Guides
Google Timeline & mileage deduction guides
Turning a Google Maps Timeline into a mileage log that a tax office will accept is two separate problems, and they fail for different reasons. Getting the file out of Google is a mechanical problem — the export moved on-device in 2024 and now comes in three incompatible shapes. Valuing the kilometres is a legal one, and the answer changes at every border.
These guides split along that line.
Getting the file, and turning it into a log
- How to Export Google Maps Timeline to Excel or CSV → Both export methods, which of the three formats carries street addresses, and the traps that silently corrupt the spreadsheet.
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Convert Google Maps Timeline to a Mileage Log →
From a
Timeline.jsonor a Takeout ZIP to a filterable log, in the browser, exportable to CSV, JSON or PDF. - Google Maps Timeline Disappeared? Why Trips Go Missing → Google's 2024 move to on-device storage, why Takeout now comes back short, and how to get your current history out.
- Using Google Timeline for Mileage Tax Deductions → What a compliant mileage log has to contain, and which of it Timeline can actually supply.
What the kilometres are worth, country by country
Read the structure column before the rate: a flat per-kilometre figure and a bracketed scale are not comparable, and a country with an annual cap will stop paying you halfway through a busy year.
| Country | Called | How the regime is structured |
|---|---|---|
| United States | IRS standard mileage rate | Flat per mile, but the rate can change mid-year — each trip is valued at the rate in force on its own date |
| United Kingdom | Approved Mileage Allowance Payments | Two-step: a higher rate up to an annual threshold, a lower one above. Tax year opens 6 April |
| Canada | Reasonable automobile allowance | Two-step on an annual kilometre threshold |
| Australia | Cents per kilometre method | Flat per km with a hard annual cap. Tax year opens 1 July |
| New Zealand | IRD kilometre rates | Two tiers by distance, and the rate differs by vehicle type. Tax year opens 1 April |
| Ireland | Civil Service motor travel rates | A grid: engine bands × cumulative distance bands, with separate EV treatment |
| France | Barème kilométrique | Brackets by fiscal horsepower and annual distance, with a fixed component — total only, no meaningful per-trip figure |
| Belgium | Indemnité kilométrique | Flat per km, reindexed every 1 July. Sectors on quarterly indexation use a noticeably lower figure |
| Netherlands | Onbelaste kilometervergoeding | Flat per km, no distance cap, any means of transport |
| Germany | Pendler- & Kilometerpauschale | Flat per km from the first kilometre, with commuting and business trips treated separately |
| Austria | Amtliches Kilometergeld | Flat per km, tax-free up to an annual kilometre ceiling |
| Switzerland | Kilometeransatz | Flat federal per km, with cantonal variation and a commuting cap |
| Spain | Kilometraje exento de IRPF | Flat per km, exempt up to the published figure |
| Italy | Rimborso chilometrico | No single rate — a cost per km specific to each vehicle model, from the ACI tables |
| Portugal | Quilómetros em viatura própria | Flat per km, documented by a boletim itinerário |
Each guide carries the figures themselves, the official source they come from, and the date they were last checked against it. They are stated in one place on purpose: a rate repeated across pages is a rate that goes stale on all but one of them.
Start from your own Timeline file
Free to parse, filter and see your deduction total — no account required.
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