If you use a car—or any other vehicle—in your business, it is likely one of your most important tools. Similarly, the expenses related to your vehicle and the business trips made with it are one of the most important areas that need to be properly documented in your business operations.
AsLight Pro Light user, or if you are still interested in the service, you should note the items listed below so that your vehicle is taken into account in the accounting in a way that allows you to get the most out of it.
Adding car information
Add your car details Truster. We don't ask for this information so that we can award style points for the vehicle you drive, but because it plays an important role in your accounting.
The minimum information required is the vehicle registration number, the percentage of company use (above or below 50%), and the value of the vehicle in euros.
How is the value of a car verified?
If you bought your car less than a year ago, add the bill of sale. If you don't have the bill of sale, or if it's more than a year old, you can get a price estimate from a car dealership or easily online, for example from the Alma Ajo service.
Here's how to request a free quote online:
- Go to Alma Ajo service
- Add your car's registration number and mileage
- Fill in the required information and click Log in or create an Alma account.
- Take a screenshot of the price estimate in the Timeline section.
The price estimate must include the registration number, estimated price, and date on which the estimate was requested.
Add a price estimate Truster : Open Menu and click Vehicle Information.
What are the benefits of using a car?
This depends on how much you use your car for business trips. The aforementioned information on car usage is therefore important.
If you use your car for business purposes more than 50% of the time, i.e., your car is used more for business than for personal purposes, the tax authorities will consider your car to be a company vehicle. In this case, your car and related expenses, such as fuel, washing, and maintenance, are taken into account as expenses on your annual tax return.
If you use your car for less than 50% of business trips, i.e., your car is used more for personal than business trips, your car is considered your personal vehicle in the eyes of the tax authorities. In this case, you can claim mileage allowances based on your driving log on your annual tax return.
An important part of this is the driving log, which determines the ratio of company and personal driving. This information is necessary in order to meet the requirements of the Tax Administration.
Keeping a driving log
You can only deduct expenses incurred by your vehicle if you have kept a logbook of your working hours in accordance with the tax authorities' guidelines. If you drive a lot, keeping a logbook may seem like a lot of work, but any additional taxes (i.e., fines) or other tax-related problems will certainly seem even greater. So, you must keep a logbook!
The following information must be recorded for each individual work shift
- Start and end times of the trip (date and time)
- Start and end locations, and if necessary, the route taken (exact addresses)
- Driven kilometres
- Purpose of the trip
- Odometer reading at the start and end of the journey
- Driver information
- Kilometers driven by car during the year
The format of the driving log is optional. You can record the information manually in a notebook, in an Excel spreadsheet on your computer, or use an app designed for this purpose. Our favorite is an app called Driversnote, which saves you a lot of manual work.
As an entrepreneur, you must keep driving logs for at least 6 years.
Car expenses on your tax return
The typical useful life of a car is more than three years, and the purchase price is more than €1,200. For this reason, the car is reported as an annual depreciation of up to 25% on the tax return. The purchase price (of the car) is therefore divided into parts for different years.
When the residual value (remaining value) is €1,200 or less, it can be written off in one go.
Driversnote – what is it, where can you get it, and how much does it cost?
Driversnote is a driving log app that makes your everyday life significantly easier. All you have to do is press Start at the beginning of your commute and Stop at the end—the app takes care of the rest. Only track your work trips; do not record any personal trips in the app. The proportion of personal trips is calculated from the difference between your recorded work trips and total kilometers.
Once you have kept a meticulous record of your working hours throughout the year, there is only one task left to do. Create a report covering the entire year. You must keep this report for at least six years. Report the mileage indicated in the report in the tax return questionnaire that we send you at the beginning of each year.
Pro Driversnoten Pro costs €11 per month, but through us you can get the app with a 20% discount!
- Log in or create a Driversnote account via this link to activate your discount.
- Please contact our customer service to receive an invitation link that will allow you to join the Truster team.
Traditional driving logbook
If apps aren't your thing, you can also download a free driving logbook that you can fill out electronically or, more traditionally, print out and fill out with a pen.
Whether you have entered the information into your driving log on a computer or written it down by hand throughout the year, please send us your driving logs for the entire year at the end of the year.