![\"calculator-image-clipart-9\"](\"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/calculator-image-clipart-9.jpg\")
<\/a>he changes was meant to close this loophole so people who weren\u2019t on the logbook system paid a fair amount of tax.<\/p>\nThe good news is that keeping a logbook isn\u2019t all that hard.\u00a0 All you have to do is to write in the date of the trip, the purpose of the trip (which you can shorten down to \u201cbusiness\u201d and \u201cpersonal\u201d rather than trying to fit in \u201ctaking Amy to Sarah\u2019s birthday party and picking up a roll of wallpaper from the hardware store on the way back\u201d) and the odometer reading at the end of the trip. Then you have to work out how many clicks the trip took by subtracting the odometer reading at the end of the last trip from the end of the current trip \u2013 which requires a good head for mental arithmetic or a handy cellphone with a calculator app.\u00a0 Most of us, however, can rely on the trip computer that most modern cars come with.\u00a0 This sounds fiddly, but it\u2019s not that hard once you\u2019re into the swing of things.<\/p>\n
Naturally, people have already come up with smartphone apps for vehicle logbooks.\u00a0 Sole traders and the self-employed already have to keep logbooks, for example, so there\u2019s been plenty of time to develop them. I guess it\u2019s only a matter of time until someone comes up with an app that logs your trips and sends the info directly to the office bean-counters\u2026 or Big Brother.<\/p>\n
The big thing to know is the difference between what\u2019s considered a work trip and what is considered a personal trip.\u00a0 The real stinger here is that the commute to and from work is not considered to be a work or business trip \u2013 it\u2019s a personal trip.\u00a0 If you took the bus to work instead of chugging along in your little Peugeot 206<\/a>\u00a0hatchback or whatever you drive, you\u2019d have to fork out for the bus fare and your employers wouldn\u2019t have to pay your bus fare (in most cases, and we won\u2019t go into the subsidies that some eco-minded businesses have tried here).\u00a0 However, if you have to visit a client, make a delivery, pick up some supplies for the office or something like that, that\u2019s a business trip.<\/p>\n Logbooks aren\u2019t all that hard, so don\u2019t get into a panic if you have to keep one.\u00a0 You can still get a car as part of a salary package deal, and you can still claim some of the mileage back against tax.<\/p>\n