Is pickup trucks
tax deductible?

Partly. Since 6 April 2025, HMRC treats most double cab pick-ups as cars for capital allowances, so they go through car allowances rather than being deducted in full like a van (HMRC CA23511). A single cab pick-up is normally a van. You can use the mileage rate for either instead (simplified expenses).

For years, a double cab pick-up with a payload of one tonne or more was treated as a van, which made it a popular business vehicle: full relief in the year of purchase. That changed from April 2025. Most double cabs are now cars for capital allowances, with slower relief, while single cabs remain vans.

Is pickup trucks tax deductible?

The HMRC rule

A car bought for the business is claimed through capital allowances, on the cash basis too, unless you use simplified expenses for it. The rule comes from HMRC Capital Allowances Manual CA23511: double cab pick-ups, Car, van and travel expenses, Simplified expenses if you’re self-employed.

HMRC's Capital Allowances Manual says that for expenditure incurred on or after 6 April 2025 for Income Tax, HMRC no longer treats double cab pick-ups with a payload of one tonne or more as excluded from the definition of a car, and that most, if not all, double cab pick-ups, being equally suited to passengers or goods, will be classified as cars (CA23511). Transitional arrangements apply where a contract was made before 6 April 2025 and the expenditure is incurred before 1 October 2025. Cars go through car capital allowances on either accounting basis (BIM72035).

When you can claim it

• Car capital allowances on a double cab pick-up, at 14% or 6% a year depending on emissions.
• The full cost of a single cab pick-up as an expense on the cash basis, or the Annual Investment Allowance on traditional accounting.
• Van treatment for a double cab under the transitional rules, if the contract was made before 6 April 2025 and paid before 1 October 2025.
• The mileage rate for any pick-up instead of actual costs.

When you cannot

• The Annual Investment Allowance on a double cab pick-up bought from 6 April 2025.
• The full cost of a double cab as an expense on the cash basis.
• Capital allowances and the mileage rate for the same vehicle.
• The private-use share of the allowances.

What to claim instead

If you want quick relief for a work vehicle, a single cab pick-up or a panel van is treated as a van. If you choose a double cab, the mileage rate, 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in 2026/27, may give better relief than slow car allowances, especially for a high-emission model in the 6% pool.

How to decide if you can claim it

1. Was it for the business? A cost is only allowable if you incur it wholly and exclusively for the business. If it also serves a personal purpose that cannot be separated, such as clothing that keeps you warm or a meal that keeps you going, HMRC disallows it.
2. Is part of it personal? Where a cost has a business part you can identify, such as the business calls on a phone bill or the business miles in a car, you claim that part and leave the rest out, on a reasonable basis you can explain.
3. Is it a running cost or something you keep? It is something you buy to keep. On traditional accounting that means capital allowances, where the item qualifies, rather than an expense. On the cash basis most equipment is an ordinary expense, but cars, land and buildings never are.
4. Is there a specific rule? For pickup trucks, the deciding rule is buying a car: a car bought for the business is claimed through capital allowances, on the cash basis too, unless you use simplified expenses for it.

Worked example: a landscaper’s double cab

A landscaper buys a £38,000 double cab pick-up in 2026 with CO2 emissions over 50g/km, used 90% for business. As a car in the special rate pool, it gets 6% a year: £2,280 in the first year, restricted to 90%, £2,052. Before April 2025, the same vehicle could have been deducted in full as a van. A single cab version would still qualify for full relief now.

Single cab or double cab

A single cab pick-up, with one row of seats for about two passengers plus the driver, is normally accepted as a van. A double cab, with a second row of seats and four doors, is equally suited to carrying people or goods, which is why HMRC now treats most of them as cars. Extended, king and super cab variants sit in between; check the specific model before relying on either treatment.

The transitional rules

If you made a contract to buy a double cab before 6 April 2025 and the expenditure was incurred before 1 October 2025, the old treatment continues: a double cab with a payload of one tonne or more is not a car. Keep the order confirmation and payment dates with your records, because they decide which treatment applies.

Benefit in kind for employees

If you employ someone who has private use of a double cab you provide, the change also affects their benefit in kind: HMRC now treats most double cabs as cars for benefits from April 2025 too, with transitional rules. That is a payroll question for the employer, separate from your own capital allowances.

Pick-ups and the mileage rate

The simplified mileage rate covers cars and goods vehicles alike, so it applies to any pick-up used in the business. For a double cab in the 6% pool, the mileage rate often gives more relief than capital allowances plus actual running costs, particularly in the first few years. Compare the two before your first claim, because the choice sticks for that vehicle.

Where it goes on your return and in MTD

On the self-employment pages of your return, the claimable part of pickup trucks belongs in car, van and travel expenses (SA103F box 20). The same category is used in Making Tax Digital quarterly updates, so recording it in the right place once keeps both returns consistent.

If your turnover was under £90,000, you can use the short self-employment pages (SA103S), which ask for a single figure for total allowable expenses rather than a box-by-box breakdown, and the full pages let you give just a total in box 31 too. The category still matters for your own records and for Making Tax Digital, where each quarterly update uses the same categories unless you choose to send one consolidated figure.

The accounting basis changes when a cost counts. On the cash basis, the default for sole traders since 2024/25, it counts when you pay it; on traditional accounting, when you incur it, with things you keep claimed through capital allowances.

How much an allowable cost saves

An allowable expense does not come back to you in full: it reduces your profit, so it saves tax at your marginal rate. For a sole trader in England, Wales or Northern Ireland that is 26p in the pound at the basic rate (20% Income Tax plus 6% Class 4 National Insurance) and 42p at the higher rate. The sole trader tax calculator works out the figure for your own profit.

Records to keep

Keep the purchase, lease or finance agreement, every invoice for running costs, and a mileage log showing business and total miles, so you can support the business percentage. For a car, keep its official CO2 figure and the date you first leased or bought it, because both decide how it is treated.

If Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to you (qualifying income over £50,000 from April 2026, £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028), the records must be digital, and each quarter's costs go into a quarterly update. Check your date with the MTD requirement checker.

Common mistakes

• Claiming the Annual Investment Allowance on a double cab bought after 5 April 2025.
• Expensing a double cab in full on the cash basis as if it were a van.
• Losing the order paperwork that supports the transitional rules.

Related expenses

This item sits in the car, van and travel expenses category, alongside buying a car, buying a van, car insurance, car leasing and PCP, car repairs and servicing, electric and hybrid cars, food and meals and fuel. The A to Z of expenses answers the same question for every other cost.

If you record your costs in TapTax, each one lands in the HMRC category it belongs to, with its receipt attached, so your quarterly updates and year-end return use the same figures.