Travel diary
A travel diary is a record of your travel movements which should show the dates, places, times and duration of activities when travelling for work.
The purpose of a travel diary is to help work out the work-related and private elements of your trip. You can only claim a deduction for the work-related part of your expenses.
If you want to check if you can claim a deduction, see Deductions you can claim.
To see if you are eligible to keep less detailed records, see Exceptions for keeping travel expense records.
On this page:
Do you need to keep a travel diary
If you travel away from home for six or more nights in a row, you need to keep a travel diary. However, if your circumstances are either of the following, you don't need to keep a travel diary:.
- You receive a travel allowance for your travel, you are travelling in Australia, and the amount you are claiming is up to our reasonable travel allowance expense amount.
- You are a crew member on an international flight, you receive a travel allowance for your travel, your travel is mainly overseas, and your claim is not more than the amount of allowance you receive.
You don’t need to keep a travel diary if your travel away from home is for less than six nights in a row.
It can still be helpful to keep details of your travel, even if you aren't required to keep a travel diary.
See also:
- TD 2020/5 Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2020-21 income year?
- Travel allowances
How to keep a travel diary
To ensure you keep a valid travel diary, you should record your:
- travel movements and activities in a diary or journal of your choice that has adequate space for information, such as
- where you were
- what you were doing
- when you stop for meals
- the start and end times for activities
- travel movements and activities before the activity ends, or as soon as possible afterwards
- diary entries in English.
Example – domestic travel with no private component
James is a sales consultant who lives and works in Melbourne. He is required to attend a sales conference in Wangaratta over three days. He then does some store visits in this area over the next four days.
James does not receive a travel allowance for his travel. His employer gives him a credit card to use to pay for accommodation while he is away from home. James pays for his own meals and incidental expenses.
Because James is away from home for six nights, and does not receive a travel allowance, he must keep a travel diary.
James' travel diary
Day
|
Activities
|
Monday
|
6.00am travel to Wangaratta, arrive 9.00am
9.30am – 5.30pm Sales conference
Overnight at conference centre
|
Tuesday
|
9.30am – 5.30pm Sales conference Wangaratta
Overnight conference centre
|
Wednesday
|
9.30am – 5.30pm Sales conference Wangaratta
Overnight conference centre
|
Thursday
|
8.00am travel to Shepparton, arrive 9.15am
10.00am meet Mr Smith for display meeting
1.00pm – 5.00pm Shepparton store review
Overnight Shepparton hotel
|
Friday
|
6.00am travel to Echuca, arrive 7.00am
8.00am – 12.00pm Echuca store review
12.30pm – 12.45pm drive to Moama store
1.00pm – 5.00pm Moama store review
Overnight Moama hotel
|
Saturday
|
7.00am travel to Bendigo, arrive 8.30am
9.00am – 6.00pm State Rep meeting
6.00pm dinner with State Reps
Overnight Bendigo Motor Inn
|
Sunday
|
8.00am State Rep breakfast conference, finish 10.00am
10.00am travel home to Melbourne, arrive 12.30pm
|
End of example
Example – overseas travel with private component
Grace is a university lecturer who lives and works in Perth. She attends a six-day international convention in England as a keynote speaker. After the convention is finished, Grace has a holiday.
Because Grace is travelling for more than six nights overseas, she is required to keep a travel diary.
Grace's travel diary for September
Grace's travel diary for September
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Saturday
|
Sunday
|
4
No diary entry
|
5
No diary entry
|
6
No diary entry
|
7
No diary entry
|
8
No diary entry
|
9
10am flight Q13 to London (via Dubai)
|
10
Arrive London 1pm local time. Train to Oxford 7pm–8.30pm
|
11
Rest day
|
12
International teachers convention starts 9am
|
13
Convention day 2
|
14
Convention day 3
|
15
Convention day 4
|
16
Convention day 5
|
17
Convention day 6, ends 3pm
|
18
Train to London 9am–10.30am
|
19
Holiday – Sightseeing in London
|
20
Holiday – London
|
21
Holiday – Paris
|
22
Holiday – Paris
|
23
Holiday – Lyon
|
24
Holiday – Milan
|
25
Holiday – Florence
|
26
Holiday – Rome
|
27
Holiday – Rome
|
28
Flight home Q23 6pm, arrive 10pm local time
|
29
No diary entry
|
30
No diary entry
|
1
No diary entry
|
Grace’s diary entries show that she was travelling for 20 days. Only half of these were for work purposes as she spent half the time enjoying a holiday while overseas. Grace can only claim deductions for the work-related portion of travel.
End of exampleSee also:
A travel diary is a record of your travel movements which should show the dates, places, times and duration of activities when travelling for work.