SimpleReturns

Company tax returns for taxi and private hire drivers

Reviewed by Lee Jones, Founder · Updated 17 July 2026
The short answer

If you drive a taxi or private hire vehicle through a limited company, the filing job is the same as for every company: a Company Tax Return to HMRC and a set of accounts to Companies House, even in a loss year. Your version has three special features: every fare is income, whether it came through an app, an account customer or as cash; the app's commission must be recorded, not quietly lost; and the car is the biggest tax question in the trade, because private use of a company car is taxed as a perk.

Official source. This guide is a plain-English summary of official GOV.UK guidance, not advice. The authoritative source is Company Tax Returns on gov.uk. Always rely on that over our summary.

What counts as your company's income?

Every fare, from every direction. App payouts, account work billed monthly, card payments, airport jobs and cash handed over at the kerb: if a passenger paid it for a journey your company provided, it is the company's income; cash counts the same as a bank transfer.

Most platforms take their commission before paying you, so the amount landing in the bank is smaller than what the passenger paid. Both numbers belong in your books: the full fare is income and the platform's fee is a company cost. Do not just record the bank payout; your platform statements show both figures.

Corporation Tax is then worked out on the profit: 19% on profits up to £50,000, moving towards 25% for bigger profits. And fares add up faster than it feels: if taxable takings go over £90,000 across any rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year and not your accounting year, the company has to register for VAT. A busy full-time driver can drift over that line mid-year, so watch the running total.

The car: the biggest question in this trade

Your car is your workplace, so it feels obvious the company should own it. It is genuinely not obvious. Here are the two honest routes.

Route one: the company owns the car. A company car that is available for your private use, and commuting counts as private use, is taxed as a perk: you pay extra personal tax, and the company pays extra National Insurance on top. The only escape is genuinely business-only use, a hard case when the car sits outside your house. And a car, unlike a van, does not get its full cost knocked off profit in the year you buy it: relief dribbles through over years, unless it is a brand-new fully electric car, which can get its whole cost against profit in year one. Our guide on putting a car through the company walks through the perk tax properly.

Route two: you own the car, the company pays you mileage. Many one-driver companies keep the car personal and have the company pay a mileage rate for business miles: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles each tax year, then 25p a mile. (55p applies from 6 April 2026; before that the rate was 45p.) Those payments are tax-free to you and a cost to the company, and a full-time driver passes 10,000 miles quickly, so most miles earn 25p. The mileage payment stands in place of the company paying the car's bills, so the fuel, insurance and servicing stay your personal costs and are not claimed on top.

Either way, this one decision is worth an accountant's hour; it is the most expensive thing to get wrong in this trade.

What else can your company claim?

The rule behind every cost is simple: it has to be for the business. The usual list:

  • Licensing. The council private hire or hackney carriage licence, the vehicle plate licence, the operator licence and the medical that goes with them.
  • Platform fees and commission. The slice the app takes from every fare, recorded as a cost, not netted off your income.
  • Insurance. If the company runs the car, hire-and-reward cover is a company cost.
  • Cleaning and valeting. Keeping a working vehicle presentable is part of the job.
  • Dash cam and kit. A dash cam, a phone mount and a card reader bought for the work.

Remember the route rule above: on the mileage route the car's own bills stay personal, because the mileage payment covers them. And keep the receipts; the claim is only as good as the paper behind it.

The trap: fares that never reach the books

Cash fares are where drivers get into trouble. The company must record all money it receives, and takings that do not match a full-time driver's hours are exactly what HMRC is good at spotting. The fix costs nothing: note every cash fare the day you take it, bank cash regularly, and let the records tell the same story as your shifts.

What does filing look like with us?

At year end there are deadlines to keep apart: accounts to Companies House within 9 months of your year end, the Corporation Tax itself 9 months and 1 day after it, and the Company Tax Return, the CT600, to HMRC within 12 months. A late return costs £200 from the very first day, and HMRC's own free filing service has closed, so every company now files through commercial software.

SimpleReturns is built for businesses like yours. Upload the company bank statement, answer a few plain-English questions, no accounting words. We sort the fares, the platform fees and the car costs into the right boxes, you review every figure before anything is sent, and we file both returns: the tax return to HMRC and the accounts to Companies House. Free to start, no card needed, £99 flat for both.

Common questions

The app already takes its fee before paying me. Can I just record what lands in the bank?

No. The full fare is income and the app's fee is a company cost; both need recording, and your platform statements show both figures.

Should my company buy my taxi?

We cannot answer that for you. A company car you also use privately means extra personal tax and extra employer National Insurance, and a car does not get its full cost against profit in year one unless it is brand new and fully electric. An accountant can run both routes against your actual miles.

Do cash fares really matter if they are small?

Yes. The company must record all money it receives. Recorded cash takings are no problem; unrecorded ones are how an easy return becomes a stressful one.

Want your taxi company's return filed for you?

You upload the company bank statement, add any cash takings, and answer a few plain-English questions with no accounting words. We sort the fares-and-fees income and the car costs, work out the profit and the Corporation Tax, and build both filings: the tax return for HMRC and the accounts for Companies House. You review every figure before anything is sent. Free to start, no card needed, and £99 flat covers both.

Start your return

If the company car doubles as your own, or your takings are near the VAT line, we will flag it plainly so an accountant can sort that one part.

General guidance, not advice. This guide explains how the rules generally work for small UK limited companies. It isn't tax advice for your specific situation, if you're unsure, check with us or an accountant.