You can claim deductions for work-related expenses as long as your claim meets the following conditions:

• you incurred the expense in doing your job
• the expense is not private (for example, travel to and from work, and most meals)
• you can show you incurred the expense by producing receipts or other written evidence unless an exception applies.

If you are claiming a deduction for an expense that you incurred partly for work and partly for private purposes (such as mobile phone costs), you can only claim that portion of the expense that relates to your work use.

You can claim a deduction for the cost of transporting bulky tools and equipment between home and work if:

• you need to use them at work
• there is no secure area for storing them at your workplace.

You can claim a deduction for the cost of travelling between workplaces on the same day. This includes travelling between:

• different workplaces for the same employer, or
• separate places of employment.

You can claim the cost of trips between home and work if you have shifting places of employment; that is, you regularly work at many places each day before returning home.

Daily travel expenses you cannot claim

You cannot claim a deduction for the cost of normal trips between home and work, even if:

• you did minor tasks – for example, picking up the mail on the way to work or home
• you were on call
• there was no public transport near where you worked so you used a car
• you worked outside normal business hours – for example, overtime you used your own vehicle to travel from home to work to collect a work vehicle.

Keeping records

The records you need to keep and how you work out your claim will depend on whether the vehicle you use is considered to be a car and whether you own or lease it. Your vehicle is considered not to be a car if it is:

• a utility, truck or panel van with a carrying capacity of one tonne or more
• a vehicle with a carrying capacity of nine or more passengers, or
• a motorcycle.

Working out your car expenses

From 1 July 2015 – two methods

The cents per kilometre method

When working out your deduction using the cents per kilometre method:

• you do not need receipts or other written evidence but we may ask you to show how you worked out your estimate of business kilometers. For example
• by using a diary of work-related travel
• by basing your costs on a regular pattern of travel
• you can claim only up to the first 5,000 business kilometres you travel.

The logbook method

To work out your deduction using the logbook method, you must keep:

• a logbook
• odometer records, and
• receipts and other written evidence for all your car expenses. You can use your odometer readings to estimate your fuel and oil costs instead of keeping receipts.

Before 1 July 2015 – four methods

• Cents per kilometre method
• 12% of original value method
• One-third of actual expenses method
• Logbook method

You can claim the cost for all expenses for vehicle other than cars

If your vehicle is not a car – for example, a van or ute with a carrying capacity of more than one tonne – you must keep records for all expenses you incurred. Those records may include receipts for:

• fuel and oil
• repairs and servicing
• interest on a car loan
• lease payments
• registration.

If you use your vehicle for work and private use, you can use a diary to show how much of those expenses relate to business and personal use of the vehicle.

You can claim the cost for car parking, bridge and road tolls and taxis and bus fares – when attend conferences, meeting, and seminar or training courses. You will need to keep records for all those expenses.

You can claim a deduction for overnight travel expenses you pay where:

• your employer requires you to do your work away from your usual workplace for a short period, and
• it would be unreasonable to expect you to return home each day, which means you must stay away from home while you are doing that work.

Overnight travel expenses include:

• meals, accommodation and incidental expenses
• car, air, bus, train, tram, ferry and taxi fares
• bridge and road tolls
• car parking and car hire fees
• visa application fees, not including the cost of obtaining or renewing a passport.

Keeping records of overnight travel expenses

You can claim a deduction for the full amount of your overnight travel expenses without keeping all your records if:

• you received a travel allowance that could reasonably be expected to cover your accommodation, meals or expenses incidental to travel (a token amount paid as a travel allowance is not accepted as reasonably covering such costs), and
• your overnight travel expenses were equal to or less than the reasonable allowance amount we set.

However, we may ask you to explain how you worked out the amount you claimed.

If the allowance is not shown on your payment summary and was not more than the reasonable allowance amount, you do not have to show it on your tax return as long as you:

• spent the entire allowance on deductible expenses
• are not claiming the deduction.

The following tables explain what records you need if you are claiming domestic or overseas travel expenses for accommodation, food, drink or incidentals.

If you did not receive a travel allowance:
	Domestic travel: Written evidence	Domestic travel: Travel diary	Overseas travel: Written evidence	Overseas travel: Travel diary
Travel less than 6 nights in a row	Yes	No	Yes	No
Travel 6 or more nights in a row	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
If you received a travel allowance and your claim does not exceed the reasonable allowance amount:
	Domestic travel: Written evidence	Domestic travel: Travel diary	Overseas travel: Written evidence	Overseas travel: Travel diary
Travel less than 6 nights in a row	No	No	No*	No
Travel 6 or more nights in a row	No	No	No*	Yes

* Regardless of the length of the trip, written evidence is required for overseas accommodation expenses but not for food, drink and incidentals

If you received a travel allowance and your claim exceeds the reasonable allowance amount:
	Domestic travel: Written evidence	Domestic travel: Travel diary	Overseas travel: Written evidence	Overseas travel: Travel diary
Travel less than 6 nights in a row	Yes	No	Yes	No
Travel 6 or more nights in a row	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Written evidence

Written evidence can be:

• invoices, receipts or other documents showing your travel expense and travel allowance details. If it is too difficult to get a receipt for a meal you purchased – for example, if you purchase a meal from a vending machine – you can keep diary entries as your proof of purchase
• receipts or other documents (such as diary entries) for air, bus, train, tram and taxi fares, bridge and road tolls, parking and car hire fees.

You must keep written evidence for your overseas accommodation expenses, regardless of the length of the trip.

Travel diary

A travel diary is a document that shows the dates, places, times and duration of your activities and travel. Each diary entry must show the date you incurred each expense, the name of the supplier and the amount and type of expense.

You can claim a deduction for self-education expenses that have a sufficient connection to your current work activities. Self-education could include a formal course or attendance at a seminar.

You may be undertaking a course related to your current job in order to obtain a formal qualification from a school, college, university, or other place of education. For a course to sufficiently connect to your current work activities:

• it must maintain or improve the specific skills or knowledge you need in your current work activities, or
• it will result in, or is likely to result in, an increase in your income from your current employment.

You can generally claim study-related items such as:

• textbooks
• course fees
• stationery
• internet access
• student union fees
• travel expenses to and from the place of education
• decline in value (depreciation) of equipment you use in your study, such as a computer. You can only claim the decline in value based on how much you use the equipment for study purposes. For example, if you use your computer half for private purposes and half for study purposes, you can only claim half the decline in value.

If your self-education expenses relate to a course you undertook at a school, college or university, you may have to reduce your allowable self-education expenses by $250. This reduction does not apply to all self-education expenses.

You cannot claim a deduction for your self-education expenses that do not have a sufficient connection to your current employment even though they:

• might be generally related to it
• enable you to get a new job.

Keeping records of self-education expenses

You must keep records and these can be:

• receipts or other written evidence of your expenses, including receipts for depreciating assets you have purchased
• diary entries you make to record your small expenses ($10 or less) totalling no more than $200, or expenses you cannot get any kind of evidence for, regardless of the amount
• a diary you have created to work out how much you used your equipment, home office, telephone and internet access for self-education purposes over a representative four-week period.

You can claim the cost for running home office

If you perform some of your work from a home office, you may be eligible to claim a deduction for the costs you incur in running your home office, including:

• the decline in value (depreciation) of home office equipment, such as computers and telecommunications equipment. If your equipment costs less than $300, you can claim a full deduction for the work-related portion
• work-related phone calls (including mobiles) and phone rental if you can show
  • you are on call, or
  • you have to phone your employer or clients regularly while you are away from your workplace
• heating, cooling and lighting
• the costs of repairs to your home office furniture and fittings
• cleaning expenses.

You can only claim the cost for occupancy expenses if your home office is considered as a place of business

Occupancy expenses include rent or mortgage interest, council rates, and house insurance premiums. As an employee you are generally not able to claim a deduction for occupancy expenses.

Keeping records of home office expenses

You must keep records and these can be:

• receipts, or other written evidence of your expenses, including receipts for depreciating assets you have purchased
• diary entries you make to record your small expenses ($10 or less) totalling no more than $200, or expenses you cannot get any kind of evidence for, regardless of the amount
• itemised phone accounts on which work-related calls can be identified
• a diary you have created to work out how much you used your equipment, home office and phone for business purposes over a representative four-week period.

You can claim a deduction for the costs you incur when you buy, rent, repair or clean your work clothing. Work clothing includes:

• compulsory uniforms and corporate wardrobes – must have employer’s logo on it
• single items of distinctive clothing such as a jumper, shirt or tie with the employer’s logo
• a non-compulsory corporate uniform if your employer has registered the design with AusIndustry
• protective clothing.

You can claim a deduction for the cost of washing, drying and ironing your work clothing as laundry expenses. This also includes laundromat expenses and the actual cost of dry-cleaning.

Keeping records of clothing, laundry and dry-cleaning expenses

You do not need to keep receipts or other written evidence of your claim if the total amount of your laundry expenses is less than $150 and your total claim for work-related expenses is less than $300. However, you must be able to show how you worked out your claim.

If your claim for laundry expenses is $150 or more or your total claim for work-related expenses is $300 or more (not including car, meal allowance, award transport payment allowance and travel allowance expenses), the records you must keep include:

• receipts, or other written evidence of your expenses
• diary entries you make to record
• your small expenses ($10 or less) totalling no more than $200
• expenses that you cannot get any kind of evidence for regardless of the amount, for example, a diary record of your laundry costs.