RyeDCThe ATO car logbook, kept for you
The logbook method lets you claim the work share of your car's running costs. RyeDC records the journeys, finds your representative period and prints the car logbook the ATO describes, with every entry it asks for. Drives are recorded automatically, or logged by shift from the dash. General information, not tax advice.
What the ATO asks a logbook to hold, and where RyeDC puts it
The rules are in section 28-125 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and on the ATO's logbook-method pages, cited at the foot of this page. Each row below is one of them.
| The ATO asks for | In your RyeDC logbook |
|---|---|
| When the logbook period begins and ends | The heading of the document. |
| The car's odometer readings at the start and end of the period | The first and last readings. One worked out from the nearest dash reading rather than read off the dash is marked ‡. |
| For each business journey: the day it began and ended | Each journey's row. A shift that ran past midnight is one entry across two days, marked †, because the odometer was read only when it started and ended. |
| The odometer at the start and end of each journey | Each journey's row. |
| How many kilometres the car travelled on each journey | Each journey's row. Two or more business journeys in a row on the same day may be recorded as one, and RyeDC only ever combines drives within one day. |
| Why the journey was made | The reason on each row: yours, or the default you chose under Settings › Business journey reasons. |
| The total kilometres for the period, the business kilometres, and business as a percentage of the total | The totals at the foot, with private distance shown as the period's odometer span less business. |
| The car's make, model, engine capacity and registration | The heading, from the car's details in the app. |
| Each entry made at the end of the journey, or as soon as possible afterwards | The date each entry was made is printed. A change made after an entry's first week is listed in the change log at the end, with what the entry said before. |
| Entries in English | Always, whatever language the phone is set to. Distances are in your distance unit; set it to kilometres for the ATO. |
A sample logbook
This is the document the app exports, on made-up data: a car, twelve weeks, and the journeys inside them. Every column is there because the ATO asks for it, and the footnotes explain the two marks.
Twelve representative weeks
A logbook has to run for at least 12 continuous weeks, and the period has to be representative of your travel through the year. It is then valid for five years, unless your circumstances change. Two or more cars claimed in the same year need logbooks covering the same period.
Logbook periods, from the Report screen or Find your representative period on the Mileage screen, looks through your year's records and shows your whole year with its estimate, your representative period, your best and least twelve weeks for comparison, and the best stretch at several longer lengths. Shifts and business drives are counted the same way the logbook counts them, so a period's percentage is the one its document prints.
Use the representative period as your logbook: the shortest period that matches the rest of your year. The best twelve weeks are the highest your records allow, not a typical one. How RyeDC finds your representative period.
Entries made soon after the journey
The Act asks for each entry to be made at the end of the journey or as soon as possible afterwards, so check your drives while you still remember them. For a week after an entry is recorded you can correct it freely. After that you still can, but the logbook lists the change: what the entry said before, what it says now, and when you changed it. A drive deleted after its first week keeps a line with its dates, distance, destination and reason.
Odometer readings, and the drives between them
The percentage on a logbook rests on total distance, and the Act notes that a journey left out lowers the percentage the logbook shows. RyeDC measures business distance against how far your odometer moved, not against what it detected: distance it did not record counts in the total and never as business. Read the dash every few weeks with Update odometer; as you type, the app compares your reading with the drives since the last one and says when they disagree.
Keeping the records
Keep the logbook and your odometer records for five years after the last income year you rely on them. Every RyeDC report shows its dates and figures on screen, then exports as a PDF and an Excel file. On an iPhone the files are also kept in the Files app under RyeDC, so a copy is a share button away.
Does the ATO approve logbook apps?
No app is approved or certified by the ATO, RyeDC included. The ATO publishes what a logbook must hold, and RyeDC's logbook holds it. The ATO's own myDeductions tool in the ATO app keeps an electronic logbook too, and a paper logbook is still accepted. What RyeDC adds is the recording: drives picked up automatically, odometer readings checked against them, overlapping records flagged rather than silently merged, and your representative period found for you.
More than one car, or a new one
Each car keeps its own logbook. If you claim two cars in the same year, choose the weeks first and open each car's logbook for them, because one car's representative period rarely falls on the same weeks as another's. A car held for less than 12 weeks is logged for the whole time you held it. The Help's More than one car, or a new one covers replacing a car.
Guides
The car logbook for rideshare drivers follows the ATO's rules in order, with its examples of which trips are business. Logbook method or cents per kilometre? sets the two methods side by side. Tax basics for rideshare drivers covers the ABN, GST, tax invoices and the return. A car logbook template is a blank PDF with every field, for anyone keeping the logbook on paper.
This page is general information, not tax advice. The ATO's pages below are the source; a registered tax agent can say how they apply to you.
Sources
- Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, section 28-125, Keeping a log book. ATO legal database, read 27 September 2026. ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=PAC/19970038/28-125
- ATO, Logbook method (individuals), QC 107247, last updated 12 June 2026, read 27 September 2026. ato.gov.au › Expenses for a car you own or lease › Logbook method
- ATO, Logbook method (business), QC 33731, last updated 19 June 2024, read 27 September 2026. ato.gov.au › Deductions for motor vehicle expenses › Logbook method
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