Can gig drivers just claim the CRA's 73 cents a kilometre?
No. That rate is for employers paying employees. Self-employed drivers claim actual vehicle costs times business use. Here's why, and how the two compare.
For most gig drivers, the car is the biggest expense by far. Fuel, insurance, repairs and depreciation can add up to thousands of dollars a year. But you can only deduct the business share, and the CRA expects a logbook to prove what that share is.
What a logbook has to include
For every business trip, the CRA wants:
- The date
- The destination
- The purpose of the trip
- The number of kilometres driven
You also need the odometer reading at the start and end of the year. That gives you the total kilometres, which is the bottom half of the business-use calculation.
How business use is calculated
Your deductible vehicle expenses are your total vehicle costs multiplied by business kilometres divided by total kilometres.
Example: a full-time delivery driver
| Business km logged | 15,000 km |
| Total km (Dec 31 odometer minus Jan 1 odometer) | 22,000 km |
| Business use | 68% |
| Fuel, insurance, repairs, car washes | $7,000.00 |
| Deductible on line 9281 | $4,760.00 |
Every 1,000 business kilometres you forget to log lowers the deduction. In this example it's worth about $320 in expenses.
The simplified logbook
Keeping a full log every year is tedious, so the CRA offers a shortcut once you have a history:
- Keep a full logbook for one complete year. This is your base year.
- In later years, keep a three-month sample logbook.
- If the sample period's business use is within 10% of the base year's for the same period, you can use it to work out the whole year.
The CRA's formula is: (sample period % ÷ base year same-period %) × base year annual % = this year's business use.
If the result is more than 10% away from the base year, you have to keep a full log for the rest of the year or start a new base year. For drivers whose hours change with the seasons, the full log is usually easier.
What counts as business driving
Driving while you're online and on the way to a pickup, or delivering an order or a passenger, is business driving. Personal errands, and trips you would have made anyway, aren't.
The drive from home to your first order and back from your last one is a grey area for gig drivers, because you don't have a fixed workplace. If you're unsure, ask a tax professional and then treat it the same way all year.
Mistakes that cost drivers money
- Rebuilding the log in April. A log made up from memory or app history at tax time is hard to defend in a review.
- Forgetting the January 1 odometer reading. Without it, you can't prove your total kilometres. Take a photo of the dashboard on New Year's Day.
- No purpose recorded. "Drove 84 km" isn't enough. "DoorDash shift, Intercity to Port Arthur" is.
- Mixing two vehicles. Each vehicle needs its own log and its own odometer readings.
How MyGigLedger helps
MyGigLedger Pro detects each drive with GPS and records the date, route, distance and the platform you were working for. Tap a trip to switch it between business and personal. At year end, the CRA logbook export gives you every business trip with the four fields the CRA asks for, plus your total kilometres.
This article is general information based on CRA guidance as of August 27, 2026. It isn't tax advice. Rules change, and your situation may differ, so check with the CRA or a tax professional before you file.