If you are a husband and wife couple and both salary and wage earners, then if you both have to undertake business related travel and are required to use your own car, then you can each claim car expenses even if you have only one car.
Where the car is jointly owned, the ATO accepts that joint owners use the car separately for income-earning purposes. Accordingly joint owners of a car can each elect to use different methods from each other in calculating and claiming their car expense deductions.
For example, one owner can use the cents per km method and the other can use the log book method.
If you do not wish to go through the onerous task of keeping a log book, then the ATO accepts that the 5,000 business kilometres limit under the ‘cents per km’ method applies per taxpayer in relation to a particular car. You are however required to show that the claim was calculated on a reasonable basis. Accordingly we recommend that you keep a travel diary of regular and irregular trips to support a reasonable estimate of the number of business kilometres travelled by the car during the income year.
Research and Development Claims for Vehicle in Gold Coast
If the car is not jointly owned, then you should consider a ‘declaration of joint ownership’ to establish that you are joint owners of the car for purposes of claiming car expenses.
Also where an individual owns or leases more than one car, under the ‘cents per km' method, the individual is able to claim up to 5,000 business kilometres for each car they own or lease. This is because the cents per km method is applied in respect of business kilometres travelled in a particular car by a taxpayer. Therefore you can claim 5,000 business kilometres on your joint ownership car and also another car registered in your name.
Newer: Tax Residency Advice for Renting your Home
Older: Residential Rental Property Deduction Changes & Rental Property Advice in Gold Coast Area
Back to All News