Driver's Logbook Template (Fahrtenbuch)

The driver's logbook – German: Fahrtenbuch – documents every trip a vehicle makes: when, from where to where, for what purpose, and with which odometer readings. For company cars it decides whether private use is taxed based on actual trips instead of the flat-rate 1% rule (1-%-Regelung) – worthwhile above all when private use is low. Download the logbook template free as PDF, Excel, or Word – plus a simplified logbook as a separate PDF for high-mileage drivers on constant routes.

What must a logbook record per trip?

Every single trip needs these details – the template has a dedicated column for each:

• Date of the trip
• Odometer reading at the start and end of the trip
• Starting point and destination, plus the route taken in case of detours
• Purpose of the trip and the business partners or customers visited
• Classification as business or private – for private trips the mileage figures suffice, for commutes between home and workplace a short note is enough
• Name of the driver if several people use the vehicle

PDF or Excel – which version for what?

The PDF template is the monthly sheet to print: kept bound or stapled, it is the right choice for tax evidence. The Excel template does the math: sum formulas add up business and private kilometres automatically and show the business share – ideal as a calculation aid, for cost control, and for internal fleet documentation. The Word version adapts to your own layout, for example with a company logo and extra columns.

When does the tax office accept a logbook?

Honesty matters here: for German tax purposes only a proper logbook (ordnungsgemäßes Fahrtenbuch) counts – kept contemporaneously, without gaps, and in a closed form. Loose sheets and plain Excel spreadsheets fail that test because entries can be changed later without a trace; Germany's Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has repeatedly rejected Excel logbooks. So Excel on its own does not satisfy the tax office as proof of business vehicle use. Electronic logbooks are accepted only if subsequent changes are technically impossible or at least fully documented.

For tax use, print the PDF template and keep it bound or stapled, handwritten, and up to date. The Excel version remains a calculation aid – not tax evidence.

Simplified logbook: who may shorten entries?

A "simplified logbook" (vereinfachtes Fahrtenbuch) is not a separate legal construct – it is the same logbook with shortened per-trip details. Germany's wage-tax guidelines grant this relief to professions whose trips look alike every day – constant routes, recurring customer visits:

• Courier and delivery drivers: instead of naming every customer, "delivery runs" with the tour area suffices if a list of clients is kept
• Taxi drivers: within the licensed service area, "taxi runs, service area" with odometer readings per shift is enough
• Driving instructors: the note "training runs" replaces the individual destinations
• Sales representatives and vending-machine suppliers: recording which customers were visited in which order suffices

That is exactly what the simplified logbook PDF here is for: less text per line, more trips per sheet. Important: the relief only concerns the level of detail – a simplified logbook must still be kept contemporaneously, without gaps, and in closed form.

Paper or digital?

One monthly sheet per vehicle works – until the fleet grows. Then sheets pile up, odometer readings go missing, and nobody remembers which driver had which vehicle when. Trips, drivers, and vehicle assignments run along digitally in Maxmove TMS – the paperwork around fleet documentation disappears. It does not replace a tax-recognized logbook, though; the formal requirements above still apply. Also record odometer readings at vehicle changes in the handover protocol.