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Excel workbook (.xlsx) with formulas that total themselves. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers.
Download the Singapore mileage log (Excel)Singapore is the exception among the major English-speaking jurisdictions: there is no statutory per-kilometre rate. IRAS does not publish a mileage rate, so a company that reimburses staff for using their own vehicle sets its own rate, usually benchmarked to fuel and running costs. That makes the log slightly different from its UK, Australian, or Canadian equivalents: the rate column is yours to set, and the more important question is which vehicle costs are deductible at all. This template is built for that, with the rate left open and the deductibility rules spelled out.
The download records the date, start and end point, business purpose, kilometres, your company rate, and the amount, with a worked total and a note carrying the key IRAS distinction.
There is no statutory rate
Because IRAS sets no per-kilometre rate, a Singapore mileage log does two jobs. It supports a reimbursement the company chooses to pay an employee for business travel in a private vehicle, and it evidences the business proportion of that travel. The rate is a company policy decision, not a tax figure. Many companies set it with reference to fuel prices and a reasonable allowance for wear, and review it as fuel costs move.
The S-plate distinction matters more than the rate
The rule that catches businesses out has nothing to do with mileage rates. IRAS disallows expenses on private passenger cars, the familiar S-plate cars, including their running costs, regardless of how much they are used for business. Expenses on commercial vehicles, such as goods vehicles, vans, lorries, and buses, are deductible. So before you even reach the question of a reimbursement rate, the vehicle’s registration class determines whether the underlying running costs are deductible at the company level at all.
In practice this means:
- Running costs of an S-plate private car: not deductible, even with a perfect log.
- Running costs of a commercial vehicle: deductible, and the log supports the business proportion.
- An employee reimbursement for business use of a private car: a matter of company policy, with its own treatment, separate from whether the car’s costs are deductible.
This template helps with the log; the deductibility of the costs behind it depends on the vehicle class, so confirm that first.
How to use the template
- Set your company reimbursement rate per kilometre in the rate column, and document how you arrived at it.
- Record each business trip as it happens: date, where and why, and the kilometres.
- Total the business kilometres and the reimbursement amount each period.
- Keep the log with your records for five years, alongside the policy that sets the rate.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a private car’s running costs are deductible. S-plate passenger car expenses are disallowed regardless of business use.
- Treating a borrowed overseas rate as a Singapore rate. There is no IRAS per-kilometre rate; the company sets its own.
- Reimbursing with no log. The business-purpose and distance record is what justifies the payment as a business cost.
- Mixing up reimbursement and deductibility. They are separate questions, decided by company policy and by vehicle class respectively.
When the log should keep itself
A spreadsheet is a fine start, but capturing the trip and the cost as they happen keeps the record clean. Tools that help:
- Driversnote logs trips by GPS and applies a rate you configure.
- ExpenseFlow captures vehicle and transport costs alongside the receipts and bills it already reads, keeps the business-purpose record against each one, and posts the deductible costs into Xero or QuickBooks Online with the right GST treatment.
- Spenmo pairs company cards with capture for teams reimbursing travel regularly.
Use the template to start, set a documented rate, and let captured data maintain the log as travel grows.