If you have spent your own money on something connected to your job, the decision you face each tax time is narrow and concrete: can this expense be claimed, and can you show why? Everything else — the size of any refund, whether your return is amended, whether you are asked to explain yourself later — follows from those two answers.
The place to check that decision is the Australian Taxation Office's own work-related deductions page, linked in the source list above. It is the primary reference, it is maintained by the ATO for the Commonwealth of Australia, and it changes. This guide explains how to read it and what to look for, rather than restating amounts or thresholds on the ATO's behalf.
Australian Today is an independent publisher. We are not the ATO, a regulator, or a tax agent, and this guide is general information only.
Read the guidance through three questions
The ATO frames work-related deductions around expenses "you incur in the course of your work". That phrase carries most of the weight, and it is easier to apply if you break it into three checks, in this order.
- Did you actually spend the money, and was it your own money? If your employer paid for it or reimbursed you in full, there is generally nothing left for you to claim.
- Was the expense incurred in the course of your work? The connection needs to be to your job and your duties — not simply to the fact that you are employed, or to getting to work in the first place.
- Can you substantiate it? Records are part of the claim, not an afterthought kept in case of an audit.
Failing the first question ends the enquiry. Most disputes and most uncertainty sit in the second and third.
Know which category the ATO puts your expense in
One practical point before you search: the ATO does not assess every expense against one general test. It publishes separate guidance for each major category, and the rules differ by category. Sorting your expense correctly first will save you reading the wrong page and applying the wrong method.
The ATO's work-related deductions page covers, among others, the following categories:
| Category as covered by the ATO | Examples the ATO refers to |
|---|---|
| Car, transport and travel | Expenses you incur for car, transport and travel in the course of your work |
| Tools, equipment and technology | Tools, computers, internet, stationery, books, and other items you use for work |
| Fees, memberships and checks | Union fees, professional memberships, working with children check, agency fees and commissions |
Why the category matters. The method of working out your claim changes with the category. Some groups of expenses have a dedicated calculation method; some depend on how you use the item outside work; some have limits or specific substantiation expectations. Because those mechanics are set and revised by the ATO, confirm the current treatment on the ATO's page for your category rather than relying on a figure quoted anywhere else — including this guide.
Records: what to assume and what to verify
You should assume, as a baseline, that claiming requires evidence. The practical interpretation is straightforward: keep records at the time you spend, because reconstructing them a year later is where claims fall apart.
What to confirm directly on the ATO page before you finalise anything:
- Which records are acceptable for your category. Different categories have different substantiation expectations, and these are set out by the ATO.
- Any substantiation exception that may apply. Australian tax<｜hy_place▁holder▁no▁813｜>There are a deduction-related evidentiary concessions that have existed historically; whether one applies to your circumstances, and the dollar figure attached to it, is exactly the kind of detail that must be read from the current ATO guidance. Do not take a threshold from memory, a forum post, or a summary like this one.
- How long records must be kept. The ATO sets the retention period; verify it rather than assuming.
- What counts as a record when a paper receipt is missing. Digital records are common, but the acceptable form depends on the ATO's requirements.
Treat these four bullets as a pre-lodgement checklist, not as statements of the rules.
A step-by-step way to check your own claim
Use this sequence once per expense, ideally soon after you spend the money.
- Write one sentence describing what you bought and what work task it served. If you cannot finish that sentence without referencing something personal, the work connection is weak. That is not advice about your outcome — it is a test of whether the expense sits in the categories the ATO covers.
- Find the matching ATO category from the table above and open that section of the ATO's page.
- Check whether employer payment or reimbursement is involved. If so, follow the ATO's guidance on how that interacts with a claim before doing anything else.
- Determine whether private use exists. If you use a tool, phone, computer or internet connection for work and personal purposes, expect the claim to involve apportionment of some kind. Confirm the ATO's required method for that item rather than estimating.
- Save the record now, in whatever form the ATO requires for that category, alongside your note from step 1.
- Re-check at tax time. Guidance is updated; verify close to lodgement rather than relying on what was current when you bought the item.
- If it is genuinely unclear, ask a registered tax agent. That is the appropriate escalation when the ATO's own material does not resolve your situation.
Where people most often need to slow down
These are not rules — they are the situations where a quick claim is most likely to be wrong, and where you should return to the ATO guidance specifically.
- Mixed work and private use. A phone, laptop or internet plan is rarely 100% work. How much you can claim, and how you must work it out, is defined by the ATO for each item type.
- Travel that looks like commuting. "Travel in the course of your work" is narrower than most people assume. Check the ATO's travel category before claiming anything involving distance.
- Things your employer could have paid for. The fact that your employer did not pay does not, by itself, settle the question.
- Allowances. If you received an allowance, it interacts with the deduction. Confirm how the ATO treats that combination.
- Occupation-based items. Whether a particular uniform, course or membership is claimable often depends on your specific occupation and duties, which is precisely why the ATO's category pages exist.
What this guide deliberately does not do
This is general information published by Australian Today as at 28 September 2026. It is not personalised tax advice, and it is not a determination of your eligibility. We have not assessed your occupation, income, records or return. Nothing here should be read as a promise of a refund, a particular deduction amount, or any outcome from the ATO.
Factual claims about what the ATO covers are attributed to the Australian Taxation Office. Anything that changes — methods, limits, thresholds, substantiation exceptions, record requirements — belongs to the ATO page cited above, which is the controlling source. Verify there before you lodge.
Next steps
- Open the ATO's work-related deductions page using the source link at the top of this article.
- List every expense you are considering, with the one-sentence description from step 1 above.
- Sort each item into one of the ATO's categories and read the matching section.
- Confirm your substantiation requirements for that category, then check that you actually hold those records.
- Note anything still unresolved and take it to a registered tax agent.
- Bookmark the ATO page and re-check it closer to lodgement, since the guidance is updated.