When you drive your own car or company car on business, you are entitled to tax-free mileage allowanceprovided that the journeys are correctly documented. The Swedish Tax Agency sets clear requirements on how a driving log should be kept - and this affects both the possibility of deductions and how taxation of car benefits is handled.

What is mileage allowance?

The mileage allowance is a financial compensation for the costs you incur when you use your own car for business purposes. It applies, for example, when visiting customers, travelling to temporary workplaces or transporting goods on business. According to the Swedish Tax Agency's standardised values, the following applies in 2025:

Private car: 25/mile (tax-free amount that employers can pay)
Company car (petrol/diesel/hybrid): 12 SEK/mile (expense allowance)
Company car (electric car): 9,50 kr/mil

Important: Remuneration above these amounts is considered as taxable salary and should be taxed.

What is required of a driving licence?

In order for mileage reimbursement to be tax-free, the Swedish Tax Agency requires that all business trips be documented in a driving log. It must be timely, up-to-date and accurate.

Minimum requirements for an authorised driving record:

Dates of each journey
Address at start and finish
Purpose of the journey (e.g. customer meeting, delivery)
Meter reading at start and end
Number of kilometres driven
Information on the driver
If the car is also used privately: clear separation of private and business driving

Why is the driving licence so important?

The Swedish Tax Agency conducts annual audits where the driving log is a key document. Inadequate documentation can have several consequences:

The value of company car benefits may increase
Tax-free remuneration can be reclassified as salary
Tax surcharges (up to 40 %) may be applied
Deductions for travelling in a sole proprietorship can be denied

In addition, the Accounting Act requires that the records be kept for at least 7 years.

Special rules for company cars

If you have a car through your company that you can also use privately (company car), special rules apply:

Do you drive more than 3 000 kilometres in service during a year, the benefit value can be reduced by 25 %.
Do you drive privately less than 10 times and max 100 miles/year benefit taxation can be avoided altogether - but this requires a very accurate driving record.

Also congestion charge, bridge tolls and fuel benefit is affected by the information in the driving licence.

The benefits of digital driving records

Keeping driving records manually is both time-consuming and risky. A digital logbook offers several tangible benefits:

Automatic registration of all journeys via GPS or connection to the vehicle's system (OBD).
Clear division between business and private travel.
Reduced risk of errors, forgetfulness and misjudgements.
Export-friendly reports to payroll systems, accounting and tax authorities.
Secure cloud storage for up to 7 years under the Accounting Act.
Audit security - easy to present complete documentation.
Saving time for drivers, finance departments and employers alike.
Possibility of reduced preferential value with automatic travel statistics.

Executive summary

Understanding the rules for mileage reimbursement and having an accurate mileage log is crucial for both tax exemption and safe accounting. By using a digital logbook, you not only fulfil the requirements of the Swedish Tax Agency, you also get a simpler, safer and more efficient workflow.

Do you want to avoid manual administration and ensure that everything is right from the start?
Choose a digital driving record that complies with the Swedish Tax Agency's requirements - safe, simple and future-proof.