Logbook method (car expenses)
Claim your car’s real business-use share of running costs.
The logbook method works out the business-use percentage of your car by keeping a logbook for a representative 12 continuous weeks. You then claim that percentage of your actual running costs — fuel, servicing, insurance, registration and depreciation. It usually beats the cents-per-kilometre method when you drive a lot for work.
Worked example
Your logbook shows 12,000 km over the year, 7,200 of them for work — a 60% business-use share. Your total running costs were $9,000, so you claim 60% × $9,000 = $5,400. Under cents-per-km you’d have been capped at 5,000 business km instead.
Common mistake
Counting the drive between home and your usual workplace as business kilometres. That’s private travel, and it’s the fastest way to turn a legitimate claim into an adjusted one.
Grounded in ATO guidance. Figures last checked . General information, not tax advice.
Related terms
Cents per kilometre method
A simpler car claim — a set rate per business km, capped.
Depreciation (decline in value)
Claiming the cost of a big asset gradually over its life.
Substantiation (proving a deduction)
The records that turn a claim into a defensible deduction.
Instant asset write-off
Immediately deduct an eligible asset instead of depreciating it.
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