Trying to crack how to use a car log book?

Well, this is how to use and calculate the business percentage of a motor vehicle using a logbook for Australian Income Tax purposes:

• A logbook is a record of your car trips that shows the purpose, date, odometer readings and kilometres travelled for each journey. You need to keep a logbook for at least 12 continuous weeks during the income year to claim deductions for motor vehicle expenses.
• Each time you jump in the car to undertake a business trip, you simply record the journey.  The criteria are contained in the log and each component must be correctly filled in.  Those components are the purpose, date, odometer readings and kilometres travelled for each journey. 
• To calculate the business percentage of your car use, you need to divide the distance travelled for business by the total distance travelled in the logbook period, then multiply by 100. For example, if you travelled 6,600 km for business and 11,000 km in total, your business percentage is 60% (6,600 ÷ 11,000 × 100) .
• To calculate the amount, you can claim as a deduction, you need to add up your total car expenses for the income year, including fuel, oil, repairs, servicing, interest, lease payments, insurance, registration, and depreciation. Then multiply this amount by your business percentage. For example, if your total car expenses are $9,000 and your business percentage is 60%, you can claim $5,400 ($9,000 × 60%) as a deduction.
• You need to keep evidence of your actual fuel and oil costs or odometer readings to estimate them, as well as evidence of all your other car expenses. 
• Use the Gotax Deduction Grabber App to create and store your logbook electronically and to do all the other heavy duty calculations for you.
• Simply scan this QR code or visit the Deduction Grabber website to get more information.
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You should now have some understanding of how to use and calculate the business percentage of a motor vehicle using a logbook for Income Tax return. If you have any questions or need more information, visit the Gotax website, your Income Tax Professional and ask a question in our chat bot or use our contact page to get the tax answers you’re looking for.