How long do I have to keep a logbook for?

At least 12 continuous weeks in the first year you use the logbook method. The period has to be representative of your travel across the whole year. If you started using the car partway through the income year, the 12 weeks can continue into the following income year.

Do I have to do it again every year?

Generally no. Once established, a logbook is usually valid for five years, provided your circumstances have not materially changed. If your travel pattern changes — a new job, a different car, a move that changes your routine — the old percentage no longer represents your use and you need a new logbook.

What does 'representative' actually mean?

It means the 12 weeks have to look like your normal year. If your business travel is seasonal, a logbook kept entirely during your peak will overstate your business use across the other 40 weeks. Pick a period that reflects how you normally drive, not the period that produces the best percentage.

Is driving from home to work business travel?

Ordinarily, no. Travel between home and your regular place of work is private travel, even if you take work calls on the way. There are exceptions — carrying bulky equipment that cannot be left at work, itinerant work with no fixed base, or travelling between two separate workplaces. Those depend on your facts, so check them with your tax agent.

What do I have to write in the purpose column?

Enough detail to show why the trip was for business. Client site visit — quarterly review works. Work does not. The purpose column is what an ATO reviewer reads to decide whether the trip was genuinely business, so vague entries weaken the whole logbook.

Do I need to log private trips too?

You need the total kilometres travelled in the period, because the percentage is business kilometres divided by total kilometres. The simplest way is to log every trip and flag it business or private, which is how this template works. Alternatively you can log business trips and derive the total from the opening and closing odometer readings.

What can I claim once I have the percentage?

That percentage of the actual running costs of the car — fuel and oil, servicing and repairs, insurance, registration, interest on a car loan, and depreciation. You still need records substantiating the costs themselves. The logbook establishes the business share; it does not evidence the spend.

Should I use the logbook method or cents per kilometre?

The cents-per-kilometre method needs no logbook but is capped at 5,000 business kilometres per car per year. The logbook method has no cap but requires the 12 weeks of records. If you travel well over 5,000 business kilometres, or run an expensive car, the logbook method usually claims more. Check the current cents-per-kilometre rate on the ATO website before comparing — it is reset most years.

How long do I keep the logbook?

Five years after the end of the latest income year you rely on it. Because a logbook can be relied on for five years, that can mean keeping it for a decade in total. Keep the odometer records with it — they are part of the substantiation, not optional supporting paper.

Can I use an app instead of a spreadsheet?

Yes. The ATO accepts electronic records, including logbook apps, as long as they capture the required information and you can produce it if asked. A spreadsheet suits people who want the record in a file they control and can hand straight to their accountant. Either way, the rules about what has to be recorded are the same.

FREE EXCEL TEMPLATE Last updated 28 August 2026

Motor vehicle logbook template for the ATO logbook method

Record 12 continuous weeks of travel and get your business-use percentage calculated for you. Set up for the ATO's requirements — odometer readings at both ends, a reason for every trip, and a percentage you can actually defend.

Motor vehicle logbook template

Excel (.xlsx) · 2 sheets · 120 trips · no signup

Business-use percentage calculated automatically

120 trip rows with odometer and kilometre columns

Vehicle and odometer details captured up front

The 12-week and five-year rules explained inside

General information only, not tax advice.

This template is general information for Australian taxpayers. Whether a particular trip is business travel, and which method suits you, depends on your circumstances — confirm with your accountant, registered tax agent or the ATO. It does not constitute legal, HR, or professional advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice specific to your business, workforce, or circumstances.

References HR Hub disclaimer Modern Awards Fair Work

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What's in the logbook template

Everything the ATO expects a logbook to show, laid out so you can fill it in from the driver's seat.

Instructions sheet

The 12-week rule, what makes a period representative, how long to keep it, and why home-to-work travel usually is not business.

Vehicle details

Driver, make and model, registration, engine capacity, and the logbook start and end dates.

Odometer readings

Opening and closing odometer for the logbook period — required, and the thing most people forget to record at the start.

120 trip rows

Date, start and finish location, purpose, odometer start and finish. Kilometres calculate themselves.

Business or private flag

A dropdown on every row. Business trips are totalled separately, which is what drives the percentage.

Business-use percentage

Business kilometres divided by total kilometres, formatted as a percentage. Apply it to your actual running costs.

The logbook sheet

A purpose that says why the trip was business is what separates a logbook that holds up from one that does not.

Date	Start / finish	Purpose of trip	Odo start	Odo finish	Km	Business?
01/07/2026	Office → Richmond	Client site visit — quarterly review	42,180	42,197	17	Business
01/07/2026	Richmond → Office	Return from client site	42,197	42,214	17	Business
02/07/2026	Home → Office	Ordinary commute	42,214	42,235	21	Private
03/07/2026	Office → Supplier	Collect stock — order 4471	42,235	42,268	33	Business
04/07/2026	Office → Airport	Interstate client meeting — Brisbane	42,268	42,301	33	Business

The commute on 2 July is marked Private deliberately. Ordinary travel between home and your regular workplace is private travel, even when it happens on a working day.

The rules that make a logbook valid

A logbook that does not meet these is a logbook the ATO can disregard, which puts the whole claim at risk.

12 continuous weeks

In the first year you use the method, keep the logbook for at least 12 continuous weeks. If you started using the car partway through the year, the period can continue into the next income year.

Representative of the year

The 12 weeks must reflect your normal travel. Choosing your busiest run of weeks and applying that percentage to the whole year is exactly what the requirement exists to prevent.

Odometer readings at both ends

You need the reading at the start and end of the logbook period, and at the start and end of each income year in which you use the method.

Generally valid for five years

Once established, a logbook usually stands for five years — but only while your circumstances have not materially changed. Change job, change car or change your travel pattern and you start again.

Keep it for five years after you last use it

Retain the logbook and the odometer records for five years after the end of the latest income year you rely on them. That is five years after the last return that used the percentage — not five years after you wrote it. A logbook established in 2026 and relied on until 2031 needs keeping until 2036.

The other option: cents per kilometre

The alternative method needs no logbook but is capped at 5,000 business kilometres per car per year, and usually claims less. The rate is reset most years — check the current one on the ATO website before deciding which method suits you.

How to keep an ATO logbook

Four steps, and the first one is the one people skip.

1. Record the opening odometer

Before the first trip, write down the odometer reading and the date. Without it the period cannot be measured, and it cannot be reconstructed later.

2. Log every trip for 12 weeks

Date, where to and from, why it was business, and the odometer at each end. Fill it in as you go — memory does not survive 12 weeks.

3. Close off the period

Record the closing odometer reading and date at the end of the 12 weeks.

4. Apply the percentage

Business kilometres over total kilometres gives your business-use percentage. Apply it to the actual running costs — fuel, servicing, insurance, registration, depreciation.

Keep the receipts for the running costs too. The percentage decides how much of them you can claim, but you still have to substantiate the costs themselves.

Who needs a motor vehicle logbook

Sole traders and contractors

Anyone using their own car for business travel who wants to claim more than the capped cents-per-kilometre method allows.

Businesses with vehicles

Where a car is used for both business and private travel and the split has to be substantiated rather than estimated.

Bookkeepers and tax agents

A clean template to hand a client in July, rather than reconstructing a year of travel the following May.

For accountants & bookkeepers

Do your clients run staff as well as vehicles?

A logbook is a once-a-year conversation. Rosters, timesheets and award rates are a weekly one — and they are where shift-based clients cost you the most unbilled time. Advisors who bring those clients onto RosterElf earn recurring monthly income per employee managed.

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FAQ

Motor vehicle logbook questions

At least 12 continuous weeks in the first year you use the logbook method. The period has to be representative of your travel across the whole year.

If you started using the car partway through the income year, the 12 weeks can continue into the following income year.
Generally no. Once established, a logbook is usually valid for five years, provided your circumstances have not materially changed.

If your travel pattern changes — a new job, a different car, a move that changes your routine — the old percentage no longer represents your use and you need a new logbook.
It means the 12 weeks have to look like your normal year. If your business travel is seasonal, a logbook kept entirely during your peak will overstate your business use across the other 40 weeks.

Pick a period that reflects how you normally drive, not the period that produces the best percentage.

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