Dutch mileage log: what goes in?

In short: for every trip, write down the date, the odometer reading at departure and arrival, the addresses and business or private, and do it as you drive. With a company car, this proves you drive no more than 500 private km a year. With your own car, it shows how many business kilometres you can deduct or get paid for.

Who needs one?

A mileage log (rittenregistratie) is a list of all your car trips. You need one when you want to show one of these things in the Netherlands:

• Company car, without the benefit added to your income (bijtelling). You drive no more than 500 private km a year. This applies to employees and to entrepreneurs with a car in their business.¹²
• Entrepreneur or freelancer with your own car. You deduct a fixed amount per business kilometre from your profit.⁴
• Employee with a mileage allowance. Your employer pays for your business kilometres and your commute.⁵
• VAT registered entrepreneur with a business car. At the end of the year you correct the VAT for private use.⁶

What goes in?

The Belastingdienst lists these details.¹ First, once per car:

1. The make
2. The model
3. The licence plate
4. The period you had the carGot it this year, or does it go? Then that period counts.

Then per trip:

1. The date
2. The odometer reading at departure and arrivalThe start reading is the end reading of the trip before.
3. The departure address and the arrival address
4. Business or private
5. Private detour kilometresDid you drive a private bit during a business trip? Then those kilometres.
6. The route, when it differsOnly when you did not take the usual route.

Going somewhere and back? Write down two trips: there and back. The purpose of a business trip is not on the Belastingdienst's list. Still, it's smart to note the client or purpose. Then you can show later why a trip was business.

Company car: 500 km

If you drive no more than 500 private km per calendar year in a company car, no benefit is added to your income. You do have to be able to show it. If you can't, the Belastingdienst assumes you drove more than 500 private km.²³

• Commuting counts as business here. The kilometres between your home and your work don't count towards the 500 km.²
• Had the car for part of the year? Then you convert to a whole year. The Belastingdienst's example: 100 private km in 5 months is 12/5 × 100 = 240 km on a yearly basis.³ The other way round: had the car for half a year, then you may drive about 250 private km in that time.
• Employee? Apply for a Verklaring geen privégebruik auto (statement of no private use). Your employer then adds nothing to your salary. If you go over the limit after all, withdraw the statement right away. Your employer adds the benefit from then on, and you may get an extra assessment for the months before.³
• Entrepreneur with the car in your business? You can't apply for that statement. If your log doesn't meet the rules, or you kept none, you offset the benefit against your business car costs.¹
• A van? Separate rules apply, such as the statement that a van is used for business only. Then you may not drive privately at all.⁹

Own car as an entrepreneur

Do you drive your own car for business as an entrepreneur or freelancer? Then you may deduct a fixed amount per business kilometre from your profit.⁴

6,000 business km × € 0.25 = € 1,500 deduction in 2026

• For income tax, commuting counts as business.⁴
• Everything is in that amount. You don't also deduct fuel, insurance, tolls and parking separately.⁴
• The € 0.25 for 2026 is in a policy decision. It goes into the law later, and applies to all of 2026.¹¹
• Show how much you drove. A mileage log is the easiest way to back up your business kilometres.

Employee with an allowance

Do you drive your own car for work as an employee? In 2026 your employer may pay you up to € 0.25 per kilometre tax-free, for business trips and commuting. In 2025 that was € 0.23.⁵

• Your employer doesn't have to pay that amount. It's an agreement between the two of you.
• If you get more than the tax-free amount, the extra is taxed as salary.
• Your employer decides how you claim. Often per trip: the date, from where to where and the kilometres.

VAT

Did you deduct VAT on a business car as an entrepreneur? Then in the last VAT return of the year you correct the VAT for private use. For VAT, commuting is private.⁶ With a mileage record you use the real share of private and business. Without one, the Belastingdienst uses a fixed percentage of the list price.

How does a trip count?

The same trip doesn't count the same everywhere. Here's the overview:

Where it often goes wrong

According to the Belastingdienst, mileage logs are often incomplete, written afterwards or don't add up. In a sample over 2022 and 2023, 17% of the income tax corrections were about private use of a car.¹⁰ How to avoid that:

• Write it down as it happens. A list you make later from memory is weak evidence.
• Keep the odometer readings adding up. The end reading of one trip is the start reading of the next. A gap without an explanation stands out.
• Put the business trips in too. Only writing down your private trips isn't enough.
• Don't forget detours. A quick stop at the supermarket on the way back from a client? Those are private detour kilometres.
• Look during the year. Not just in December. Then you see in time when you're getting close to 500 km.

The quality mark

If you use a system with the Keurmerk RitRegistratieSystemen (a quality mark for trip logging systems), the Belastingdienst assumes your log adds up. They can still check whether a trip was business or private.⁷ Ritvast doesn't carry that mark. A log without it is perfectly allowed. You then show yourself that it's right, with your trips and your odometer readings.

How long to keep it?

Entrepreneurs keep their records for 7 years, and the mileage log is part of them.⁸ So keep a PDF of your log every year, also as an employee.

How Ritvast helps

Ritvast records most of it by itself while you drive. You choose business or private, and add a detour or a different route when it applies.

• The car: type the plate, get make and model from the RDW's open data, and the date you got it.
• The odometer readings always add up. A gap needs an explanation, or it counts as private.
• Every change stays visible in the PDF.
• The 500 km limit, the amount per km and the private kilometres for VAT are in the overview.

Ritvast helps you keep track of this. Whether your log meets the rules is for you, or your accountant, to judge.

Sources

All sources checked on 21 October 2026. Most are in Dutch.

1. Belastingdienst, Rittenregistratie (entrepreneurs)What goes in per car and per trip, and what happens without a log that meets the rules.
2. Belastingdienst, Employee driving a company car privatelyCommuting is business, and the 500 km limit per calendar year.
3. Belastingdienst, Driving your employer's car to workThe Verklaring geen privégebruik auto, and converting when you had the car for part of the year.
4. Belastingdienst, Business use of your own vehicle€ 0.25 per business km, € 0.23 in 2024 and 2025, commuting is business.
5. Belastingdienst, Higher tax-free mileage allowance€ 0.25 per km tax-free from 1 January 2026.
6. Belastingdienst, VAT and private use of a business car: commutingFor VAT, commuting is private.
7. Belastingdienst, Keurmerk RitRegistratieSystemenWhat the mark means.
8. Belastingdienst, How long must you keep records?The 7 year retention duty.
9. Belastingdienst, Van used for business onlyThe separate rules for a van.
10. Accountancy Vanmorgen, 7 juli 2026Where things often go wrong, according to the Belastingdienst.
11. SRA, 26 mei 2026€ 0.25 is in a policy decision, the law follows. It also applies to self-employed people in income tax.