Your Best Tax Return, Guaranteed at $0 Upfront Cost!*

You can claim vehicle and other travel expenses you incur when you travel in the course of performing your work duties. However, you generally can’t claim for normal trips between home and work as this is considered private travel.

You need to keep records of your travel expenses.

Deductions you may be able to claim for vehicle and other travel expenses include:

• Travel between home and work and between workplaces
• Car expenses
• Removal or relocation
• Other travel expenses
• Accommodation allowances and expenses when travelling away from home for work
• Award transport expenses

You can claim a deduction for the cost of buying and cleaning occupation-specific clothing, protective clothing and unique, distinctive uniforms.

To claim a deduction you may need to have written evidence that you purchased the clothing and diary records or written evidence of your cleaning costs. Written evidence must be kept for a representative period of at least one month if both of the following apply:

• the amount you claim is greater than $150
• your total claim for work-related expenses exceeds $300.

You may receive an allowance from your employer for clothing, uniforms, laundry or dry-cleaning. If you do, make sure you show the amount of the allowance on your tax return as it is assessable income. You can only claim a deduction for the amount you actually spent.

You may be able to claim a deduction for self-education expenses if your self-education relates to your current work activities as an employee or if you receive a taxable bonded scholarship. In some circumstances, you have to reduce the amount of your claim by $250.

If you buy tools, equipment or other assets to help earn your income, you can claim a deduction for some or all of the cost.

If you use the tools for both work and private purposes you will need to apportion the amount you claim. If you have a computer that you use for private purposes for half of the time you can only deduct 50% of the cost.

The type of deduction you claim depends on the cost of the asset:

• for items that aren’t part of a set and cost $300 or less, or form part of a set that together cost $300 or less, you can claim an immediate deduction for their cost
• for items that cost more than $300, or that form part of a set that together cost more than $300, you can claim a deduction for their decline in value.

Generally, if you need to spend money as part of your income producing activities, you can claim a deduction for the expense. Depending on the deduction this can be an immediate deduction or over time.

To claim a deduction for a work-related expense:

you must have spent the money yourself and weren’t reimbursed
it must be directly related to earning your income
you must have a record to prove it (usually a receipt).
Expenses that relate to you earning an income can include:

• Books, periodicals and digital information
• Cash shortages or client bad debts
• Claiming mobile phone, internet and home phone expenses
• Election expenses
• Glasses, contact lenses and protective glasses
• Income protection insurance
• Overtime meals
• Project pool deductions
• Seminars, conferences and education workshops
• Union fees, subscriptions to associations and bargaining agents fees
• Working with children checks