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DE 5: Actual records
or “Keeping detailed records of business vehicle use”

You could also call this:

“Keeping a logbook to calculate business use of your car”

If you want to figure out how much you use your car for business, you can keep a logbook for a certain time. This is called a test period. The test period helps you work out the percentage of business use for your car during a specific time, which is called a logbook term.

When you use a logbook to show how much you use your car for business, you need to do two things:

  1. Write down information in the logbook during the test period.
  2. Keep track of how far you drive in total during the logbook term.

The logbook term can be a whole year or part of a year. By doing this, you can show how much of your car use is for business purposes.

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Next up: DE 7: Logbook requirements

or “Rules for keeping a vehicle logbook for business use”

Part D Deductions
Motor vehicle expenditure

DE 6Using logbook for test period

  1. A person may keep a logbook for a test period for the purpose of establishing the proportion of the business use of a motor vehicle for an income year, or part of an income year, that falls within a logbook term. If a person uses a logbook as a method of establishing the proportion of business use, they must also record the total distance travelled in each income year, or part of an income year, that falls within a logbook term.

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