When claiming work expenses in your tax return, whether by yourself or through your accountant, we often struggle with determining what we can claim. We have devised a list of work related expenses you can claim on your tax return this year, some may even surprise you!
1. Clothes and Make Up
If you have ever completed your tax return this is generally the first area you go to claim your expenses. Whether it be for laundry, protective steel cap boots or your uniform you’d be hard bent to find a person who didn’t jump at the opportunity to claim back on this expense. What some people don’t know is that you may also be able to claim your new hand bag/suitcase (if you can prove it carries more than just your lunch!).
2. Electricity
For those of you that work from home the chance to claim back on electricity may seem too good to be true. By keeping a log book of your work hours you can claim 45c per hour which, if you work an average 40 hour week, can lead to a deduction of more than $900 off your next tax return.
3. Car Use
Although you can’t claim travel to and from work (as much as we’d all like to!) you can claim travel to see clients, and to work sites. The ATO will be very strict when checking this deduction this year so make sure you have kept a log book and it is up-to-date.
4. Mobile Phone
Walk past any cafe and I can almost guarantee you’ll find someone suited up typing on their phone with a serious expression on their face. Now whether they are conversing with their boss, crunching numbers, or just on a really hard level of candy crush we may never know. One thing we do know is that you can claim a percentage of mobile usage as a work expense. The ATO will be cracking down on this so don’t claim 100% of your phone usages as a tax write off.
5. Office Equipment
Buy a new standing desk this last financial year? Why not claim it? You can claim office equipment, such as desks, stationary, ink, and antivirus software.
6. Income Protection Insurance
If you pay your Income Protection Insurance separate to your Super Fund you can claim this as a tax expense. If you Super Fund and Insurance is together, you cannot.
7. Self-education expenses
Work in a cafe and had to take a barista course? Were you required to undergo a first aid training course? Any education expenses which are required by your employee or are designed to improve your skills set for work can be claimed.
All these expenses can be claimed on your tax return, provided that you have proof of purchases for expenses under $300. Although there is the magic $300 claimable without receipts, the expenses still must be work related, regardless of whether you provide receipts or not.
To help you keep track of your expenses the ATO has developed an app where you can record your expenses, track trip kilometres and store photos of your receipts. This can then be uploaded straight to your online tax return or can be sent to your accountant. This is perfect for people always on the go, click here to learn more.
Claiming deductions just go easier with the ATO my deductions app.
Not sure what you can and can’t claim? Contact us and we will be happy to help you out.