The problem
A teacher driving to pupils' homes and schools does about 120 business miles a week, around 516 a month. Logging them on paper takes 15 minutes a week, and if a fifth of trips never get written down, 103 miles a month go unclaimed: at 55p a mile that's $76£57€68A$109C$107 of expenses, about $15£11€13A$21C$21 a month in income tax at the basic rate.
What the AI does
My Music Staff's business features include mileage tracking: enter recurring trips once and it adds the mileage for the date range you choose, or use your phone's GPS to track a journey as you drive. It also records expenses with photos of receipts and produces income and expense reports as PDF or Excel for your tax return. GOV.UK's simplified expenses page gives 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after, from 6 April 2026.
A worked example
A self-employed violin and viola teacher in Shropshire teaches in 3 schools and 12 homes each week, about 120 business miles a week, and keeps a paper mileage log.
Before
15 minutes a week logging trips, about 1.1 hours a month, with about a fifth of trips missed
After
Recurring trips entered once; about 10 minutes a month checking
What it's worth
About $51£38€45A$73C$71 a month, against $19£14€17A$27C$26 for My Music Staff. That's 0.9 hours of logging saved at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour, $36£27€32A$52C$51 plus about $15£11€13A$21C$21 of income tax from claiming 103 more miles at 55p ($76£57€68A$109C$107) at the 20% basic rate. The missed fifth is an assumption.
How to set it up
- Enter each weekly round (school days and home visits) as a recurring trip for the term.
- Use GPS tracking for one-off journeys such as exam centers or concerts.
- Record other business expenses with a photo of the receipt, and ask your accountant what the mileage rate already covers.
- Run the income and expenses report each quarter and send it to your accountant.
- Check with your accountant which journeys count as business travel.
What goes wrong
- Not every journey counts: travel to a place you work regularly can be ordinary commuting. Your accountant can tell you which trips qualify.
- Once you use the flat mileage rate for a vehicle you must keep using it, and you can't use it for a car you've claimed capital allowances on.
- Recurring trips assume every lesson happened; remove trips for canceled or moved lessons.