HMRC AER Effective Dates: The Payroll Control for 1 June 2026

HMRC added the advisory fuel rates taking effect on 1 June 2026 to its guidance on 22 May 2026. For fully electric company cars, the published rates are:

• 7 pence per mile for home charging

• 15 pence per mile for public charging

  Those figures are unchanged from the rates applying between 1 March and 31 May 2026. That makes this quarter a useful control test: when the number stays the same, can Finance and Payroll still show that somebody checked the new rate period and approved what the system should use?

  This article is general operational information, not tax or legal advice.

Start with the scope boundary

HMRC says its advisory fuel rates apply only to employees using a company car. Employers can use them when reimbursing business travel in a company car or when calculating what an employee must repay for private fuel.

The electric rates discussed here cover fully electric company cars. Keep the following outside this workflow:

• employee-owned vehicles

• vans

• hybrid company cars, which HMRC treats as petrol or diesel cars for advisory fuel rate purposes

• ordinary commuting and other private journeys being presented as business travel

  These cases need their own rules and, where necessary, specialist review.

An unchanged rate still needs a new control decision

A rate table should not be a pair of numbers with no dates attached. It should identify:

• the charging category

• the rate

• the date from which the rate applies

• the official source and the date it was checked

• the owner who approved the system entry

• the next scheduled review date

  For this quarter, a controlled record would show that HMRC published the 1 June period on 22 May, that the electric rates remained 7p and 15p, and that no numerical Payroll change was required.

  That is different from doing nothing. “No change required” is a decision that can be reviewed; an unowned rate left in a system is not.

Use the journey date to select the rate period

A practical rate engine should connect each claim to the rate period covering the journey. For example:

The payment is the same in this example, but the effective-date evidence is not. When a future quarterly review changes a rate, the same control prevents the payment date, submission date or latest system value from silently replacing the rate period that Finance intended to use.

Record how the one-month transition rule is used

HMRC's guidance says employers can use the previous rates for up to one month from the date new rates apply.

For fully electric company cars on 1 June 2026, that rule does not produce a different 7p or 15p result because the electric rates did not change. Payroll should still decide whether the organisation uses the transition rule as a standard practice, only when values change, or not at all.

Documenting that decision avoids three different interpretations appearing across the expenses system, Payroll instructions and employee communications.

Treat alternative rates as a separate decision

The published figures are advisory, not a mandatory tariff and not HMRC approval of an employer's wider process. HMRC says employers can use their own rates where their cars are more efficient or the cost of business travel is higher than the guideline rates.

If an employer uses a higher rate, HMRC says it must be able to show that the fuel cost per mile is higher. That alternative should therefore have its own calculation, evidence, approver and validity period. Do not overwrite the advisory-rate table with an unexplained custom number.

A five-step release control for Finance and Payroll

1. Check the official source. Record the source URL, publication check date and effective date.

2. Compare periods. Note whether each relevant rate changed, stayed the same or no longer applies.

3. Approve the decision. Name the Finance or Payroll owner and record “no numerical change” where that is the outcome.

4. Verify implementation. Check the expenses table, Payroll calculation, policy wording and employee instructions use the same effective-date logic.

5. Schedule the next review. HMRC reviews advisory rates on 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December.

   The result is a small decision trail that explains both the number and why it was in force.

Official source available by 26 May 2026

HMRC's Advisory fuel rates guidance was updated on 22 May 2026 to add the rates applying from 1 June 2026. On that date, the guidance showed 7p per mile for home charging and 15p per mile for public charging for fully electric company cars, the same figures as the preceding rate period. It also stated the quarterly review dates, the one-month use of previous rates and the conditions for using a higher evidenced rate.

Put the effective-date decision into an operating pack

The Company EV Reimbursement Pack turns one UK entity's chosen method into policy wording, rate logic, Payroll and expenses controls, an exception framework and employee communication. Its standard scope covers fully electric company cars only; it is not HMRC approval or tax or legal advice.

Review the Company EV Reimbursement Pack