Can You Claim Expenses for Charging Your EV at Home?

The number one rule is that electricity used for personal journeys cannot be claimed as a work expense. Business trips and employer-related travel are acceptable work expenses that can legitimately be claimed from your employer or included as a business cost if you’re self-employed. Let’s take a look in more detail.

Claiming EV Charging Expenses for Work

The rules surrounding EV charging expenses are lengthy and can seem daunting. Let’s break it down into categories to fully understand what EV charging expenses you can claim for.

Claiming for Business Use

If you drive a company EV car, or if you use your own EV car for work journeys, you can claim back the electricity charging cost from your employer. This applies to business trips only; you must separate business and personal journeys before submitting your expense claim.

• Self-Employed – If you use your EV for business purposes, you can usually claim a proportion of the charging costs as a business expense.
  • Method: track the amount of electricity used for each business trip or use the HMRC mileage rate and multiply it by the number of business miles travelled. Always keep a record of mileage and running costs.
• Employees (Company Car) – if you drive a company EV, you can claim the fuel cost from your employer.
  • Method: calculate the amount of electricity used, using a home smart meter or by referring to household energy bills and claim this amount back from your employer. This can often be quite difficult to do, so many employees simply add up the business miles travelled and multiply it by the HMRC advisory electric rate. Keep a record of business trips and your method of expense calculation.
• Employees (Own Car) – employees who use their own car for work-related journeys can claim the cost of the fuel as well as an element of wear and tear, using the Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP). The rate is 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, and 25p per mile thereafter.
  • Method: calculate the amount of business miles travelled and multiply by the appropriate AMAP. Always keep a record of the number of miles and any other relevant information.

Employer and Fleet Policies

Employers whose staff drive to or from different places as part of their working day must reimburse employees for the cost of that travel. This typically involves introducing a policy to inform employees of the procedure for claiming business mileage, including charge point and home charging rules and how to split business vs. personal use.

New Mileage Rates for Electric Vehicles

HMRC have recently introduced new rates for reimbursing business miles for electric vehicles. It’s the first time HMRC have used a different rate for home charging and public charging. Previously, a flat rate of 7p per mile was applied to business miles, but this failed to take account of the higher electricity costs at fast, public charging points. The new rates are:

• Home Charging: 8p per mile
• Public Charging: 14p per mile

While these new rates are a better reflection of prices at public EV charging points, they don’t recognise the price of ultra-rapid charging, which is often the default choice for fleets and business drivers.

How an RFID Card Can Help

An RFID card for EV charging is a contactless card that is used to authenticate and initiate an electric vehicle charging session at public charging stations. They are simple to use, requiring just a tap on the reader to initiate the charge, and they are more reliable than mobile apps when the network connection is slow or unavailable.

The cards are linked to the users’ accounts, acting as a digital payment and tracking tool. They centralise payments and enable cost control for fleets by generating invoices and expenditure reports. An RFID card can significantly simplify claiming EV charging expenses, as every trip and charge session is recorded, making the process more robust and straightforward.

As electrification becomes the norm, many drivers are asking questions about claiming back their fuel costs. Whether you drive a company EV or have your own electric vehicle, knowing the rules about claiming charging expenses can save you pounds.