Out of Office Car Expenses 2026-27: Logbooks and Claim Limits

If your job takes you out of the office, the car becomes part of the workday. Site visits, client meetings, depot runs, the trip to the supplier because someone ordered the wrong part. Working out what you can claim for that driving is where most people get tangled, especially when the same car does school pick-up on the way home.

The ATO's rules for 2026–27 follow the same shape they have for a while. There are two ways to calculate a car deduction, the cents per kilometre method and the logbook method, and the gap between what you could claim and what you actually claim usually comes down to how well you kept track.

One thing before we get into it: this is general information, not tax advice, and we're not registered tax agents. If your situation has a few moving parts, check the ATO's own pages or have a chat with a professional.

The short version: the normal commute doesn't count

The ATO is blunt about the everyday trip from home to your usual workplace and back. It's private travel, and it generally isn't deductible. That applies whether you're a PAYG employee, a sole trader or a subcontractor.

This is the bit that catches people out, because the trip feels like work. You're in the car because of the job. But the ATO treats the cost of getting yourself to the place you normally work as a personal cost of earning income, not a work expense.

Where it opens up is when the day stops looking like a straight commute.

When car expenses for out of office travel are claimable

The ATO's own guidance names the situations where a claim is available. Two of them matter most for anyone whose work moves around.

• Travelling between separate workplaces during the day.
• Using your car to carry bulky tools or equipment you need for work.

Travelling between separate workplaces

If you start at one site, drive to a second, then a third, those trips between workplaces are work travel. A tradie who starts at the yard, drives to a client's place, then swings past a supplier has a string of work trips through the day, and each of those legs is on the table.

The trip from home to the first workplace and the trip home from the last one are usually still private. That's why the order of your day matters so much when you're adding up kilometres. A day that starts and ends at the same site looks very different from a day that bounces between three.

Carrying bulky tools or equipment

If you have to load the ute or van with gear that can't reasonably be left on site or carried on public transport, the ATO recognises that some travel becomes work-related. There's a practical limit to this. A laptop in a backpack isn't bulky equipment. A welder, a compressor, a ladder or a full tool chest usually is.

The logic is simple enough. If you're only driving because the gear has to travel, the car is doing work.

The two methods for calculating your deduction

Once you've established that some of your driving is work-related, you pick a method. There are two: the cents per kilometre method and the logbook method. Both are legitimate. They just suit different cars and different habits.

Cents per kilometre

This is the simple one. You count your work-related kilometres and apply a rate set by the ATO. The method covers all car-related expenses in a single figure, including insurance, registration, annual repairs, maintenance and fuel costs.

Because it's a flat rate, you don't need to dig out every fuel docket or tally your rego bill. You do still need to be able to show how you arrived at your work kilometres, so a simple running record of trips pays off if you're ever asked.

Check the ATO's current rate for the income year you're claiming. The rate is reviewed and updated, so last year's figure isn't automatically this year's figure.

Logbook method

The logbook method works differently. You keep a logbook of your work travel, work out the percentage of your total kilometres that are work-related, then claim that percentage of your actual running costs.

That means the more your car costs to run, the more a logbook can be worth. A big fuel bill, a hefty insurance premium or a car loan with interest on it all flow into the calculation, where the flat-rate method would bundle them into one number.

The trade-off is bookkeeping. You need an accurate logbook and the records to back up the expenses you're claiming.

What you can claim under the logbook method

Under the logbook method, your claim is a percentage of the actual costs of running the car, so it's worth knowing what goes into the pot. The ATO lists the expenses that count.

• Fuel and oil
• Repairs and servicing
• Maintenance and cleaning
• Registration
• Insurance
• Interest on a car loan
• Lease payments
• Decline in value

Compare that with the cents per kilometre rate, which wraps the running costs into a single figure. If you're paying interest on a loan or lease payments on the car, the logbook method is generally the only way those costs get into your claim at all.

Where the claim limits actually bite

Plenty of people go looking for one magic number, but the limits are structural. They come from the method you choose and the records you keep.

• Private travel never counts. Only the work-related share of your kilometres is claimable, and the ATO expects you to be able to separate the two.
• Your method sets the ceiling. Cents per kilometre works off a rate per work kilometre, while the logbook works off your genuine work-use percentage. Both have their own limits set by the ATO, so check the current rules for your income year rather than working from memory.
• Your records set the real ceiling. A claim you can't substantiate is a claim you can't defend, no matter how reasonable it looks on paper.

There's also the question of who else drives the car. If a partner uses it for their own trips, that travel isn't yours and can't inflate your work-use percentage.

Keeping a logbook that holds up

A logbook isn't a rough mental note of "probably about 70 per cent work". It needs to reflect your actual travel, and the ATO's myTax instructions for work-related car expenses set out what you can claim and the records sitting behind it.

In practice, the people who get through a review without drama are the ones who record trips as they happen rather than trying to reconstruct a whole year in July. A quick note of the date, where you went and why takes seconds at the end of each trip and saves hours later. If you're working across multiple sites, the destinations themselves tell most of the story.

A court decision worth knowing about

The Full Federal Court has overturned a ruling on home office and car expense deductions, which is a useful reminder for anyone whose week is split between home and a workplace. Working from home doesn't automatically make your rent or your travel tax deductible.

That matters for out of office work in a practical way. If you've started doing more days at home and fewer on site, the travel that used to be part of your routine may not be claimable just because the desk moved. Test each trip on its own merits instead of assuming the pattern from last year still holds.

Common traps

• Claiming the full commute because you took a work call while driving.
• Bouncing between methods to see which one pays more, rather than sticking to the one you can support with records.
• Keeping a logbook full of trips that don't line up with your calendar, job sheets or diary.
• Forgetting that personal use by you or anyone else in the household has to be stripped out of the work percentage.
• Assuming a bulky tools claim covers a laptop bag.

Tools that make the paperwork less painful

Lodgya was built in Melbourne to deal with the shoebox of receipts problem, and car expenses sit right in the middle of it. The free car logbook and cents per kilometre calculator lets you run both methods before you commit to one, which is handy when you're not sure whether the logbook or the flat rate gives you a better outcome this year.

The Business and sole trader tracker keeps a mileage logbook alongside GST and BAS reconciliation, while the Personal tracker handles work-related deductions and receipts. There's a free tier with 10 entries if you want to test it out, then Personal at $4.95 a month or Pro at $9.95 a month. Your data stays yours, which is the whole point.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I claim car expenses for driving to work?

Normally no. The ATO treats the trip between home and your regular workplace as private travel, and it generally isn't deductible. The exceptions are situations like travelling between separate workplaces in the same day, or needing your car to carry bulky tools or equipment for work. If your day doesn't fit those patterns, the kilometres usually don't count.

What is the difference between the cents per kilometre method and the logbook method?

Cents per kilometre multiplies your work kilometres by a rate set by the ATO, and that single figure covers your running costs. The logbook method calculates your work-use percentage and applies it to your actual expenses, including fuel, servicing, insurance, registration, depreciation and interest. One is simpler, the other reflects what your car genuinely costs to run.

What car expenses can I claim with the logbook method?

Under the logbook method you claim a percentage of fuel and oil, repairs and servicing, maintenance and cleaning, registration, insurance, interest on a car loan, lease payments and the car's decline in value. Your work-use percentage determines how much of each of those costs ends up in your deduction, so the logbook needs to be accurate.

Can I claim car expenses without receipts?

Record keeping still applies, so don't bank on a receipt-free shortcut. The cents per kilometre method avoids keeping every fuel docket because it works off a rate, but you should still be able to show how you calculated your work kilometres. For the logbook method you need records of both your travel and your running costs. Confirm the details on the ATO website.

Do I need a logbook for the cents per kilometre method?

You're not keeping a logbook in the sense the logbook method requires, but you do need a reasonable record of your work-related trips and how you arrived at the total. A simple note of dates, destinations and purpose is enough to show your working if the ATO asks. Check the current ATO guidance for your income year.