DriveHubMileage log requirements in New Zealand
What your records have to contain to survive a check by Inland Revenue (IRD), and the rate DriveHub applies.
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Updated
The rate
New Zealand publishes no single rate per kilometre. Inland Revenue sets two tiers for each vehicle type after each income year (1 April to 31 March) ends: Tier 1 covers the business share of the first 14,000 km the vehicle travels in the year, private use included; Tier 2 the business share of the rest. DriveHub asks for the vehicle type and works each car's year out from its logged kilometres; a single trip carries no amount.
2025-26 income year, NZD per kilometre
| Vehicle | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol | $1.20 | $0.37 |
| Diesel | $1.30 | $0.38 |
| Petrol hybrid | $0.90 | $0.24 |
| Electric | $1.22 | $0.23 |
GST inclusive. Motorcycles and scooters are not covered; a year Inland Revenue has not published yet has no figure, so DriveHub shows none rather than carrying the last year forward.
The rule that governs it
Income Tax Act 2007 ss DE 1–DE 12. Ss DE 6–DE 11 are the logbook rules; s DE 12 the kilometre rates, set each year by a Commissioner's instrument (2025-26: OS 19/04 (KM 2026), made 2 June 2026). How the rates are used: OS 19/04a (deductions) and OS 19/04b (employee reimbursement), both 16 August 2019 and, per the 2026 instrument, under review. Source quality: primary for all of it.
What every trip has to record
Required — the logbook
IRD, Use a logbook: "Keep a logbook for at least 90 days that records: the start date and the vehicle's odometer reading on that day; the date, distance and reason for each business journey; the end date of the 90-day period, and the vehicle's odometer reading on that day; any other information we may require." The business share from that test period is then used for up to three years, "if the proportion of business use doesn't change by more than 20%". With neither a logbook nor actual records, s DE 4(2) caps the business share at 25 %, which at the kilometre rates is Tier 1 for the first 3,500 business kilometres (OS 19/04a ¶ 20).
Required — the year's total
OS 19/04a ¶ 21: a person on the kilometre rates "must record their odometer reading every balance date for each vehicle", because Tier 1 stops at 14,000 km of the vehicle's total travel, business and private. OS 19/04b ¶ 13 asks the same of a reimbursed employee ("should"). ¶ 10: "although not all travel … needs to be recorded, a person who uses the kilometre rate method will need to be able to show whether, and when, the vehicle exceeds the 14,000 annual kilometres."
Where this comes from
The requirements above are quoted from Inland Revenue (IRD). DriveHub re-checks these, and the rate, against the authority's own pages; this page is built from that record.
DriveHub records this automatically. It tracks each drive in the background and keeps the start and end, the distance and the route. Tracking and the missing-drive check are free; the report in the shape a tax office expects is part of DriveHub Pro.
Longer reads
- Set up automatic tracking, and know when a drive is missed
- How to keep a mileage log: four ways, checked against what tax offices ask for