Travel Diary - what do you keep?

[albatross710]

I recently had a change of accountant for my business and personal australian tax accounting. She asked if I kept a travel diary - yes, I use Tripip.

The ATO website seems to show that a diary is not needed as long as my claim does not exceed the Reasonable Travel Allowance AND the Travel Allowance does not appear on my payment summary.

My situation is as being self-employed I only pay the Reasonable Allowance and my claim would never exceed this amount.

My international travel is always more than 6 days.

In the event I need to produce a diary I'm thinking that the TripIt history can show my itinerary.

Anyone have experience in this area?

Alby

 

[eddie 73]

I prepare a quick word doc and staple it to my itinerary, just a short note for each day. Where was I, any significant transport ie. flights, who i met, what i attened, where, and a quick note on significant dinner/entertainment activities. I do the asian tradefairs twice yearly, about 25 days each time, 3-4 countries, lots of meetings... and the entire doc is typed up in about 15 mins. Used this system for years as an employee and more recent years under my own ABN, never had issues/audits/queries. 15 mins well spent.