The civil service mileage rates are the per-kilometre rates any Irish employer can pay tax-free for business driving in an employee's own car. The rate depends on the engine size and on how many business kilometres have been driven so far this calendar year: in a car over 1,500cc it starts at 51.82c, rises to 90.63c after 1,500 km and drops to 39.22c after 5,500 km. Here is every rate, why the bands exist, and whether a change is coming.
Checked on 10 October 2026 against Circular 16/2022, Revenue's civil service rates page and Revenue's Tax and Duty Manual Part 05-01-06 (last reviewed September 2026). We found no newer motor travel circular.
The civil service mileage rates for 2026 are those in Circular 16/2022, unchanged since 1 September 2022. Cars are paid per km in four bands, by business km driven in the calendar year. For a car of 1,501cc and over: 51.82c for the first 1,500 km, 90.63c from 1,501 to 5,500 km, 39.22c from 5,501 to 25,000 km and 25.87c after that. Any employer can pay up to these rates tax-free.
43.40c · 79.18c · 31.79c · 23.85c
41.80c · 72.64c · 31.78c · 20.56c
Electric cars use the 1,201–1,500cc rates. Hybrids, plug-in or not, use their engine size.
Courses and conferences: a flat 21.23c, 23.80c or 25.96c per km, no bands.
Motorcycles: two bands, split at 6,437 km. Bicycles: 8c per km.
The January 2025 rate change was to subsistence, not mileage.
Pick a rate column and drag the year's business kilometres. You see what each band contributes, the average rate per km, the rate the next km would pay, and the same year in the other columns. It uses the same rates and banding as the Expense.ie app.
Annual mileage explorer
Pick a rate column and set a year’s business km. Civil service car rates, Circular 16/2022.
What each band contributes
Average rate per km, by yearly total
Why: 12,000 business km in the 1,501cc and over column: the first 1,500 km at 51.82c, the next 4,000 km at 90.63c, then 6,500 km at 39.22c. Past 5,500 km every extra km is paid below the average, so the average falls from its 80.05c peak.[1]
Splitting a single trip that crosses a band line? Use the band splitter in how to calculate mileage.
Three engine columns, four distance bands. The band is set by business km driven since 1 January, not by the length of the trip.
These are the motor travel rates in Appendix 1 of Circular 16/2022, which have applied since 1 September 2022.[1] Revenue's civil service rates page and the appendix to its Tax and Duty Manual (last reviewed September 2026) still list them as the current rates.[2][3]
Use the engine capacity on the car's registration. Fully electric cars use the 1,201–1,500cc column; hybrids, including plug-in hybrids, use the column for their engine size.[1] For the steps of working out a claim from these rates, see how to calculate mileage; for subsistence and overseas rates, see the full travel and subsistence rates.
The highest rate in the table, from the 1,501st to the 5,500th business km of the year.
The lowest, for each km after 25,000 in the smallest engine column.
Motorcycles have their own two-band table. Bicycles get one flat rate. Courses and conferences use flat reduced car rates.
The 1,501cc+ rate (21.23c up to 1,200cc, 23.80c for 1,201–1,500cc). A flat rate with no bands, for travel linked to the job but not part of doing it: promotion competitions, approved courses, conferences, and weekend trips home during a temporary transfer.[1][3] More in reduced mileage rates.
Band 1 for a fully electric car, which uses the 1,201–1,500cc column in every band. Circular 16/2022 set it there "as a first step in the transition to a single rate". Hybrids stay on their engine rate.[1] See EV mileage rates.
The bands were designed in 2017 to pay most to people who drive a lot for work, without overpaying the highest-mileage drivers.
The four bands came in on 1 April 2017 under Circular 05/2017. That circular increased the number of distance bands from two to four, set a lower rate for the first 1,500 km and an increased rate from 1,501 to 5,500 km, aimed at officers who do significant work-related driving. Its cost formula also assumed a car is replaced every four years rather than every three.[5]
Circular 16/2022 kept the same bands and revised the rates using a methodology that reflects motoring input costs, technology, road conditions and car ownership patterns.[1] Neither circular publishes the cost formula itself. In practice, the rate per km falls sharply after 5,500 km: in the 1,501cc+ column the 5,501st km pays 39.22c, less than half of the 90.63c paid for the 5,500th.
The count starts on 1 January and restarts the next 1 January. Revenue's motorcycle table is headed "Official Motor Travel in a Calendar Year", and the circulars count mileage from 1 January towards the year's total.[1][3]
Every business km so far this year counts. A trip in June does not start back at Band 1; it starts wherever the year-to-date total has reached.
A trip that crosses 1,500, 5,500 or 25,000 km is split, with each part paid at its own band's rate. Worked examples are in how to calculate mileage.
The average rate per km rises until 5,500 km, then falls as Band 3 and Band 4 kilometres pile up.
Siobhán drives her own 1,400cc car for work and does 15,000 business km in the year. Her employer pays the civil service rates for the 1,201–1,500cc column, the same column an electric car uses. Her first 1,500 km are Band 1, the next 4,000 are Band 2, and the remaining 9,500 are Band 3.[1]
Civil servants are paid at these rates, but Revenue lets any employer use them as the tax-free ceiling for mileage.
The circular sets the rates for civil servants and asks departments to bring it to the attention of the bodies under their aegis.[1]
An employer can pay a flat rate up to, but not above, the civil service rates without deducting tax and without Revenue approval, where it has a satisfactory recording and internal control system.[3][4]
A flat rate on any other schedule needs Revenue approval. Without it, only the amount up to the civil service rates is covered by the tax-free treatment.[3] Set this out in your travel expense policy.
Revenue's manual covers office holders as well as employees, and has specific exemptions for non-executive directors attending board meetings, capped at the civil service rates.[3] See directors' travel expenses.
Volunteers for charities, sports bodies and similar organisations can be reimbursed tax-free if the payments only cover costs actually incurred and do not exceed the civil service rates.[3]
The rates are for reimbursing employees and office holders. Sole traders deduct the business share of actual motor costs instead; see sole trader expenses.
Three structures since 1999: two bands, then four bands from April 2017, then higher rates and an electric car rate from September 2022.
At today's rates, against €5,462.50 at the 2017 rates: €704.90 more for the same year.
From 32.21c to 39.22c a km (+21.8%). The only cut was Band 4 for cars up to 1,200cc (21.36c to 20.56c).
Nothing has been announced. The 2022 rates were fixed for three years, that period has ended, and the circular flagged a move to one rate for all cars.
Circular 16/2022 fixed the rates for three years from 1 September 2022, so until the end of August 2025. They stay in force until a new circular replaces them.[1]
The circular says the Department intends, at the next review, to move to a single rate for all cars regardless of engine type, with a transition period and talks with staff representatives.[1]
As of 10 October 2026, Revenue's rates page and its manual (reviewed September 2026) still list the 2022 rates, and we found no newer motor travel circular.[2][3]
The rates are set by Department circular, not in the Budget. We found no change to mileage rates in the Budget 2027 announcements.
The motor travel circulars, and Revenue's own rates page and manual.
Checked against these sources on 10 October 2026. Rates and rules can change with new circulars and Revenue guidance. This is general information, not tax advice; take advice on your own situation.
Expense.ie keeps each claimant's year-to-date kilometres, applies the civil service rate for their car and band, splits trips that cross a band line, and keeps the journey record Revenue asks for.
Team plan from €29/month. Card required, nothing charged until day 7.