What is the logbook method for car expenses?

The logbook method lets you claim the business portion of your car expenses by recording work trips and working out a business-use percentage. You keep a 12-week logbook and then apply that percentage to your eligible running costs.

What details do I need to record in the spreadsheet?

At a minimum, record the date, odometer start and end, distance, trip type, reason for the trip, locations, state and any toll, parking or fuel costs. The more consistent your notes are, the easier it is to support the claim later.

Do I need to keep receipts as well as the logbook?

Yes. The spreadsheet shows the trip evidence, but receipts support the amounts for tolls, parking, fuel and other car costs. Keep both together for 5 years.

Can I use this for more than one vehicle?

Yes, you can use it for multiple vehicles, as long as each trip is clearly labelled with the correct registration and driver. If you run a small fleet, you may want separate copies so the records stay clean.

Is this better than the cents-per-kilometre method?

Not always. Cents-per-kilometre is simpler for small claims, while the logbook method is usually better when your real car costs are high or your work use is substantial, such as a vehicle doing 10,000 business km a year.

How often should I update the logbook?

Ideally, update it after each trip or at least once a week. If you leave it until the end of the quarter, the details get fuzzy and the logbook becomes harder to trust.

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ATO Logbook Method Excel - Free Template

Track car trips, odometer readings, tolls and parking for ATO logbook claims. Includes summary, GST and instructions sheets.

2026-06-28

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Screenshot 1: Logbook Entries tab - Excel template ato logbook method excel spreadsheet australia

This ATO logbook method Excel spreadsheet tracks business car trips, odometer readings and trip costs so you can calculate your deductible motor vehicle claim. It includes a Logbook Entries sheet, Summary & GST sheet and an Instructions sheet.

Use it to record every work-related trip, total your business kilometres and keep the supporting details the ATO expects for the logbook method. The summary sheet pulls the numbers together so you can see your business-use percentage and the claimable amounts at a glance.

It is set up for Australian records, with dates in DD/MM/YYYY format, dollar fields for tolls, parking and fuel, and a clean layout you can fill in as you go.

The key benefits of this Excel template

Tracks each trip with a unique Trip ID, date, driver, vehicle and route details.
Calculates business-use records from start odometer and end odometer readings.
Keeps tolls, parking and fuel costs in the same log, so your motor vehicle claim is easier to reconcile.
Shows trip type and an eligible business flag, which helps you separate private and work use.
Supports reconciliation at BAS or tax time by keeping entries in one workbook.
Makes it easier to justify a claim if the ATO asks for logbook support.
Gives you a simple summary view instead of forcing you to total every trip by hand.

Step-by-step guide

Open the Logbook Entries sheet and start with the sample rows. Replace them with your own vehicle trips, keeping the date in DD/MM/YYYY format.
Enter the start odometer and end odometer for each trip. The difference gives you the distance travelled, which is the figure you need for your logbook records.
Fill in the trip type, reason, from and to locations, state, and any toll, parking or fuel costs. Keep the notes field short but specific, such as client names or job sites.
Use the Summary & GST sheet to review totals and check your business-use percentage. That gives you a quick number to work with at tax time.
Match the workbook against your diary, GPS records or calendar entries so your logbook stays consistent. If the numbers do not line up, fix the trip before you rely on the claim.
Save the file regularly and keep it with your tax records. The ATO expects supporting records to be retained for 5 years.

Screenshot 2: Summary & GST tab - Excel template ato logbook method excel spreadsheet australia — Figure 2: Worksheet "Summary & GST"

What is included

18-column trip log with fields for date, driver, vehicle, odometer, route and costs.

Dedicated Logbook Entries sheet for day-to-day record keeping.

Summary & GST sheet for totals and claim review.

Instructions sheet that explains how to keep the log up to date.

Input-friendly layout with clear headings and room for notes.

Australian formatting for dates and dollar amounts.

A structure that suits sole traders, employees using a work car and small business owners who need clean records.

Who uses this logbook spreadsheet in Australia

A sole trader, contractor or employee using their own car for work can keep trip records in this Excel template instead of scribbling notes in a diary. It suits the person who does school runs, client visits and site jobs in the same week, then needs a clean trail for the tax return.

Take a tradie with 4 staff and one ute doing 18 work trips a week. If 12 of those are business-related and average 24 km each, that is 288 business kilometres a week, or about 14,976 km a year over 52 weeks.

Best fit for regular work travel

This is handy when you have repeat travel: a bookkeeper visiting 3 client sites a month, a sales rep clocking 1,200 km in a fortnight, or a sole trader running between 2 suburbs all day. You can record the trip once and keep the route, purpose and costs together.

Useful when you need proof, not just a total

The logbook method is about more than a mileage total. You need enough detail to show the business pattern, so fields like from location, to location, state and notes matter when you are pulling together records for the ATO.

Screenshot 3: Instructions tab - Excel template ato logbook method excel spreadsheet australia — Figure 3: Worksheet "Instructions"

What the ATO expects for logbook records

The logbook method is the more detailed car claim, and the ATO expects a continuous 12-week logbook to work out your business-use percentage. You then keep that percentage as the basis for claims, as long as your travel pattern stays broadly the same.

For car expenses, you are usually choosing between the cents-per-kilometre method and the logbook method. If you are doing 6,500 business km in a year and your actual running costs are $9,200, the logbook method can be better where your work use is high, because you can claim the business portion of real expenses rather than a flat rate.

Record what makes the trip defensible

Your record should show the date, destination, purpose and kilometres for each trip, plus the vehicle details and odometer readings. If a trip has parking or tolls, listing them separately helps tie the record back to the source receipt.

Keep the records for five years

The ATO record-keeping period is 5 years, so a spreadsheet is only useful if you keep it with the supporting documents. If you use the logbook method through tax time, keep the workbook, receipts and any diary or calendar evidence together.

The logbook mistakes that shrink your claim

The most common mistake is missing the odometer numbers at the start and end of a trip. If you skip those, you lose the distance calculation, and a 40 km client run turns into a guess that is hard to defend if the ATO asks questions.

Another problem is mixing business and private travel without a clear note. A trip from home to the office is usually private, while a detour to a client site may be business-related, so if you record both as deductible you can overstate your claim by hundreds of dollars across a year.

Small gaps become big errors

If you miss just 3 trips a week at 18 km each, that is 54 km lost every week. Over 40 working weeks, you are short 2,160 km, and at a 85% business-use rate that can distort the final deduction by a meaningful amount.

Receipts and log entries need to match

Tolls, parking and fuel are often entered with the trip, but the bank transaction still has to line up with the date and location. When the receipt says $16.80 and the spreadsheet says $18.80, you spend time fixing a mismatch instead of lodging a clean return.

How to turn the spreadsheet into a weekly habit

The easiest way to keep a logbook alive is to update it on the same day you fill up or finish a work run. If you wait until quarter-end or tax time, you end up trying to remember 30 trips from scraps of paper and phone maps.

Build it into a routine

Enter trips every Friday afternoon, or straight after your pay run if you are already in bookkeeping mode.
Copy last month’s pattern if you work the same route each week, then just update dates, odometers and costs.
Use a quick check on the summary sheet to spot odd entries, such as a 0 km trip or a fuel cost entered in the wrong column.

Know when spreadsheet life is over

If you are logging hundreds of trips a month, or you need live vehicle tracking across a fleet, it may be time to move to proper software. For one or two vehicles, though, this Excel file is usually enough to keep the logbook method tidy without adding another system to learn.

Frequently asked questions about this template

The logbook method lets you claim the business portion of your car expenses by recording work trips and working out a business-use percentage. You keep a 12-week logbook and then apply that percentage to your eligible running costs.
At a minimum, record the date, odometer start and end, distance, trip type, reason for the trip, locations, state and any toll, parking or fuel costs. The more consistent your notes are, the easier it is to support the claim later.
Yes. The spreadsheet shows the trip evidence, but receipts support the amounts for tolls, parking, fuel and other car costs. Keep both together for 5 years.
Yes, you can use it for multiple vehicles, as long as each trip is clearly labelled with the correct registration and driver. If you run a small fleet, you may want separate copies so the records stay clean.
Not always. Cents-per-kilometre is simpler for small claims, while the logbook method is usually better when your real car costs are high or your work use is substantial, such as a vehicle doing 10,000 business km a year.
Ideally, update it after each trip or at least once a week. If you leave it until the end of the quarter, the details get fuzzy and the logbook becomes harder to trust.