Mileage Rates in Europe 2026: Full Table for 22 Countries

Europe has no single mileage reimbursement standard. Each country sets its own rules — some publish a clean per-kilometre figure, others use tiered brackets that change at a distance threshold, and a few base the amount on your engine size or fiscal horsepower. The result is a patchwork: Iceland pays about €1.02/km in its top band while Sweden pays roughly €0.22. A business traveller driving the same route through three countries may technically fall under three different rate regimes.

This guide collects the official 2026 mileage rates for 22 European countries, explains how each rate model works, highlights the biggest compliance traps around commuting, and compares the European landscape to the IRS mileage rate for 2026 for US-based readers.

Full comparison: 2026 mileage rates across Europe

The table below lists every country in descending order of euro value. Where a country uses a tiered or formula-based system, the “Rate” column shows the primary tier or the span. The “EUR Equiv.” column converts non-euro rates at the European Central Bank reference rates of 18 September 2026.

Country	Code	Rate	Currency	EUR Equiv.	Rate Model	Official Source
Iceland	IS	ISK 142 to ISK 83	ISK	≈€1.02 to €0.60	Degressive bands (not marginal)	Skatturinn
Ireland	IE	20.56c to 90.63c	EUR	€0.21 to €0.91	Engine cc × annual distance	Revenue.ie
Switzerland	CH	CHF 0.75	CHF	≈€0.79	Flat	Berufskostenverordnung
France	FR	Formula	EUR	≈€0.37 to €0.70	Fiscal HP formula (+20% EV)	BOFiP barème
Finland	FI	0.55	EUR	€0.55	Flat	Vero.fi
Denmark	DK	DKK 3.94/2.28	DKK	≈€0.53/€0.31	Tiered at 20,000 km	Skattestyrelsen
Austria	AT	0.50	EUR	€0.50	Flat (max 30,000 km/yr)	BMF Austria
Croatia	HR	0.50	EUR	€0.50	Flat	Porezna uprava
Estonia	EE	0.50	EUR	€0.50	Flat (max €550/month)	EMTA
Belgium	BE	0.4761	EUR	€0.4761	Indexed (Jul 2026–Jun 2027)	BOSA Belgium
UK	GB	£0.55/£0.25 per mile	GBP	≈€0.40/€0.18 per km	Tiered at 10,000 mi	HMRC
Portugal	PT	0.40	EUR	€0.40	Flat	DRE Portugal
Norway	NO	NOK 3.50	NOK	≈€0.32	Flat	Skatteetaten
Germany	DE	0.30	EUR	€0.30	Flat	BMF LStH 2026
Luxembourg	LU	0.30	EUR	€0.30	Flat (civil-service rate)	RGC 19.06.2015
Poland	PL	PLN 1.15	PLN	≈€0.26	Engine capacity (over 900cc)	ISAP
Spain	ES	0.26	EUR	€0.26	Flat	BOE
Netherlands	NL	0.25	EUR	€0.25	Flat	Belastingdienst
Cyprus	CY	0.25	EUR	€0.25	Flat (tax-free maximum)	Cyprus Tax Dept.
Czech Republic	CZ	CZK 5.90 + fuel	CZK	≈€0.24 + fuel	Base rate + fuel reimbursement	MPSV vyhláška 573/2025
Sweden	SE	SEK 2.50 (25 kr/mil)	SEK	≈€0.22	Flat	Skatteverket
Italy	IT	Per ACI tables	EUR	Varies by model	ACI cost tables	ACI
US (ref.)	US	$0.725/mi (Jan–Jun) / $0.76/mi (Jul–Dec)	USD	≈€0.41/km	Flat (per mile)	IRS

Rates are for standard passenger cars (own vehicle used for business). Where a country publishes separate motorcycle or bicycle rates, only the car rate is shown. Two things the euro column cannot show: the UK figure is per mile and only converted to kilometres here, and the Czech base rate is paid on top of a separate fuel reimbursement, so the comparable total is higher than €0.24.

The five highest rates in Europe

Ranking the comparable single-figure rates — setting aside Ireland’s banded matrix and France’s vehicle-dependent barème, which reach higher at the top of their scales but cannot be reduced to one number — five countries stand well above the rest.

1. Iceland — ISK 142/km, about €1.02

Iceland is routinely left out of European comparisons and belongs at the top of them. Skatturinn sets the rate annually in the skattmat; for 2026 it runs from ISK 142/km down to ISK 83/km. The structure is the catch: the bands are degressive and not marginal. Whichever band your total annual business mileage falls into sets the rate for all of it, so a driver doing 2,500 km prices every kilometre at that band’s rate rather than taking the top rate for the first 1,000. A second scheme, the akstursgjald paid under state employment agreements, runs at ISK 150/135/120 per km from 1 June 2026.

2. Switzerland — CHF 0.75/km, about €0.79

Switzerland raised the federally recognised deduction from 70 to 75 centimes for the 2026 tax year. The figure is derived from the TCS annual kilometre price for a reference vehicle, which means it tracks real running costs instead of standing still for decades the way Germany’s has.

3. Finland — €0.55/km

The highest flat per-kilometre rate in the eurozone. The Finnish Tax Administration (Vero) updates it annually against actual operating costs — and it moves both ways: 2025 was 59 cents, 2026 is 55. The rate covers all vehicle operating costs and applies uniformly, with no engine-size brackets and no distance tiers.

4. Denmark — DKK 3.94/km, about €0.53

Over the first 20,000 km, Denmark pays more than any eurozone flat rate except Finland’s. Past that threshold the rate drops to DKK 2.28, a fall of more than 40%. The threshold is counted per employer, not per person, which matters for anyone with two jobs.

5. Austria, Croatia and Estonia — €0.50/km each

Three countries tie for fifth. Austria’s Kilometergeld rose to €0.50 on 1 January 2025 and is tax-free for at most 30,000 km a year. Croatia has been at €0.50 since 2 January 2024. Estonia is the mover: it went from €0.30 to €0.50 on 1 January 2025, with the monthly ceiling rising from €335 to €550 — but without a sõidupäevik logbook, the entire payment is wage income rather than a tax-free reimbursement.

Belgium at €0.4761/km is the near miss, and the only rate in the table that is formally indexed.

Flat rate vs tiered vs formula-based models

European mileage systems fall into three broad categories. Understanding which model a country uses is essential for accurate reimbursement.

Flat rate (most countries)

The majority of European countries set a single per-kilometre amount that applies to every business kilometre equally. Germany (€0.30), Spain (€0.26), the Netherlands (€0.25), Finland (€0.55), Austria (€0.50), Estonia (€0.50), Portugal (€0.40), and Norway (NOK 3.50) all use this model.

Flat rates are straightforward to implement: multiply business kilometres by the published rate. The simplicity makes compliance easy but means the rate may over-reimburse short trips and under-reimburse long ones.

Tiered (UK, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland)

Tiered systems change the per-unit rate after a distance threshold.

United Kingdom: HMRC’s Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP) set 55 pence per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25 pence per mile thereafter. The first tier rose from 45p on 6 April 2026, its first change since 2011. For an employee driving 14,000 business miles in the 2026–27 tax year:

• First 10,000 miles: 10,000 x £0.55 = £5,500
• Next 4,000 miles: 4,000 x £0.25 = £1,000
• Total tax-free reimbursement: £6,500

Denmark: Skattestyrelsen publishes DKK 3.94/km for the first 20,000 km and DKK 2.28/km beyond that. An employee driving 25,000 business km:

• First 20,000 km: 20,000 x DKK 3.94 = DKK 78,800
• Next 5,000 km: 5,000 x DKK 2.28 = DKK 11,400
• Total: DKK 90,200 (approximately €12,070)

Iceland: tiered in the opposite direction, and not marginally. The band your total annual mileage lands in prices the whole year, so crossing a threshold cuts the rate on kilometres you have already driven rather than only on the ones ahead.

Ireland: Revenue uses a matrix of three engine-capacity columns and four annual-distance bands, with rates from 20.56 cents to 90.63 cents per km. It is not monotonic — the second band, 1,501 to 5,500 km, pays the most, and the rate falls steeply after that. Electric vehicles are rated in the 1,201–1,500cc column.

Formula-based (France, Italy)

France and Italy do not publish a single per-km number. Instead, the reimbursement depends on the specific vehicle.

France: The barème kilométrique uses fiscal horsepower (CV fiscaux) and annual distance to calculate the deduction. A 6 CV vehicle driven 15,000 km yields a different per-km effective rate than a 4 CV vehicle driven 8,000 km. Effective rates land roughly between €0.37 and €0.70 per km, and electric vehicles get a 20% uplift on top. There is no single “French mileage rate.” The coefficients come from the order of 27 March 2023 and have not been revalued for the 2024, 2025 or 2026 filings.

Italy: The ACI cost tables publish per-km operating costs for every make and model sold in Italy. An employer reimbursing at or below the ACI figure for the employee’s specific car model can do so tax-free. This gives precision but requires knowing the exact vehicle.

Commuting rules: the biggest compliance trap

The treatment of commuting — driving between home and a regular workplace — is where most cross-border errors occur. Some countries allow it, some prohibit it, and others handle it through a completely separate tax mechanism.

Treatment	Countries	Notes
Not deductible	UK, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece	Ordinary home-to-office travel is personal
Separate allowance	Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Slovenia	DE uses Entfernungspauschale (€0.38/km one-way from km 1, since 2026); AT adds the Pendlereuro, €6 per one-way km per year in 2026; LU uses distance units at €99 each
Allowed tax-free	Netherlands	Employer can reimburse the commute at the same €0.25/km
Deductible above a floor	Norway, Sweden, Denmark	NO: NOK 1.90/km above a NOK 12,000 floor; SE: SEK 2.50/km above a SEK 15,000 floor; DK: DKK 3.17/km from 25 to 120 km, nothing below 24 km
Conditional	Estonia, Croatia, Switzerland, France, Finland	EE: only where public transport is unusable or home is 50 km away; HR: public-transport ticket price only; CH: capped at CHF 3,000 for federal tax; FR: deductible up to 40 km each way; FI: computed on the cheapest available mode, not car kilometres

Three of these are unit traps rather than rate differences. Norway’s and Sweden’s floors are money amounts, not distances — a comparison table that reads NOK 12,000 as a kilometre threshold will overstate the deduction badly. Denmark’s first 24 kilometres are not a deductible-at-a-lower-rate band; they are worth nothing at all. And Finland’s commuting relief is priced in bus fares, so a Finnish commuter with a working bus route gets no car-kilometre deduction however far they drive.

The key trap: Germany’s €0.30/km business mileage rate and its Entfernungspauschale (commuting allowance) are two entirely different mechanisms. The business rate applies to actual business travel. The commuting allowance is a flat deduction of €0.38 per km of one-way commute distance — from the first kilometer, after Germany’s 2026 reform scrapped the old two-tier scale — regardless of transport mode. Confusing the two — or applying the business rate to commuting — is a common error in cross-border payroll.

How European rates compare to the US IRS rate

The US standard mileage rate for 2026 is $0.725 per mile through June 30 and $0.76 per mile from July 1 (a mid-year fuel-price adjustment). Converted to kilometres, the second-half rate is approximately $0.47/km, or roughly €0.41/km at current exchange rates. That puts the US in the upper-middle of the European range — above Germany’s €0.30/km and the Netherlands’ €0.25/km, just short of Belgium’s €0.4761, and well below Finland’s €0.55/km, Switzerland’s €0.79 or Iceland’s €1.02.

However, the comparison is misleading without context:

• US rate is a deduction, not a tax-free reimbursement. Self-employed taxpayers subtract it from gross income on Schedule C. W-2 employees cannot deduct mileage at all since 2018.
• Most European rates are employer reimbursements. The employer pays the amount tax-free to the employee. It reduces the employee’s out-of-pocket cost directly.
• US rate bundles more costs. The IRS rate is designed to cover fuel, depreciation, insurance, maintenance, and registration. Some European rates are narrower in scope, with separate allowances for tolls, parking, or vehicle wear.
• Higher US vehicle costs. Average fuel prices, insurance premiums, and depreciation in the US (particularly for the larger vehicles common there) justify a higher per-unit figure.

For a detailed breakdown of the US rate, including worked examples and filing workflows, see IRS Mileage Rate 2026: 72.5¢, Then 76¢ From July 1.

Worked example: same trip, different countries

An employee drives 800 km for business in a single month. Here is what the tax-free reimbursement looks like under different country rates:

Country	Rate	Reimbursement
Iceland	ISK 142/km	ISK 113,600 (≈€815)
Switzerland	CHF 0.75/km	CHF 600 (≈€634)
Finland	€0.55/km	€440.00
Austria	€0.50/km	€400.00
Belgium	€0.4761/km	€380.88
Germany	€0.30/km	€240.00
Spain	€0.26/km	€208.00
Netherlands	€0.25/km	€200.00
Sweden	SEK 2.50/km	SEK 2,000 (≈€177)
UK	£0.55/mi (≈£0.34/km)	£273 (≈€318)
US	$0.76/mi (≈$0.47/km)	$378 (≈€330)

The spread is wider than most people expect: the same 800 km is worth roughly €815 in Iceland and €177 in Sweden, a ratio of more than 4:1. Even among eurozone flat rates alone, Finland pays more than twice the Netherlands. The UK row is the one to read carefully — 800 km is 497 miles, so the mile-based rate has to be converted before it can be compared at all.

Cross-border compliance tips

Business travel across European borders raises practical questions about which rate applies and what documentation is needed.

Which rate applies?

The general principle: the mileage rate of the country of employment (where the employee is tax-resident and employed) applies to all business travel, including travel in other countries. A German employee driving to a meeting in Belgium claims €0.30/km under German rules, not Belgium’s €0.4761/km.

Exceptions exist for posted workers, cross-border commuters, and employees with split contracts. In those cases, specific bilateral tax treaties and EU social security coordination rules may override the default.

Documentation requirements

Most European tax authorities expect the same core evidence:

• Date and time of each trip
• Origin and destination addresses
• Distance driven (odometer or GPS-based)
• Business purpose — client name, meeting subject, project reference
• Vehicle identification — registration or make/model

Some countries require additional fields. Germany asks for the name of the business contact visited. The UK requires the trip to be classified as a business journey (not ordinary commuting) to qualify for AMAP rates. France requires fiscal horsepower documentation for the barème calculation.

Multi-country trip logging

When a single trip crosses borders — say, driving from Amsterdam to Brussels — log it as one trip under the employment country’s rate. Do not split the distance by country and apply each country’s rate separately. That approach has no legal basis and creates audit risk.

The exception is tolls and road charges, which should be recorded per country since they are reimbursed at actual cost, not through the mileage rate.

Countries that don’t use a simple per-km rate

Several European countries require more than a single multiplication to calculate mileage reimbursement.

France uses the barème kilométrique, a formula based on fiscal horsepower (puissance fiscale) and annual distance. The formula has three distance brackets (up to 5,000 km, 5,001–20,000 km, and above 20,000 km), each with different coefficients per CV bracket. A 5 CV car driven 12,000 km yields a different effective rate than the same car driven 25,000 km.

Italy publishes ACI cost-per-km tables for every car model sold in the country. The tax-free reimbursement ceiling is the ACI figure for the employee’s specific vehicle. An employer reimbursing a Fiat 500 driver uses a different per-km figure than one reimbursing a BMW 3 Series driver.

Ireland uses a civil service rate matrix with three engine-capacity columns and four annual-distance bands. Rates range from 20.56 cents per km (top distance band, smallest engine) to 90.63 cents (second distance band, largest engine). It is more granular than the UK’s two-tier model and, unlike it, not monotonic — the rate peaks in the 1,501–5,500 km band rather than the first one.

Poland sets rates by engine capacity: PLN 0.89/km for engines up to 900cc and PLN 1.15/km for anything larger — which is almost every car on the road. The two bands have been in force unchanged since 17 January 2023; there has been no unification. Local driving also carries monthly kilometre limits by city size (300, 500 or 700 km), though business trips proper have no cap.

Czech Republic combines a per-km base amount (CZK 5.90 in 2026, not the CZK 5.60 that applied in 2024) with a separate fuel reimbursement calculated from the vehicle’s consumption figure and the officially published fuel price. Those prices moved mid-year: diesel went from CZK 34.10 to CZK 44.50 per litre on 1 June 2026, so a single 2026 figure is wrong for half the year.

Slovakia is often described as having no flat rate at all. It does: a základná náhrada of €0.313 per kilometre since 1 January 2026, paid in addition to the fuel component rather than instead of it.

Hungary publishes HUF 15/km, but that is only the standardised cost component. Fuel is reimbursed on top, computed from a statutory consumption norm and the tax authority’s published monthly fuel price. Reading the 15 forint as the whole rate understates the reimbursement several times over.

For each of these countries, accurate reimbursement requires vehicle-specific data that goes beyond a simple rate lookup.

Keeping rates current

European mileage rates change on different schedules, and 2026 has been an unusually busy year. Belgium runs two indexation regimes at once — an annual one that switched from €0.4449 to €0.4761 on 1 July 2026, and a quarterly one that was suspended for monthly energy-shock amounts between April and June. The Netherlands raised its rate to €0.25 in May, retroactive to 1 January and expiring again on 1 January 2027. Denmark raised its commuter deduction by a law passed on 30 June, backdated to the whole of 2026. Switzerland moved from CHF 0.70 to CHF 0.75 for the 2026 tax year, Austria tripled its Pendlereuro, and the UK raised the first AMAP tier from 45p to 55p on 6 April after fifteen years of standing still.

Germany is the outlier in the other direction: its business rate has been €0.30 since 2004, and only the commuting side moved, to a flat €0.38/km from the first kilometre in 2026.

The practical consequence is that a “2026 rates” reference can be stale within months, and several of these changes were retroactive — meaning a reimbursement processed correctly in March may have been wrong by July. Always confirm the current figure with the official source linked in the table above before processing reimbursements or filing deductions.

Track mileage across 23 countries with MileTrack

MileTrack ships official rate profiles for 18 of the 22 European countries in the table above — France, Italy, Ireland and the Czech Republic are not among them — plus Slovenia and Malta, which the table does not list, and the United States, Canada and Australia. That is 23 country profiles in total. Select your country of employment, and the app applies that profile, including the tiered calculations for the UK and Denmark. For cross-border trips, MileTrack logs the full route with GPS coordinates and timestamps, generating the documentation that European tax authorities expect. Export tax-ready reports in PDF or spreadsheet format, grouped by country profile and tax year. See all supported countries at miletrack.app, or get it free on the App Store.

Tax disclaimer: this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Mileage rates and rules change frequently. Always verify current rates with the relevant national tax authority and consult a qualified tax professional before making filing decisions.