RyeDCLogbook method or cents per kilometre?
Australia has two ways to claim a car's expenses. One pays a set rate per kilometre and stops at 5,000 kilometres a year. The other claims the business share of what the car actually cost, and needs a logbook. You can use a different method for each car, and change from one year to the next. Here is what each asks, from the ATO's own pages. General information, not tax advice.
Side by side
| Cents per kilometre | Logbook method | |
|---|---|---|
| What you claim | A set rate for each work-related kilometre. | The work-related share of your actual car expenses: fuel, electricity, servicing, registration, insurance, interest, lease payments and the decline in value. |
| The rate | 91 cents a kilometre for 2026–27. 88 cents for 2024–25 and 2025–26. | No rate. Your expenses, multiplied by the percentage your logbook shows. |
| The limit | 5,000 work-related kilometres per car per year. Kilometres above that claim nothing. | No cap on kilometres. The percentage applies to every expense of the car. |
| The logbook | None. | At least 12 continuous weeks, broadly representative of your travel, valid for five years. |
| Odometer readings | None asked for. | At the start and end of the logbook period and of each journey, and at the start and end of each year you rely on the logbook. |
| Receipts | None. | Fuel and oil receipts, or a reasonable estimate from odometer readings. Receipts for everything else. |
| What you must still show | How you worked out your work-related kilometres, such as a diary, and that you own the car. | The logbook, the odometer records and the receipts, for five years after the last year you rely on them. |
| Decline in value | Included in the rate. Not claimed separately. | Claimed as a car expense, up to the car limit. |
The sums
Cents per kilometre. Multiply the work-related kilometres for the year, up to 5,000, by the rate for that income year. The rate covers everything: decline in value, registration, insurance, maintenance, repairs and fuel. Nothing is added on top.
Logbook. Work out the total kilometres in the logbook period, then the work-related kilometres in it. Divide one by the other and multiply by 100 for your percentage. Add up the car's expenses for the year you are claiming, and multiply by the percentage.
An illustration, with made-up figures. A car travels 30,000 km in a year, 20,000 of them for work, and costs $12,000 to run, decline in value included. Under cents per kilometre the claim is 5,000 × $0.91, or $4,550, and the other 15,000 work kilometres claim nothing. Under the logbook method a logbook period showing 67 per cent work use claims 67 per cent of $12,000, or $8,040, with receipts to match. Your figures will differ, and the ATO's Work-related car expenses calculator takes your own.
Rideshare and the cap
The ATO's ride-sourcing page says you will likely use the car for both ride-sourcing and private use, so car expenses have to be apportioned, and it names the same two methods. The cap is the deciding number. Once a car's business kilometres pass 5,000 for the year, the cents per kilometre method claims nothing for the rest, while the logbook method's percentage applies to all of the car's costs. Its price is the record-keeping: a logbook kept at the time, odometer readings and receipts.
Changing your mind
You can use a different method for each car, and change the method for a car from one year to the next. The one thing you cannot do is use the logbook method without a valid logbook. If you have none, the cents per kilometre method may be the one left. A logbook kept now keeps both choices open at tax time.
Keeping both open with RyeDC
RyeDC records each drive with its odometer readings, its distance, its destination and its reason, whether tracking picks it up or you log a shift from the dash. For the cents per kilometre method that is the record of how you worked out your work-related kilometres. For the logbook method it is the logbook itself, printed for any period as the document the ATO describes, with the representative period found for you. The mileage report adds up the year's shifts and drives, as PDF or Excel.
Related guides
The car logbook for rideshare drivers walks through the logbook method's rules. 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 the logbook method asks for.
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. The rate is the one the ATO publishes for the income year named, and changes each year.
Sources
- Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, section 28-25, How to calculate your deduction (cents per kilometre). ATO legal database, read 14 October 2026. ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=PAC/19970038/28-25
- ATO, Expenses for a car you own or lease, QC 72124, last updated 4 May 2026, read 14 October 2026. ato.gov.au › Motor vehicle and car expenses › Expenses for a car you own or lease
- ATO, Cents per kilometre method (individuals), QC 107246, last updated 12 August 2026, read 14 October 2026. ato.gov.au › Expenses for a car you own or lease › Cents per kilometre method
- ATO, Logbook method (individuals), QC 107247, last updated 12 June 2026, read 14 October 2026. ato.gov.au › Expenses for a car you own or lease › Logbook method
- ATO, Cents per kilometre method (business), QC 33712, last updated 27 May 2026, read 14 October 2026. ato.gov.au › Deductions for motor vehicle expenses › Cents per kilometre method
- ATO, Income and deductions for ride-sourcing, QC 59250, last updated 20 August 2025, read 14 October 2026. ato.gov.au › Ride-sourcing › Income and deductions for ride-sourcing
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