Driver's Logbook
Contents
Who needs a digital logbook:
A driver's logbook has the basic purpose of documenting the distances travelled with a vehicle as well as the respective reason for the journey. If self-employed persons or employees use a car registered with the company, the tax office generally assumes that the aforementioned groups of persons use the vehicle not only for trips of the company but also for private matters. In most cases, the pecuniary advantage resulting from the car must be taxed.
Two options are available for this purpose: Either the car is estimated with a lump sum according to the one percent rule (in Germany) - or the frequency and duration of all business and private trips with the car is documented in a detailed logbook. Although the latter method involves some effort, it can result in attractive tax benefits. However, the requirements and the declared information of the tax authorities must be met:
A separate logbook must be kept for each vehicle
Information on the registration number of the vehicle concerned
Indication of the respective driver
Information on the exact mileage at the beginning of the trip and the exact mileage at the end of the trip, as well as the driven kilometers
Documentation of the period of the trip
The manual entry and specification of the individual trips quickly leads to a lot of work. Without a supporting technology, it does not take long until the administration is not efficient with manual work.
Advantages and benefits of a digital logbook
The use of an electronic logbook offers many advantages and often leads to lower costs, especially when there are many trips for the company and few private trips. In general, the following advantages can be mentioned:
significant time saving,
Clear overview and hardly any errors
Security towards the tax office,
Generally lower costs and tax advantages compared to the one percent rule,
electronic evaluation of the driving data.
Applications for managing digital driver's logbooks are mainly based on standard software products. Depending on the size of the company, the number of company vehicles and the degree of internationalization, different solutions with different functionalities are possible. If a company grows over time, the requirements and thus the necessary functions of the digital logbook also grow. It can therefore happen that the previous functions are no longer sufficient over time and a change must be considered in order to take into account the increasing level of information for the company.
brixxbox Low-Code-Plattform: Driver's Logbook template
With the "brixxbox" cloud software, companies can digitize processes quickly and easily. Thanks to the underlying modular principle, necessary adjustments and extensions can be made in the software at any time at the request of management or other employees in order to process additional data in the system. Adjustments in the system do not affect the productive operation of the software in the respective company in any way.
The provided templates serve as configuration examples. Different approaches shall be illustrated. The templates can be supplemented after the import as desired, or used as templates for own applications or entire systems.
In practice, the digital driver's logbook could be used by:
freelancers
to digitally manage the existing company vehicle, document the respective trips with all the data and evaluate them if required.
Extract of the functions
Documentation of the driver, the registration number
Recording of the kilometers at the start and at the end of the trip and determination of the driven kilometers
Differentiation between business and private trips with regard to taxation
Use as cell phone app possible
Use as app for tablets possible
You can find further information at https://brixxbox.net
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