Logbook: tax authority requirements and template 2026

When a driving log is needed

The Finnish Tax Administration does not require every motorist to keep a driving log, but you must always be able to prove the number of kilometres when claiming a tax-free reimbursement or deduction for trips. In practice, a driving log is the surest way to do so.

The most common situations are these:

• A sole proprietor drives the business's trips in their own or the business's car. According to Vero.fi, kilometres driven in business activity must be documented with a driving log or other reliable record.
• Whether a car belongs to business activity is decided by kilometres: if more than 50 percent of the driving is business driving, the car belongs to business activity.
• An employee or limited company shareholder receives a mileage allowance via a travel expense claim. The details for the claim are easiest to compile from a driving log.
• Company car user: the taxable value of the car benefit is increased if private driving exceeds 18,000 kilometres per calendar year or 1,500 kilometres per month of use. The kilometre figure is easier to report when trips have been logged.
• Special situations in car taxation, such as taxis, employment vehicles registered abroad and cars on sales display. The Finnish Tax Administration has issued a separate decision on driving logs for them (14.12.2020).

What entries the Finnish Tax Administration (Verohallinto) requires

According to the Finnish Tax Administration's guidance for entrepreneurs, at least the following details of business-related trips are recorded in the driving log. The same details also work as a basis for an employee's travel expense claim.

In addition, the total number of kilometres driven in the car during the year must be recorded. Without it, it is not possible to show what share of the journeys was work driving.

• start and end time of the trip (date and time)
• departure and destination and, if necessary, the route
• trip length in kilometres
• purpose of the trip, e.g. client or work site
• odometer reading at the start and end of the trip
• car user

What counts as private driving

Private trips are all trips other than those made for work or business activity. According to Vero.fi, for example, trips from home to the company's place of business are not business trips, and with a company car, trips between home and workplace count as private use. Travel costs between home and workplace can be claimed as a deduction in your own tax return.

So record every trip, including private ones. For private trips, the date, odometer readings and a note that it was a private trip are usually enough for the year's kilometres to add up.

Mileage allowance 2026

According to the Finnish Tax Administration's decision, the tax-free mileage allowance for an own car in 2026 is at most 0,55 euros per kilometre. The basic amount can be raised, for example, by 9 cents per kilometre when a trailer is attached to the car, and by 4 cents per kilometre for each other person whose transport is the employer's responsibility.

For a car benefit (usage) car, up to 11 cents per kilometre can be paid tax-free in 2026. A mileage allowance is generally not paid for a free car benefit car.

A sole proprietor cannot pay themselves a tax-free mileage allowance, but can make a deduction of a corresponding amount in taxation. A shareholder or partner in a limited company, general partnership or limited partnership can receive a tax-free allowance from the company when the conditions of the cost decision are met and a travel expense claim is made in the company's bookkeeping.

Electronic or paper logbook

The Tax Administration's guidance used as sources for this guide has no list of approved driving log apps or a separate approval procedure. The content is what matters: the entries must show the information listed above.

The driving log decision concerning car taxation states directly that a driving log may be on paper or electronic. The same decision requires that the driving log be kept so that the original information can be verified, and that it be presented to the Finnish Tax Administration on request. These principles are a good guideline for any other driving log too.

If you use a GPS app, check that you can add the purpose of each trip and export the data to your own archive. A route map alone, without a purpose, does not show whether the trip was work-related.

Template: driving log entries

Below is a fictional example. Copy the header row into a spreadsheet and fill in the parts in square brackets with your own details. Keep one row per trip.

Most common shortcomings

With a ready-made template, the rows, summaries and mileage allowance calculation stay in order. Tutkat.fi has a tool for this, "Driving log and mileage allowance", but the template above is quite enough to get started. For advice on your own tax situation, turn to the Finnish Tax Administration (Verohallinto) and an accounting firm.

• Trips are logged afterwards by estimation, and there are no odometer readings.
• The purpose of the trip is missing or too general, for example just "work trip".
• Private trips are left unrecorded, so the year's kilometres do not add up.
• The app's data exists only in the service and has not been saved anywhere.
• The kilometres on the travel expense claim do not match the driving log.

Frequently asked questions

Calculate it yourself

• Driving cost calculator: petrol or electric car? · free
• Company car calculator: taxable value of the car benefit 2026 · free

Ready-made tools

• Car annual cost calculator · Fuel or electricity, insurance, tax, servicing and depreciation
• Logbook and mileage allowance · Trips with odometer readings, mileage allowance 2026 and a monthly summary

Sources

1. Finnish Tax Administration: Vehicle expenses (business and professional income)
2. Finnish Tax Administration: Mileage allowance and daily allowance
3. Finnish Tax Administration decision on tax-free reimbursements of travel costs in 2026
4. Finnish Tax Administration decision on the driving log to be kept on the use of a vehicle
5. Finnish Tax Administration: Increase in the car benefit value
6. Finnish Tax Administration: Trips made with a company car

The article is general information and does not replace the guidance of an authority, a lawyer or an adviser. Check up-to-date information from the sources.

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