Quick answer
For 2025-26 you can claim 88 cents per business kilometre under the ATO cents per kilometre method, up to 5,000 kilometres per car, for a maximum deduction of $4,400. The rate covers all running costs combined. Alternatively, the logbook method claims your business-use percentage of actual costs and usually beats the cents method above roughly 5,000 kilometres a year.
Are car expenses tax deductible in Australia?
The cost of using your own car for work is deductible, but ordinary commuting between home and your regular workplace is private and is not. Travel that does qualify includes trips between two separate workplaces, travel to an alternative workplace, carrying bulky tools that cannot be left at work, and genuinely itinerant work. A “car” for these rules is a vehicle designed to carry a load under one tonne and fewer than nine passengers; utes and vans above that use the actual-cost method only.
Individuals and partnerships choose one of two methods each year. See the broader Australian expense rules for how car claims sit alongside GST credits and other work deductions.
How much can you claim?
| Method | What you claim | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Cents per kilometre | 88c per business km (2025-26), covering all running costs | 5,000 km per car ($4,400) |
| Logbook | Business-use percentage of actual costs, including depreciation | No cap; based on logbook |
Worked example. A consultant drives 4,200 business kilometres in 2025-26. Under the cents method the claim is 4,200 x 88c, which is $3,696, with no receipts needed beyond a record of the trips. If she instead drove 6,400 business kilometres, the cents method caps her at 5,000 km ($4,400), and a 12-week logbook showing, say, 70% business use of $11,000 of total running costs would give $7,700, a far larger deduction.
Record-keeping requirements
For the cents per kilometre method, keep a diary or other record that shows how you calculated your business kilometres. For the logbook method, keep a logbook for a continuous 12-week period that is representative of your year; a logbook is valid for five years unless your circumstances change. Keep receipts for fuel, servicing, registration, and insurance under the logbook method. The ATO requires business records to be kept for five years.
How to claim, step by step
- Confirm the travel is work-related, not ordinary home-to-work commuting.
- Choose the cents per kilometre or logbook method for the year.
- For the cents method, total your business kilometres (up to 5,000) and multiply by 88c.
- For the logbook method, keep a 12-week logbook, work out your business-use percentage, and apply it to your actual annual running costs.
- If you are registered for GST, claim GST credits on car running costs using the logbook business-use percentage; the cents method is income tax only.
- Record the deduction at the work-related car expenses label of your tax return and keep your records for five years.
Common mistakes
- Claiming exactly 5,000 km with no record of the trips, which is an ATO audit flag.
- Using the cents per kilometre method for a company-owned car instead of treating private use as a fringe benefit.
- Adding fuel or registration receipts on top of the cents rate. The rate already covers them.
- Claiming home-to-work commuting that does not meet one of the narrow exceptions.
- Forgetting that the logbook is only valid for five years and must be representative of current use.
Software that helps
The hard part is capturing trips and fuel receipts as they happen, because a logbook reconstructed at year end rarely survives an ATO review.
- Driversnote logs trips automatically by GPS and produces an ATO-compliant logbook.
- ExpenseFlow captures fuel, registration, and servicing receipts as they arrive, codes each with the correct GST treatment, and syncs them to Xero so the actual-cost records behind a logbook claim are in one place.
- ATO myDeductions records trips and expenses in the ATO app and prefills your return.
FAQ
See the answered questions above for the 2025-26 rate, receipts, method choice, company cars, and commuting.