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SARS: Travel eLogbook 2025_26
- 14 April 2025
- SARS Issues
- South African Accounting Academy
Summary:
SARS has published the Travel eLogbook for use by taxpayers to record their daily business travel for the 2025/26 tax year.
Article:
If you receive a travel allowance from an employer or principal, you can claim a deduction on assessment of your annual income tax return for the use of a private motor vehicle for business purposes.
It is compulsory to keep a logbook of all travel in which the taxpayer records their business kilometres if you want to claim a travel deduction.
This handy document sets out how a taxpayer should go about calculating a travel deduction if they are in receipt of a travel allowance.
Without a logbook, a taxpayer will not be able to claim a travel deduction, i.e. the cost of business travel against your travel allowance.
The logbook must contain the following minimum information relating to your business travel:
- Date of travel
- Kilometres travelled
- Travel details (where to and reason for the trip)
What you need to do:
- Record your motor vehicle’s odometer reading on 1 March, i.e. on the first day of a tax year.
- Make sure that you keep a logbook throughout the year. Note that it is not necessary to record details of private travel but you must record details of business travel. You may make use of the SARS eLogbook
- Record your motor vehicle’s closing odometer reading on the last day of February (28/29) of the next year, i.e. on the last day of the applicable tax year.
- Calculate your total kilometres for the full year (closing kilometres less opening kilometres).
- Calculate your total business kilometres for the year (sum of all business kilometres).
Refer to https://www.sars.gov.za/types-of-tax/personal-income-tax/travel-e-log-book/ for details on:
- What do I record in my logbook?
- How do I work out how much I can claim?
Click here to download the Travel eLogbook:
https://www.sars.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/Docs/Logbook/2025-26-SARS-eLogbook.pdf
Relevance to Auditors, Independent Reviewers & Accountants:
- The Income Tax Act is yet another piece of legislation that your clients must comply with, and which you must assess compliance with. If they don’t comply with the relevant laws and regulations, you have certain reporting obligations in terms of NOCLAR (NOn-Compliance with Laws And Regulations) – this could include reporting to management, qualifying your audit opinion, reporting a Reportable Irregularity, etc.
- As an auditor, independent reviewer or accountant, you need to consider the latest publications and tools that have been issued by Regulatory bodies, e.g. SARS.
- As a tax practitioner, you need to advise your clients on the latest publications available from SARS to facilitate any travel deduction.
- As a taxpayer who receives a travel allowance, you also need to keep a logbook which records your business travel in order to claim the relevant deduction at the end of the tax year.
Relevance to Your Clients:
- As a taxpayer who receives a travel allowance, your clients need to keep a logbook which records their business travel in order to claim the relevant deduction at the end of the tax year.