Tesla Logbook & Tax Guides
Plain-English guides to keeping an ATO-compliant logbook for your Tesla, claiming EV running costs, and getting your FBT and GST right. Grounded in current ATO guidance for the 2025-26 year.
How to keep an ATO-compliant logbook for your Tesla
To keep an ATO-compliant logbook for a Tesla, record a continuous period of at least 12 weeks that is representative of your typical driving. For each business journey, log the start and end dates, the odometer readings at the start and end of the trip, the kilometres travelled and the reason for the trip, plus the odometer reading at the start and end of the period. The resulting business-use percentage is valid for five years unless your pattern of use changes materially.
→Your Tesla is FBT-exempt — so why do you still need a logbook?
Yes. An eligible battery-electric car below the fuel-efficient luxury car tax threshold ($91,387 for 2025-26) is exempt from Fringe Benefits Tax, but the private use is still a reportable fringe benefit. The employer must calculate the notional taxable value to work out the employee's reportable fringe benefits amount, and that calculation relies on the operating cost method — which requires a complying 12-week logbook.
→How to claim your Tesla's charging and running costs
If you use your Tesla for business, you can claim the business-use percentage of all actual running costs — including charging electricity, servicing, insurance, registration, interest and decline in value — but only with a complying logbook. Without one, you are limited to the cents-per-kilometre method: 88c per business kilometre for 2025-26, capped at 5,000 business kilometres ($4,400), with no separate claim for actual costs.
→Be first to keep your Tesla logbook audit-proof.
Based on ATO guidance on the logbook method, car fringe benefits and GST. Informational only — not tax advice.
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