Vehicle logbook in Finland 2026: required entries and a template

Karma Accounts · Published 2 November 2026

In Finland a vehicle logbook (ajopäiväkirja) is the usual evidence whenever your tax depends on how many kilometres were driven for work: tax-free kilometre allowances, a car benefit with little private driving, a sole trader's car deduction and VAT on a van. For each work trip it records the date and times, where the trip started and ended (and the route when needed), the odometer readings, the kilometres, the purpose and the driver. A log supports a tax treatment but does not create one, and other reliable evidence with the same content is also accepted. Paper, a spreadsheet or an app all work.

When you need a vehicle logbook, and what happens without one

Situation	What the log shows	Without reliable evidence
Your employer, or your own Oy, pays kilometre allowance for your own car	the kilometres behind each travel claim	the allowance is not shown to be tax-free
Car benefit with less than 18 000 km private driving a year	the basis for the lower kilometre-based value	the monthly value applies
Car benefit with over 30 000 km work driving a year	the basis for the 80 % basic value	the full value applies
Sole trader using a private car for business	business kilometres and the year's total	no additional deduction and no private-car costs deducted
Sole trader with the car in the business	the private share	the private share is estimated
VAT on a van, or on a passenger car used only for VAT-deductible business	the deductible share, or that there was no other use	no evidence for the deduction

Whether a car belongs in a toiminimi, the 2026 rates and the car benefit values are covered in a car in the business or in your own name, mileage and per diems 2026 and fringe benefits 2026. This article is about the logbook itself.

What each entry must contain: a template to copy

The requirements differ by purpose, so the middle column says which columns you need for what. Use the column names as the header row of a spreadsheet or a notebook page.

Column	Needed for	Example
Date	all	5.3.2026
Start and end time	all	8.10–17.40
From – to	all	office Pasila – client X Oy, Hervanta, Tampere – Pasila
Route	VAT always; otherwise where needed	via Hämeenlinna
Odometer start / end	car benefit, sole trader, VAT	48 301 / 48 653
Kilometres	all	352
Purpose	all	installation for client X Oy
Driver	car benefit, sole trader, VAT	M. Virtanen
Vehicle and rate per km	employee's travel claim	own car ABC-123, 0.55 €
Private kilometres	car benefit (each day); sole trader and van VAT (for the share)	18
Odometer at start and end of year	sole trader (the year's total)	46 900 / 61 200

For a car benefit, each day's kilometres are split into work and private, and a private trip needs only its kilometres. For VAT, keep one log per vehicle. A travel claim abroad also shows where each travel day ended.

App, Excel or paper?

The guidance sets out content, not a format. A GPS app records times, places and kilometres, but you still add the purpose and mark work or private; a spreadsheet or a notebook is just as valid. Record each trip promptly, once parked: a log rebuilt from memory months later is hard to rely on.

A sole trader with a recurring trip, such as weekly to the same client, can give its kilometres and how many times a year it was driven, plus the year's total.

Mileage allowance from an employer or your own Oy

What the Prepayment Decree requires here is the employee's travel claim (matkalasku), not a separate logbook. The claim shows the purpose, destination, route where needed, means of travel, start and end times, and, for a trip in your own car, the kilometres and the rate per kilometre. A log is the easy way to get those figures right, but the trip must still be a genuine work trip. Without a claim meeting the decree, the allowance is not shown to be tax-free and can be taxed as salary.

In 2026 the maximum is 0.55 euros a kilometre. It rises by 4 cents for each other person in the car whose transport is the employer's responsibility, such as a colleague on the same work trip. For trips from 1 January 2027 the base rate is 0.58 euros.

An employer that gives you a full car benefit cannot pay tax-free kilometre allowance for trips in that car. With a usage benefit, where you pay the fuel, the maximum is 11 cents a kilometre in 2026 (12 cents in 2027).

Car benefit: a log pays off below 18 000 km

The monthly car benefit value assumes 1 500 kilometres of private driving a month, 18 000 a year. If you consistently drive less privately, a log or other reliable record lets you use the lower kilometre-based value, and then consistently. Your employer may keep the monthly value in payroll; you then claim the lower value in your own tax assessment and show the log only if asked. Ordinary trips between home and your regular workplace are private; occasional emergency call-outs to the workplace outside working hours can count as work trips.

A log also matters for heavy work driving: if work driving exceeds 30 000 km in the year, the basic value falls to 80 %, and the log is checked at year end to confirm the limit was passed.

Sole trader: the 50 % test needs the year total

With a private car, a sole trader can claim an additional deduction (lisävähennys) for business kilometres up to the kilometre allowance rate, but only in a year when at least half of the driving was private. That test is made each tax year from the log; without the year's total kilometres no deduction is given, and a claim on weak evidence can bring a tax increase (veronkorotus). Whether the car is a business asset is judged over several years, so one year's swing past 50 % does not move it by itself. Trips between home and your permanent place of business are private. Depreciation and the private share of a business car are in the car article.

VAT on a van or a passenger car

The log documents use but creates no right to deduct. Only use in VAT-deductible business counts: not private driving, entertainment or VAT-exempt business.

Van (category N1, up to 3.5 tonnes): the VAT on purchase and running costs is deductible for the share of deductible use, and the log shows that share.
Passenger car, including a dual-purpose vehicle (kaksikäyttöauto) or a motorhome: the VAT is deductible only if the car is used exclusively for deductible business. Even a little private driving, an employee's commute included, removes the whole deduction.
Exceptions: a passenger car bought for resale, rental, professional passenger transport or driving instruction keeps the deduction for its deductible use, but not for the private share.

How long to keep a vehicle logbook

A business (sole trader keeping books, Oy, employer) keeps the log and travel claims as accounting material for at least six years from the end of the year in which the financial year ended. For a calendar year 2026, that is to 31 December 2032. See receipts and record keeping.
An employee keeping a log for a car benefit keeps it for three years after the end of the tax year: a 2026 log to the end of 2029.

Worked example: a month of entries and the allowance

Mira works for a small Oy in Helsinki and uses her own petrol car for client visits. Her odometer read 48 210 on 1 March 2026 and 49 540 on 31 March. Below is a summary of her work trips from the office; her full log and travel claim also give times, each client's name and address, and the driver.

Date	Trip and purpose	Odometer	Km
Tue 3.3.	Pasila – client meeting, Leppävaara – Pasila	48 236–48 264	28
Thu 5.3.	Pasila – installation, Hervanta, Tampere – Pasila	48 301–48 653	352
Tue 10.3.	Pasila – supplier, Vantaa – Pasila	48 790–48 836	46
Mon 16.3.	Pasila – client meeting, Porvoo – Pasila	48 902–49 006	104
Wed 25.3.	Pasila – trade fair, Lahti – Pasila	49 188–49 398	210
Fri 27.3.	Pasila – client meeting, Tapiola – Pasila	49 431–49 461	30
	Work kilometres		770

On 5 March a colleague came along for the whole trip, and the employer was responsible for her transport. The travel claim for March:

770 km × 0.55 = 423.50 euros
colleague on 5.3.: 352 km × 0.04 = 14.08 euros
tax-free total 437.58 euros

The month's total was 49 540 − 48 210 = 1 330 km, so 560 km was private. Had she instead driven a petrol company car in age group A with a full car benefit, a log showing 560 private kilometres, split by day, would give a running-cost part of 560 × 0.19 = 106.40 euros instead of 285 for the month, provided the kilometre method was used all year. A per diem for the Tampere trip is separate; see mileage and per diems.

Frequently asked questions

Is a vehicle logbook mandatory in Finland?

Whenever your tax depends on kilometres, the Tax Administration asks for a driving log or other reliable evidence of them, and a log is the practical way to give it. For an employer's kilometre allowance the formal requirement is the travel claim.

Does driving from home to the office count as business mileage?

Ordinary trips between home and your regular workplace or permanent place of business are private, for allowances, the car benefit, a sole trader's deduction and VAT. For a car benefit, occasional emergency call-outs can be an exception.

What we do

We check travel claims against the log before allowances are paid, run payroll for small companies, and claim a sole trader's car deduction in the sole trader accounting we keep. If you want the paperwork for your car set up correctly from the start, request a quote.

Sources

Please note: this is general information about Finnish rules, not advice for your own situation, and the rules change. Ask us before you act on it.

Payroll from the first hire

Payslips, the Incomes Register report within five days and the amounts to pay by the 12th worked out, for 15 € a payslip plus VAT. See payroll services.

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