17/06/2026
Plenty of fleet operators are claiming Fuel Tax Credits on a percentage that was set once and rarely questioned since.
It’s understandable. Working out how much of your fuel was used off public roads, or powering auxiliary equipment, is genuinely hard to pin down, so a reasonable estimate becomes the number, and the number becomes the habit.
But an estimate cuts both ways. Set it too conservatively and you’re quietly leaving entitlement unclaimed, year after year. Set it optimisitcially and you’re carrying exposure you can’t easily defend.
The real issue isn’t the percentage itself. It’s that an estimate can’t be checked against what actually happened. It’s a guess wearing the cloths of a calculation. The alternative is to aportion from what your vehicles actually did, not from ehat you assumed they did. When the number comes from real activity, you’re no longer choosing between caution and confidence. You can claim exactly what you’re owed, and show why.
