---
title: "Sõidupäevik — mileage log in Estonia"
description: "What a sõidupäevik (mileage log / driving logbook) is under Estonian tax law, the 2026 compensation rate and monthly cap, what EMTA checks, form INF 14, a free Excel template, and how Odoma Tracker keeps the log automatically."
url: https://odoma.ee/en/help/soidupaevik
language: en
published: 2026-05-06
updated: 2026-09-09
publisher: Odoma Digipädevuse Selts (Estonian non-profit, registry code 80659718)
---
# Sõidupäevik — Estonia's mileage log: rules for 2026

*For self-employed individuals, sole proprietors (FIE), and employees claiming mileage compensation. Current as of 2026.*

## In short

- **What it is.** A sõidupäevik (mileage log) is the formal record of business trips; you need one if an employer pays you tax-free mileage compensation, if you are a FIE deducting car expenses on Form E, or if you keep a company car and want to prove it is not used privately.
- **Rate and cap in 2026.** €0.50 per kilometre, tax-free up to €550 per calendar month **per employer** — €550 at €0.50/km corresponds to 1,100 business km a month from a single employer.
- **Four mandatory fields.** First name and surname of the recipient of the compensation; make and registration plate of the vehicle; date, destination and purpose of each trip; odometer reading at the start and end of each trip.
- **Keep it for 7 years** (Maksukorralduse seadus § 58) — and write it as you drive: EMTA does not accept a diary reconstructed from memory after the fact.
- **Odoma Tracker does this for you.** It records every trip on its own, keeps the odometer chain unbroken and exports the diary as a PDF with all the mandatory fields — [details below](#what-odoma-tracker-handles-automatically).

This guide is written for Estonia — all rates, caps, and statutory references apply to Estonian regulation. The practice of keeping a **business-trip log** itself exists in many countries under different names, so the general logic and structure apply outside Estonia too.

What follows: what **sõidupäevik** is, what the rules are in Estonia in 2026, and what Odoma Tracker handles for you automatically.

## Sõidupäevik in English: trip diary, mileage log or driving logbook?

The Estonian word **sõidupäevik** literally means "driving diary". In English the same document is called a **mileage log**, **driving logbook**, **trip log** or **vehicle logbook**; Russian speakers in Estonia say **путевой лист** or **дневник поездок**. Whatever the name, EMTA cares about the content, not the label: there is no state-prescribed form, and a PDF from an app is as valid as a paper booklet — as long as the four mandatory fields below are there.

## What sõidupäevik is

A sõidupäevik is the formal record of business trips that grants access to **two tax benefits**:

1. **Mileage compensation from an employer** — an employee using a personal car for work tasks may be reimbursed by the employer at a fixed rate, tax-free. Without sõidupäevik, the same payment is treated as ordinary salary and taxed accordingly.
2. **Vehicle-expense deduction from the taxable base** — for sole proprietors (FIE) and companies whose vehicles are used for business activity.

In both cases the diary is the document that proves which kilometres were genuinely "business" rather than personal.

## Who needs it

- **Employees** with a personal car and an employer paying mileage compensation — required for the tax-free status of the payment (TuMS § 13(3)(2)).
- **Board members** (juhatuse liige) — treated as employees for the purpose of this rule.
- **FIE / füüsilisest isikust ettevõtja** — **only if you deduct vehicle expenses** (fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation) from your business income on Form E. In that case you need records of business kilometres for the proportional split between business and personal use.
- **Companies with a corporate car (ametiauto)** — keep the diary voluntarily as evidence that the vehicle is **not** used for personal purposes — see the separate guide [Company car and sõidupäevik](https://odoma.ee/en/help/ametiauto-soidupaevik).
- **Public servants** — covered by a separate government regulation.

Estonian law does not carve out a separate tax category for "free professions". Notaries, lawyers, and bailiffs in practice register as FIE or OÜ; the diary rules then apply by their respective category.

## What must be in the diary

The government regulation issued under TuMS § 13(3)(2) sets the formal list of mandatory fields:

1. **First name and surname** of the recipient of the compensation
2. **Make and registration plate** of the vehicle
3. **Date, destination, and purpose** of each trip
4. **Odometer reading** — start and end for each trip

The format is not regulated — paper logs and electronic records (such as a PDF generated from an app) are equally valid.

Personal trips are not recorded in the diary, or are explicitly marked as personal — the key is that total business mileage is separated from personal mileage and reconciles with the vehicle's odometer.

## Sõidupäevik form and template (Excel, PDF, app)

A minimal sõidupäevik is a table with one row per business trip:

| Date | From → to | Purpose | Odometer start | Odometer end | km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03.03.2026 | Tallinn → Tartu, Riia 4 | Client meeting, Näidis OÜ | 152 310 | 152 496 | 186 |
| 04.03.2026 | Tallinn, Kari 24 → Tallinn, Pärnu mnt 15 | Delivery to a client | 152 496 | 152 508 | 12 |

The header carries the driver's name, the car's make and registration plate, and the period. There are three ways to keep it:

1. **Paper or Excel.** Free and legal; the weak spots are gaps, retroactive entries (EMTA does not accept a diary reconstructed from memory) and odometer readings nobody wrote down. Download our template: [sõidupäevik template 2026 (Excel)](https://odoma.ee/downloads/soidupaevik-template-2026-en.xlsx) — the four mandatory fields, monthly totals and the compensation formula (0.50 €/km, 550 € cap) are built in.
2. **GPS device in the car.** Fleet products: a tracker wired into the vehicle plus a monthly fee per car — right for companies with many vehicles.
3. **App on your phone.** Odoma Tracker records every trip on its own, keeps the odometer chain unbroken and exports the PDF — free, without a device or an account. Details [below](#what-odoma-tracker-handles-automatically).

For the tax-free compensation the employer additionally issues a **written decision or order** (käskkiri) naming the recipient, the rate and the period — the diary alone is not enough — and the payments are declared to EMTA once a year on form **INF 14**.

## Compensation rate in 2026

The following tax-free rules apply in Estonia (introduced 1 January 2025; unchanged in 2026):

| Parameter | Value |
|-----------|-------|
| Base rate | **€0.50 per km** |
| Monthly cap **per employer** | **€550** |
| Before 31.12.2024 | €0.30/km and €335/month — unchanged since 2014 |

Try your own numbers in the [mileage compensation calculator](https://odoma.ee/en/help/soidupaevik/kalkulaator) — it shows the tax-free part, the excess and the employer's tax on it.

The €550 cap applies **per employer**. An employee with two employers has two independent caps — up to €1,100/month tax-free in total. €550 at €0.50/km corresponds to **1,100 business km/month** from a single employer.

### What the compensation covers

EMTA clarifies: the €0.50/km rate covers **all ordinary vehicle running expenses** — fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation. None of these can be claimed separately — they are already included.

The single exception is **parking while performing service duties**: the employer may reimburse parking fees **on top of the €550 cap** as a separate expense item. So if you paid for parking on a business trip, it is not deducted from the €550 — it is reimbursed separately, with supporting receipts.

### Lump-sum payments covering several months

Compensation can be paid **as a lump sum**, e.g. once a quarter, rather than monthly. EMTA allows this explicitly: a single cash payment may exceed €550 in a given calendar month **as long as the calculated monthly cap of €550 was not exceeded for any of the months covered**.

Example: a driver runs 600 / 800 / 700 business km across three months. That is **€300 + €400 + €350 = €1,050** in compensation. The employer may pay these €1,050 as a single lump sum in April — and that is not a violation, because the per-month calculation stayed within €550 for each month.

### What gets taxed above the cap

Anything paid above €550/month is treated as **erisoodustus** (fringe benefit). Taxation in 2026:

- **Income tax 22 %** plus **social tax 33 %** — both paid by the employer.
- Exact formula: income tax = excess × `22/78` (≈ 28.2 % of the excess); social tax = 33 % of (excess + income tax). In total about 70.5 % on top of the excess.

If compensation is paid **without a sõidupäevik** to back it up, it is reclassified as ordinary salary and attracts the full set of charges: income tax, social tax, unemployment insurance (työtuskindlustusmakse), and mandatory pension contributions. So the absence of a diary turns any "vehicle compensation" payment into an expensive salary line.

## Two ways to recover the money

### Scheme 1 — employer compensation

If you are an employee:

1. Keep a sõidupäevik throughout the month.
2. At month-end, hand the report to your employer (PDF or export to their accounting system).
3. The employer pays compensation (€0.50 × business km, capped at €550/month) **on top of salary**, with no withholdings.
4. The diary is kept on file by the employer in case of an EMTA audit.

The employer must agree to this scheme. For most Estonian employers it is a standard practice — but sometimes you have to be the one to bring it up.

What the employer needs on file — the written order, form INF 14, taxes above the cap — is in the separate [guide for employers and accountants](https://odoma.ee/en/help/isikliku-soiduauto-huvitis).

### Scheme 2 — proportional expense deduction for FIE

How this works under EMTA (page [Personal property and property used for business](https://www.emta.ee/en/admin/content/handbook_article/119)):

1. Keep a sõidupäevik with business-trip mileage.
2. At period-end, calculate the **business-use share**: business km ÷ total km. EMTA gives a literal example: *"Total distance run during the period is 50,000 km, of which 10,000 km were run for business purposes per the records. Therefore, 20 per cent of the expenses incurred for the automobile may be deducted"* (10,000 ÷ 50,000 × 100).
3. Apply this share to the **actual vehicle expenses** for the period and deduct the resulting amount from business income (Form E).

There is **no monthly or annual cap** for FIE — the limit is the actual expenses and the business-use share. The only requirement is that expenses are documented and directly linked to the business activity.

## What Odoma Tracker handles automatically

1. **Automatic trip detection.** You get into the car and drive — the trip starts on its own. No "start recording" button.
2. **Business / personal classification.** You configure a schedule (working hours / working days), and trips are classified accordingly. Any individual trip can be re-tagged with one tap.
3. **Compensation calculator.** In stats you see how many business kilometres you've driven this month, what the compensation amounts to in euros, and how close you are to the €550 cap.
4. **PDF export of the trip diary** with all the mandatory fields — for your employer or your own archive.
5. **Email delivery** straight from the app — three taps.
6. **For employers — the Odoma dashboard.** The logs of all drivers arrive in one place, the employer approves the trips, the compensation is calculated for payroll and the accountant gets the export. A paid service with a 14-day trial — see [Odoma for business](https://odoma.ee/en/business).

No spreadsheets. No manual entry. No quarterly evenings spent reconciling a notebook.

## What an EMTA audit looks like

There are two distinct timeframes in Estonia that often get confused:

- **Document retention period** — **7 years** under Maksukorralduse seadus § 58. This applies to the sõidupäevik, accounting records, and supporting documents.
- **EMTA audit window** — **3 years** in general, **5 years** in cases of intentional tax evasion. After this window EMTA cannot reassess the tax.

So documents must be kept longer than the audit window — a normal asymmetry that gives you a buffer. What EMTA actually examines:

- **Presence and regularity.** Not "five entries a year" but a continuous record across the whole period of use.
- **Reasonableness.** Whether the trips match the declared business activity.
- **Reconciliation with the odometer.** Total business + personal kilometres must reconcile with the actual odometer reading.
- **Reconciliation with payments.** The compensation reflected in payroll must match km × rate from the diary.

If your sõidupäevik in Odoma Tracker is consistent, all four points are addressed automatically. The main risk in an EMTA audit is not the audit itself — it is **the absence or incompleteness of the diary**. With a clean diary in hand, the audit is a 15-minute conversation.

## FAQ

**Can I create a sõidupäevik retroactively?**
Formally — yes, but it is risky. If EMTA cross-checks your "reconstructed" entries against GPS data from your taxi/navigation apps or against bank transactions (fuel stations, lunches on a business trip), discrepancies are easy to spot. Better to start the diary the moment the vehicle enters business use.

**What if I forgot to mark a trip as business?**
In Odoma Tracker any trip can be re-tagged retroactively — the app keeps the full history. The key is to close out before the end of the reporting month.

**Does €0.50/km cover all my actual car costs?**
The rate was calibrated by the regulator against average operating costs: fuel + depreciation + insurance + servicing. For most B/C-class passenger cars it covers the actual expenses. For heavy SUVs or older high-consumption vehicles it can be tight. In that case Scheme 2 (FIE deduction) may be more advantageous.

**Can I use someone else's car?**
Yes, if the business need is documented and the vehicle is recorded in the diary as the one in use. The tax-free rate is the same.

**What if I drive from home straight to a client without going to the office?**
That is a business trip. The diary records home address → client address. Formally, there is no difference from "office → client".

**Do I need a sõidupäevik on weekends if I'm not working?**
Only if you are out on a business task. On a regular non-working day — no, and those trips are tagged as personal.

**What if I move to Finland or Poland?**
You can change the country in the app. Finland in 2026 is €0.55/km; Poland has separate rates by engine power. As we publish guides for other countries, links will appear here.

**How long do I keep a sõidupäevik?**
Seven years per Maksukorralduse seadus § 58 — that is the retention period for primary documents. The audit window itself is shorter (3 years general, 5 in cases of intent), but the documents need to be on hand in case EMTA shows up near the end of the window. Odoma Tracker stores data locally on the device; for long-term archiving, export the PDF every month and place it in cloud storage (iCloud, Google Drive) or hand it to the bookkeeper.

**Is a sõidupäevik mandatory in Estonia?**
Only when money depends on it: for tax-free mileage compensation from an employer, for a FIE deducting car expenses, and — as evidence of no private use — for a company car. If you simply drive your own car and nobody reimburses you, no diary is required.

**Can I keep the sõidupäevik in Excel or on paper?**
Yes — the format is free. The risks are practical: a reconstructed diary is not accepted, and a missing odometer reading breaks the reconciliation. Use the [Excel template](https://odoma.ee/downloads/soidupaevik-template-2026-en.xlsx) if you have a handful of trips a month; switch to automatic recording when you have dozens.

**What is the mileage compensation rate in Estonia in 2026?**
0.50 € per kilometre, tax-free up to 550 € per calendar month per employer — with a sõidupäevik. Without one, any payment is taxed as salary.

**What is form INF 14?**
The annual declaration on which the employer reports personal-car compensation paid to employees; EMTA cross-checks it against the diaries. Filed once a year, by 1 February for the previous calendar year.

## Sources

- [EMTA — Compensation for the use of personal cars](https://www.emta.ee/en/admin/content/handbook_article/343)
- [EMTA — Expenses associated with business trips](https://www.emta.ee/en/admin/content/handbook_article/244)
- [EMTA — Erisoodustused (fringe benefits)](https://www.emta.ee/en/business-client/taxes-and-payment/income-and-social-taxes/fringe-benefits)
- [EMTA — Personal property and property used for business (FIE car proportion)](https://www.emta.ee/en/admin/content/handbook_article/119)
- [EMTA — Expenses related to business (FIE general rules)](https://www.emta.ee/en/admin/content/handbook_article/93)
- [EMTA — Passenger cars and VAT accounting (50 % VAT cap for mixed use)](https://emta.ee/en/admin/content/handbook_article/154)
- [Riigi Teataja — Tulumaksuseadus](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/765523)
- [Riigi Teataja — Government regulation on personal-car compensation (TuMS § 13)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/109102012008)
- [Riigi Teataja — Maksukorralduse seadus § 58 (retention period)](https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/192294)
- [PwC Tax Summaries — Estonia: Tax administration (3/5-year audit window)](https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/estonia/individual/tax-administration)
- [EY — Significant tax changes in Estonia 2025–2026](https://www.ey.com/en_ee/insights/tax/significant-tax-changes-in-estonia-in-2025-2026)
- [1Office — Estonia tax changes 2026](https://1office.co/blog/estonia-tax-changes-2026/)

## Legal disclaimer

This document is prepared by Odoma Digipädevuse Selts (registry code 80659718) for general user information. It is **not legal, accounting, or tax advice**. Estonian tax regulation can change; for disputes or material questions, contact:

- **Maksu- ja Tolliamet (EMTA)** — the official regulator. Site: [emta.ee](https://www.emta.ee/), private-client hotline.
- **A licensed accountant** — for individual recommendations on your specific situation (FIE structure, optimisation, contested expenses).

Odoma Digipädevuse Selts assumes no responsibility for decisions made on the basis of this text.

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