What clients can send you
Clients can export their logbook from the app as a PDF or a CSV and email it to you, or save it to Files.
The PDF is a printable A4 logbook. It starts with a summary of the number of trips, total kilometres, business kilometres and the business use percentage for the period. Then it breaks that down for each car, and finishes with a table of every journey.
The CSV has one row per trip and opens in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets. It's the easiest one to work with if you want to sort, filter or check the numbers yourself.
What each trip includes
Every trip in the CSV has these fields, in this order.
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| Date | The day the trip started, as DD/MM/YYYY |
| Start Time and End Time | 24 hour time |
| Vehicle and Registration | The car the trip was saved against |
| Odometer Start (km) and Odometer End (km) | Worked out from the odometer reading the client entered for that car, plus the distance driven |
| Distance (km) | The distance driven, to two decimal places |
| Category | Business, Client Visit, Supplies, Commute, Private or Other |
| ATO Use | Business or Private, based on the category |
| Purpose of Journey | What the client wrote the trip was for |
| From and To | The start and end address |
| Duration (min) | How long the trip took |
| Recorded By | How the trip was added, explained below |
| Notes | Anything else the client added |
How trips are recorded
The Recorded By field tells you where each distance came from.
GPS Tracked means the client started a drive and the app measured it with the iPhone's GPS as they drove. Planned Route (A → B) means the client added the trip later by searching a start and end address, and the distance came from Apple Maps. Manual Entry means the client typed the trip in themselves.
GPS tracked trips are the closest to what was actually driven. Planned routes and manual entries are useful for trips the client forgot to record, but they're estimates.
Business and private use
Trips marked Business, Client Visit or Supplies count as business use. Trips marked Commute, Private or Other count as private. The app adds up business kilometres and total kilometres to work out the business use percentage.
The client chooses the category for each trip. Normal home to work travel should be marked as Commute, which the app treats as private.
The 12 week logbook
Kilometa shows clients how far they are through a 12 week logbook, and works out their business use percentage for each financial year, from July to June. Clients can export any period, so you can ask for the exact 12 weeks they're relying on.
What to check
Kilometa is a record keeping tool. It isn't tax advice, and it doesn't decide what a client can claim. It's worth checking that the logbook covers 12 continuous weeks, that business trips have a purpose written in, and that the odometer readings at the start and end of the period make sense against the car's actual odometer.
Odometer readings, categories and purposes are all entered by the client, so they're only as accurate as what the client put in.
Where the data lives
Kilometa has no accounts and no server. The logbook is saved on the client's iPhone, and the export they send you is the record. If a client deletes the app without exporting, the logbook is gone, so it's worth reminding them to keep a copy each year.
Recommending Kilometa
If you think Kilometa would help your clients, you're welcome to point them to cylix.dev/kilometa. If there's something you need in the export that isn't there, or you'd like a copy of the PDF format, send me a message. I'm the developer, and feedback from accountants shapes what gets built next.