Updated November 2026
Work-related car expenses: what the ATO lets you claim
If you use your own car for work — not just to get there — you can deduct the work share of what it costs to run. Two rules decide most claims: which trips count, and whether the vehicle is a "car".
What counts as a car expense
| Car expenses (the work share is deductible) | Not car expenses |
|---|---|
| Fuel and oil | The purchase price of the car |
| Repairs, servicing, maintenance and cleaning | Principal repayments on a car loan |
| Registration and insurance | Modifications and improvements (added to the car's cost for decline in value instead) |
| Interest on a car loan, lease payments | Parking and tolls (claimed separately) |
| Decline in value of the car |
Source: the ATO's expenses for a car you own or lease.
Can you claim? The ATO's conditions
- It's a car: a motor vehicle carrying less than one tonne and fewer than 9 passengers, driver included. EVs, plug-in hybrids and hybrids count if they fit that. Motorcycles don't.
- You own or lease it: including hire purchase, or a family member's car where a private arrangement makes you the owner — for example you bought it from them and pay all the running costs, even if the rego is still in their name.
- The trips are for work (see below).
- You paid and weren't reimbursed.
- You have the records the method you choose requires.
If the travel is partly private, only the work share is deductible.
Trips you can and can't claim
| Usually claimable | Usually not claimable |
|---|---|
| Regular workplace → client meeting | Home → regular workplace and back |
| Between your employer's workplaces, or between clients | …even if you live a long way away or there's no public transport |
| Between two separate jobs (neither at home) | …even for shift work, overtime or on-call/standby |
| Home → an alternative workplace, e.g. a training venue | …even if you pick up the mail on the way or do some work at home |
| Delivering items or collecting supplies | Home business → a job where you work for someone else |
Home-to-work trips can count in three limited cases: your home is a base of employment (you must start the duties at home and finish them at work), you must carry bulky tools or equipment with no secure storage at work, or you do itinerant work with shifting places of work. Details and examples are on the ATO's trips you can and can't claim page.
Two ways to work out the deduction
| Cents per kilometre | Logbook method | |
|---|---|---|
| Claim | 91c per work km (2026–27) | Work-use % × actual car expenses |
| Cap | 5,000 work km per car ($4,550.00) | None |
| Records | How you worked out your work km, e.g. a diary | 12-week logbook with odometer readings + receipts |
With more than one car you can use a different method for each, and you can change method between income years for the same car. More detail: cents per kilometre · ATO logbook method.
Work out your cents-per-kilometre deduction
Every forgotten trip is money left unclaimed. Odo records each drive for you automatically →
Uses the ATO cents per kilometre rate for 2026–27: 91c per km, capped at 5,000 business km per car per year.
Novated leases, utes, motorcycles and someone else's car
- Novated lease or salary sacrifice: you can't claim the running costs — you don't own or lease the car, and your employer usually pays them. Parking and tolls from your work use are still claimable.
- Not a car — a motorcycle or scooter, a ute, van or truck carrying one tonne or more, or a minibus for 9 or more people: neither method applies. You claim the work share of the actual expenses as a work-related travel expense, keeping receipts and evidence of your work-use percentage. The ATO suggests a logbook-style record as the easiest way to show that percentage.
- Someone else's car (including your employer's): also a work-related travel expense, for costs you actually paid.
Source: the ATO's vehicle that isn't yours or isn't a car. A car allowance from your employer is assessable income either way — it goes in your return, and the expenses are claimed separately.
Keeping the record without the shoebox
Whichever method you use, the ATO wants to see how you got to your work kilometres. Odo records each drive automatically with the date, start and end place, distance and the reason you add, and you mark each one work or private. That suits the cents-per-km method directly. It does not record odometer readings, so for the logbook method you'd still note the odometer yourself — it just makes sure no work trip goes missing.
Stop reconstructing your kilometres from memory
Odo logs your drives automatically in the background, you swipe each one business or personal, and it totals your deduction at the ATO's 2026–27 cents-per-km rate — with a CSV your tax agent can use.