How a logbook saves you tax

The short version

• No logbook means no travel claim — SARS: “Without a logbook you won’t be able to claim the cost of business travel against your travel allowance.” The full allowance is then taxed at your top rate.
• With a logbook you deduct the business kilometres, priced on the SARS cost scale or your actual car costs — whichever is higher, but never more than the allowance.
• A R6 000 a month allowance with 9 000 business km saves about R18 564 a year at a 31% tax rate (worked example below).
• Your employer already withholds PAYE on 80% of the allowance (20% if they accept you drive at least 80% for business), so without a logbook you also owe the tax on the rest when you file.

Three ways a car is paid for at work

The SARS cost scale, 2026/27

For years of assessment starting on or after 1 March 2026 (the tax year to 28 February 2027). The rate a km is the fixed cost divided by your total km for the year, plus the fuel cost and the maintenance cost — those two only if you paid all the fuel and all the maintenance yourself.

“Value” is what you paid for the car including VAT, but not finance charges or interest (for a lease, its cash value). Used the car for business for only part of the year? The fixed cost is cut in proportion to the days.

What SARS wants in the logbook

• The odometer reading on 1 March and on the last day of February — the difference is your total km for the year.
• For every business trip: the date, the km travelled, where you started, where you went and why.
• Home to the office and back is private, however far it is.
• Private trips need not be listed — they are the total less the business km.
• Keep it for five years from the date you submit the return; SARS can ask for it. An electronic logbook is accepted, and SARS publishes a free one.
• Claiming actual cost? Keep the fuel and repair slips, insurance and licence, and the purchase or lease agreement. Wear and tear is spread over seven years; you claim finance charges, not the instalments.

A worked example

Sipho earns a R6 000 a month travel allowance (R72 000 a year), drives a car that cost R350 000, does 30 000 km in the year, 9 000 of them for work, pays all his own fuel and maintenance, and has a top tax rate of 31%.

• Rate a km: R6.65 — R125 393 / 30 000 km = R4.18, plus R1.734 fuel, plus R0.74 maintenance.
• Cost-scale claim: R59 884 — 9 000 km x R6.65, under the R72 000 allowance, so all of it counts.
• Actual-cost claim: R28 500 — R45 000 running costs plus R50 000 wear and tear, x 30% business use. The cost scale wins.
• Without a logbook: R22 320 tax on the full R72 000.
• With a logbook: R3 756 tax on the R12 116 left — R18 564 saved.
• PAYE already taken: R17 856 (31% of 80%), so with the logbook about R14 100 comes back; without it he owes about R4 464 more.

Put in your own car and kilometres →

Where the figures come from

• Cost scale, R4.95 a km and the definition of value: Government Gazette 54228, notice 7182, 27 February 2026, for years of assessment from 1 March 2026. SARS (Gazette PDF), SARS Rate per Kilometre Schedule (2027 tax year).
• PAYE on 80% / 20% of the allowance: SARS Guide for Employers in respect of Allowances (effective 1 March 2026).
• What the logbook must show, five years, no logbook no claim: SARS Travel e-log book.
• Claim limited to the allowance, home-to-work is private, wear and tear over seven years: SARS travel allowance leaflet (2025 filing season).
• Not covered here: limits SARS may place on the vehicle cost used for wear and tear, and a company car (a fringe benefit, not an allowance). Check those with SARS or a tax practitioner.