles, uses real costs.
Sent to HMRC, with a receipt you keep.
Every box traceable to the bank line behind it.
Your figure before you file, not after.
The first 10,000 business miles in a car or van are 45p a mile up to 5 April 2026 and 55p from 6 April 2026; after that 25p. gov.uk's worked example for 2026/27 is 11,000 miles = £5,750. A 2025/26 return uses 45p, so 11,000 miles is £4,750.
Source: Simplified expenses: vehicles — gov.uk (opens in a new tab)Simplified expenses cover cars, goods vehicles and motorcycles. For a pedal bike you claim real costs: under cash basis the bike itself is an ordinary expense, plus repairs and servicing and the business share of your phone.
Source: Simplified expenses if you're self-employed — gov.uk (opens in a new tab)gov.uk says self-employed workers are not paid through PAYE. You are probably self-employed if you quote for work, are not directly supervised, send invoices, pay your own tax and National Insurance and get no holiday or sick pay. HMRC can treat you as self-employed for tax even where employment law says otherwise.
Source: Employment status: self-employed and contractor — gov.uk (opens in a new tab)Enter your pay and your costs, flat-rate mileage included, and get a labelled estimate of the tax and Class 4 NIC.
An estimate from the figures you enter — your real bill comes from your filed Self Assessment return.
A self-employed return with no employment page is the Complete tier; with a PAYE job it is Simple.
A PAYE job (SA102) and your self-employment page (SA103S) — SA100 with two supplementary pages.
Start a returnSelf-employment with no employment page, or three or more pages — every supplementary page included.
Start a return| Row | HMRC online | An accountant | ac-co |
|---|---|---|---|
| £/return | £0 | £150–£400 [Sleek — accountant fees for Self Assessment, UK, 2026-09-13] | £29–£65 |
| Drafts turnover and expenses from your bank feed | No | If you send them | Yes |
| Flat rate or real costs | gov.uk's simplified expenses checker | They would advise | Your choice, per vehicle |
Accountant fee dated 2026-09-13 — check their own quote.
Often, but not always. gov.uk says self-employed workers are not paid through PAYE, and that you are probably self-employed if you quote for work, are not directly supervised, send invoices, pay your own tax and National Insurance and get no holiday or sick pay. If PAYE tax is deducted from your pay, you may be an employee for those earnings.
Business miles only: the delivery journeys themselves, not personal driving and not travel between home and work. Keep a log of dates and miles; gov.uk asks you to keep records of business miles for the flat rate. You can mix methods across vehicles, but not within one vehicle.
Compare them. The flat rate covers fuel, insurance, repairs and servicing, so you cannot also claim those for the same vehicle, and once chosen it stays for that vehicle. gov.uk offers a simplified expenses checker for the comparison. Bicycles are not covered by the flat rate, so a bike uses real costs.
Possibly. Platform reporting rules from 1 January 2024 can require a UK platform operator to collect your details and report your earnings to HMRC. gov.uk names delivering food and driving a taxi as examples. A report is not a tax bill, shows calendar-year totals after fees, and does not replace your records.
Our fee is per return, with no subscription. The Simple tier (£29) is for a return with an employment page plus at most one other supplementary page; any other return is Complete (£65). The tier is set by the pages on your filed return.
Rules and rates on this page were checked against these gov.uk pages on 12 October 2026. Tax rules change; check the page itself for the tax year you are filing.
GUIDES & ARTICLES
HMRC says it will start signing up eligible 2026/27 MTD for Income Tax users from September 2026. Learn what that means and how to get your records ready.
HMRC says businesses with a 1 April to 31 March accounting period must choose calendar update periods before their first MTD for Income Tax quarterly update.
HMRC’s 2026 guidance explains what happens when an MTD for Income Tax user starts or ceases a self-employment or property income source.
Connect your bank, review the draft SA103S, file when you're ready.