Vehicle: deducting your expenses and keeping your logbook
Gas, insurance, maintenance, leasing: the business portion of your vehicle expenses is deductible, as long as you can prove it. The logbook, the 2026 limits and the traps to avoid.
Do you use your car to visit clients or pick up supplies? Part of your vehicle expenses is deductible. Everything rests on one number, the share of kilometres driven for business, and on how you prove it.
Deductible expenses
- Fuel and oil, or electricity for an electric vehicle.
- Car insurance.
- Registration and licence.
- Maintenance and repairs.
- Interest on a car loan, or leasing costs.
- Capital cost allowance (CCA) if you own the vehicle.
Parking paid for a business meeting is fully deductible, without applying the business-use proportion.
The business-use proportion
Only the business share is deductible:
Business kilometres ÷ total kilometres for the year
An example
Marc drove 30,000 km in 2026, 12,000 km of them for his business, or 40%. His expenses for the year (gas, insurance, maintenance, registration) total $7,500. He can deduct 40% of that, or $3,000, plus CCA calculated on the same proportion.
What counts as a business trip
Visiting a client, a supplier, a bank for the business or a work site: these are business trips.
Travel between your home and your usual place of business, on the other hand, is generally personal. This changes if your home office is the base of your operations: your trips to clients then start from home.
The logbook
In an audit, the CRA and Revenu Québec will ask you to justify your proportion. The recognized way is a logbook that records, for each business trip:
- the date;
- the destination;
- the purpose of the trip;
- the number of kilometres.
Also note the odometer reading at the start and end of the year, and every time you buy, sell or trade in a vehicle.
The simplified logbook
Keeping a full logbook all year is demanding. The CRA accepts a lighter approach: after a complete 12-month base year, you can keep the logbook for a sample period of three consecutive months in the following years, as long as your use stays within 10% of the base year. The year's proportion is then calculated from the sample.
The 2026 limits
For a passenger vehicle, some amounts are capped. The limits announced by the Department of Finance Canada for 2026:
| Limit | 2026 amount |
|---|---|
| Maximum depreciable cost (class 10.1), vehicle acquired in 2026 | $39,000 before taxes |
| Maximum depreciable cost, zero-emission vehicle (class 54) | $61,000 before taxes |
| Deductible interest on a car loan | $350 per month |
| Deductible leasing costs | $1,100 per month before taxes |
These limits apply before the business-use proportion is calculated. They are set by the federal government; check Revenu Québec's publications for the ones that apply to your Quebec return.
In MKronos
The Vehicle module records your vehicle, its total mileage and its business share, which applies automatically to your vehicle expenses. The Logbook tab keeps your trip log: date, destination, client, purpose and distance, with your usual trips added in one click. A logbook kept in Excel can be imported, and its total feeds your business mileage directly.
Official sources
This article provides general information, current as of its publication date. It does not replace advice from a professional who knows your situation.
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