How Many Kilometers Can You Claim Without Receipts

how many kilometers can you claim without receipts

If your work involves a lot of travelling by car, you probably already know ATO is giving you the possibility of claiming a deduction for car expenses.

But what if you lost or forgot to keep your receipts?

Let’s see how many kilometers can you claim without receipts in Australia and the ways to do it.

How Much Can You Claim Without Receipts

Rules for Claiming Deduction in Australia

The Australian law requires these basic rules for claiming a deduction for work expenses:

  • You have personally spent the money, and you didn’t receive a refund
  • The purpose of the costs is linked with you getting your income 
  • You have to prove your work expenses

Deductions You Don’t Need a Receipt For

Generally, to claim a tax deduction without a receipt is not recommended, as the ATO usually requires some kind of proof of your payment to make sure your claims are indeed work-related.

However, you can get a deduction without a receipt in particular cases like: 

  • You’re claiming up to $300 of expenses related to your business
  • Car expenses without a logbook where the method ‘cents per kilometre’ applies. The calculations for this method are explained below.
  • Petrol costs, if you keep a logbook with all of the kilometres travelled for business purposes. The deductible rate usually depends on the size of the car that you drive, and you will get a nominal rate for every kilometre.
  • Home office tax return for expenses with a fixed rate if you have payslips or have a timesheet when you have worked from home.

How Many Kilometers Can You Claim Without Receipts?

First of all, we need to define what types of vehicles may claim deductions. These include vehicles that carry loads less than one tonne and less than nine passengers. Most four-wheel-drive vehicles fall within this category.

A lot of Aussies ask “How much can I claim on my car without receipts and no written evidence?”.

There are two methods to calculate the deduction for car expenses in Australia:

1. The ‘cents per kilometre’ method – the main advantage of using this method is that you can claim a maximum of 5,000 kilometres you have made for business with one car in a financial year. You can do this without the obligation to provide any additional proof like receipts, petrol usage, and the exact number of kilometres passed. The employees of the ATO can only ask you to explain how you worked out your business kilometres

The rate is 72 cents per kilometre for the 2021-2022 tax year, and you work out the deduction by simply multiplying this sum by the number of the business kilometres passed.

Another reason you should use this calculation method is that the rate you will get paid takes into consideration car maintenance, like registration, servicing, insurance, and fuel.

2. Keeping a logbook with your car’s mileage – using this method, you can claim fuel and oil costs which are based on your receipts or the estimated expenses based on the odometer readings (in this case you don’t need to provide the receipts).

The logbook period must cover at least 12 continuous weeks, and you must keep it, along with the odometer records, until the end of the income year and for another five years.

Exactly what car expenses are tax deductible? You can claim a deduction if you are using your own car (this includes leasing or hiring under an agreement) and:

  • fulfilling your work duties (e.g. travelling to a meeting from your regular place you work)
  • attending conferences or meetings in a different location than your workplace
  • delivering or collecting items
  • travelling between two different sites when both of them aren’t your home
  • travelling from your usual workplace to an alternative workplace and the way back, or back to your home
  • going from your regular workplace or your home to an alternative workplace

If you want to learn what is a far car allowance is in Australia and what that covers, read this insightful guide

What Can I Claim on Tax without Receipts

The Australian Taxation Office can make exceptions in case you don’t have the receipt in some instances, or the receipt is faded and no longer readable. There are three things you can do for your tax refund without a receipt:

  • Bank statements – if you choose to use bank statements, they should be precise, providing proof of the amount you have spent and a detailed product description. 
  • Asking for income statements from your accountant – having the income statement can help you determine if you have any additional deductions to claim that you haven’t thought of.
  • Getting a new receipt from the retailer or your online account – for your tax refund, you can try to get a replacement receipt from the retailer where you have purchased the goods.

Things ATO doesn’t Allow

People are trying to get tax deduction without receipt in different ways. The most common excuses that will lead to your claim being denied are:

  • Paying in cash and not having a receipt
  • Showing only a picture of the item as a proof without a bank statement or receipt 
  • Advertisement or catalogue that doesn’t prove that you have bought the item

Regarding the car work expenses, the ATO doesn’t allow claiming money for costs made for your commute from home to work. There are exceptions to this rule, however, such as:

  • Your home was a base of employment
  • Your workplace isn’t fixed and you regularly travel from one place of work to another
  • You are required to carry large or heavy equipment that is essential to perform your work and cannot be stored otherwise

In case your costs were for both work and private purposes, you can only get a deduction for the money you spent for work.

Furthermore, you can’t claim a deduction if:

  • the car belongs to someone else – the ATO also doesn’t allow deductions if you don’t own or lease the car yourself. 
  • the vehicle is not defined as a car but falls under a different category.

For other vehicles, such as scooters, motorcycles, or trucks, you won’t be able to claim expenses using these methods, but rather claim the actual costs related to using the vehicle for work.

Another situation where you cannot get a deduction for the car expenses is if your employer is already giving you a refund for any of these costs. The ATO warns they may check with your employer if they get suspicious.

Conclusion

When it comes to taxes, the biggest dilemma is what you can claim. After reading our guide on how many kilometres can you claim without receipts, we hope you’re more familiar with the tax deduction system in Australia.

FAQs:

1. How much can you claim without receipts ATO?

The general rule of the Australian Taxation Office is that you can claim up to $300 without receipts. You won’t need any kind of proof for the expenses. However, you’ll need to explain the expense, how you have paid for it, and the relation of the expense to your work.

2. Can I claim 5000 km without a logbook?

Yes, you can claim up to 5,000 business kilometres without a logbook and get 72 cents per kilometre. This method is called ‘cents per kilometre’. The only catch is that you will need to explain the calculation of the kilometres you want to claim, and how you worked the distance out. 

Aside from knowing how many kilometres can you claim without a receipt, we advise you to use the ATO app called ‘myDeduction’. It will come in handy for you to calculate the kilometres you have passed for work-related purposes.  

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