In a country that boasts iconic road trips such as the Copper Coast and the Wild Atlantic Way, it’s incredibly important to have a thorough understanding of civil service rates for mileage allowance. 

However, it can be more complicated than you might think. In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the car mileage allowance in the land of shamrocks, Guinness, and stunning coastline.

Let’s get started.

How does mileage allowance work?

If you’re frequently driving a private car for business purposes, you might already know and understand what car mileage allowance is. In case you don’t, it’s the amount employees can claim to cover the cost of fuel, insurance, road tax, and the general wear and tear of their personal vehicle on account of business trips and purposes. This does not include personal journeys or daily commutes.

The ‘approved mileage allowance payment’ (AMAP) is the maximum amount that an employee can claim per mile–or kilometre in Ireland–tax-free. The amount paid will be tax deductible for the business as long as it doesn’t exceed the AMAP established in the country.

To sum up, car mileage allowance benefits workers who might otherwise end up spending their own money on travel expenses. It also helps businesses pay less corporation tax: a win-win situation. 

However, to benefit from this arrangement, both employees and employers must fully understand the rates and procedures since they vary from country to country. Here we’ll explain civil service mileage allowance rates in Ireland for 2023, so that you and your business can claim and pay in a stress-free and compliant manner.

What are the mileage allowance rates in Ireland for 2023?

Below you’ll find tables that show the civil service rates for mileage allowance in Ireland for 2023 for cars, motorcycles, and bicycles. These tables show you the new rates for the year starting from 1st September 2022, the distance bands, and the mileage allowance rate in euros per kilometre depending on the engine capacity of the vehicles.

Civil service motoring and bicycle rates Cars (rate per kilometre) Motor travel rates (from 1 September 2022)

Distance band	Engine capacity up to 1200cc	Engine capacity 1201cc - 1500cc	Engine capacity 1501cc and over
Up to 1,500 km(Band 1)	41.80 cent	43.40 cent	51.82 cent
1,501 - 5,500 km(Band 2)	72.64 cent	79.18 cent	90.63 cent
5,501 - 25,000 km(Band 3)	31.78 cent	31.79 cent	39.22 cent
25,001 km and over(Band 4)	20.56 cent	23.85 cent	25.87 cent

For electric vehicles: mileage claims of these vehicles will abide by the rate applicable to engine capacity 1201cc-1500cc.

Reduced motor travel rates per kilometre

Reduce mileage rates: these reduced rates apply to journeys that are associated with work but are not solely related to the performance of one’s job. For example, travel to confirmed promotion competitions or attendance at approved courses or conferences.

Engine Capacity up to 1200cc	Engine Capacity 1201cc to 1500cc	Engine Capacity 1501cc and over
21.23 cent	23.80 cent	25.96 cent

Motorcycles (rate per kilometre) Motorcycle rates (from 5th March 2009)

Distance	Engine capacity up to 150cc	Engine capacity 151cc - 250 cc	Engine capacity 251 cc - 600 cc	Engine capacity 601cc and over
Up to 6,437 km	14.48 cent	20.10 cent	23.72 cent	28.59 cent
6,438 km and over	9.37 cent	13.31 cent	15.29 cent	17.60 cent

Bicycles (rate per kilometre)

For bicycles, the flat rate per kilometre stands at 8 cents.

It’s crucial for all businesses to clearly state the policies and procedures that employees will need to follow in order to claim mileage allowance. Further information will also be needed for subsistence expenses like detention rates, and day and overnight allowances for subsistence costs.

What’s not included in the mileage allowance?

It’s important to remember that not all journeys will be covered by the civil service mileage allowance in Ireland. The most common trips which aren’t included are:

• Personal trips that are not directly associated with the employee’s role, even if an aspect of work is included such as making calls or running errands
• Commutes, or journeys between an employee’s home and their normal place of work

A normal place of work is understood to be the location where an employee performs their job on a day-to-day basis. For example, if an employee lives in Dublin and has to go to the Dublin office to complete their job, these commuting trips will not be included in the mileage allowance. However, if they need to travel to the offices in Cork to complete a task, this will not be their 'normal place of work’ and so they can claim mileage allowance for this journey.

How to file a mileage allowance claim in Ireland?

In order to receive a reimbursement on the employee expenses for business journeys, employees will need to fill out a claim form provided by the company or Revenue as well as provide evidence of the journeys made in their personal car.

Important evidence to keep:

• Petrol receipts
• Parking toll receipts
• Any other receipts related to vehicle usage
• Addresses travelled to
• Purpose of the journey
• Track kilometres driven to and from business travel locations

Businesses must keep reliable records of the employee’s claims and full evidence for these to comply and avoid any problem with Revenue. If an employee chooses to claim for the full costs of the travel they must fill out a form provided by the Irish Revenue.

It’s important to note that if an employer has already paid employee expenses at civil service mileage rates there will be no additional tax relief due to the employee.

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