Mileage Log

The company car is a great perk - until the tax office asks about private use. Because anyone who also drives the car privately has a monetary benefit, and it needs to be taxed. There are two routes: the 1% rule, where one percent of the gross list price counts as income each month, or the mileage log, where you settle the private share against actual costs precisely. For expensive cars with little private use, the log is often significantly cheaper.

That is exactly where the tool comes in. You record every trip with date, start and destination, purpose, and the odometer reading at the beginning and end. Each trip you assign to one of three categories: business, private or commute. From these entries the log totals the kilometres per category and shows you the ratio of business to private use - the decisive figure for taxation.

A bar chart breaks the kilometres down by month and category, so you keep an eye on your usage over the year. That way you immediately see whether your private share is low enough that a log beats the flat rate. The tool contrasts the 1% rule with the log method so you make the decision with numbers rather than gut feeling.

Your entries are stored locally in your browser, so you can keep the log going over weeks and months without losing data. At the end you export everything as CSV for your own analysis or as PDF for your records. No account, no cloud, no sharing of your movement data.

An important note: the tax office places strict formal requirements on a log recognised for tax. It must be kept promptly, without gaps and in closed form, and loose notes or a spreadsheet created after the fact are regularly rejected. This tool helps you with recording and the comparison calculation, but it is not a substitute for a proper, tax-office-proof logbook. Clarify the formal requirements with your tax adviser if in doubt.

For the self-employed and employees with a company car, the tool is a strong helper nonetheless: it makes usage transparent, provides the numbers for the method choice and spares you the constant mental arithmetic. Whether a full log is worth the effort often shows after just the first few weeks of recording.