As the financial year ends, there may be tax deductions that you may not know about and could claim in this year’s tax return.
Self-education Expenses
You can claim the expenses from expenses that occurred to maintain or improve the specific skills or
knowledge related to your employment. Click here for ATO self-education expenses
These expenses include:
- General course expenses include course and tuition fees, accommodation and meals, car expenses, professional library, and computer consumables, for example, printer cartridges.
- Depreciating assets such as computers, desks and chairs,
- Car and other transport expenses such as travel to your place of education, and parking costs. For further information on motor vehicle and car expenses click here
Don’t forget to keep records and receipts of the costs associated with self-education such as course fees, travel costs, accommodation and equipment e.g. computers. You can use the ATO’s free record-keeping app myDeductions to make keeping records easy.
Laundry Expenses
You might find you can claim the expenses for work clothing and the laundry expenses of these
clothing, such as:
- Occupation-specific clothing (like the chequered pants a chef wears or a nurse’s uniform). Check the ATO guide on occupation-specific clothing you can claim here.
- Protective clothing
- Compulsory work uniform (shoes, socks, and stockings are generally not deductible)
4Maintaining work clothing including laundry expenses, dry-cleaning and repair expenses
Car, Transport and Travel Expenses
Work-related car expense is a tactical expense to claim in the tax return.
Generally, when using transport other than a car to undertake your job, you do
not need to keep a logbook to work out the expenditure. You do however need to keep records and receipts to
prove the calculation you are claiming.
When the vehicle is a car, the expenses claimable are more complex. We suggest you contact us for
further information.
There are some circumstances where you can claim travel expenses between work and home. You can check the ATO’s eligibility conditions here
Working from home expenses
With changes that arose due to Covid restrictions, more people continue to work from home, at least some of the time. If you are working from home, you might claim the expenses related to
the home office expenses. This includes:
- electricity expenses for heating or cooling and lighting,
- the decline in value of office furniture and furnishings,
- items used for work,
- internet expenses, and phone expenses.
However, you need to provide evidence that you work from home to fulfil your employment duties, not just carry out minimal tasks. For example, you are not working from home if you randomly check
your email or answer the phone. Otherwise, you must incur additional expenses for working from home.
Donations
To claim a tax deduction for a donation to a deductible gift recipient (DGR) your donation must:
- be a gift or donation
- be money or property
- complies with any relevant gift conditions and
- keep the receipt for the donation.
However, you could claim the tax deduction without an invoice if you donated $2 and up to $10 to ‘bucket collections’.
Other areas to consider
Other expenses you can claim as income tax deductions may include:
- memberships, accreditations, fees and commissions
- meals entertainment and functions
- personal grooming health and fitness
- investments, insurance and super and
- the cost of managing your tax affairs
There are tools available on the ATO website to help individuals work out the amount to claim. For further assistance, you can contact our team.
Key ‘takeaway’
The main ‘takeaway’ from this article is to keep good records of all expenses incurred to undertake your job. Some areas can be more complicated so if you would like further assistance or advice, contact our team of experts today.