Concreters - claiming work-related expenses

Making a claim

When you can make a claim

In most situations, 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.

However, there are some instances where you have to meet other conditions, some of which are mentioned below.

Claim the correct amount for the year

You must have incurred the expense in the year you are claiming the deduction, unless the expense relates to the decline in value (depreciation) of tools or equipment you purchased.
When claiming the decline in value of your tools or equipment, you must have used them or had them available for use in the year you are making the claim.
You can only claim that part of an expense that relates to your work.

Remember

When you complete the declaration on your tax return you are declaring that everything you have told us is true and you can support your claims with written evidence.

You are responsible for providing proof of your expenses, even if you use a registered tax agent.

Reimbursements and allowances

If your employer or any other person reimburses you for expenses you have actually incurred, the payment is called a reimbursement. An allowance is not considered to be a reimbursement.
You cannot claim a deduction for expenses you incur if those expenses are reimbursed to you by your employer – you do not include a reimbursement on your tax return.
If you claim your motor vehicle expenses from your employer using the cents per kilometre method, the amount you receive is considered to be an allowance.
Regardless of the amount of an allowance you receive, you can only claim a deduction for the expenses you paid. That is, if you paid $80 in work-related expenses and you received a $100 allowance for those expenses, you can still only claim $80.

If you receive a car allowance or an award transport payment from your employer you must record the amount you received on your tax return as income at item 2.

Evidence to support your claims

If your total claims add up to more than $300 (excluding claims for car, meal allowance, award transport payments allowance and travel allowance expenses), you must keep evidence, such as receipts. Your evidence must show you have incurred the full amount of your claim, not just the amount over the first $300.

If the total amount you are claiming is $300 or less, you don’t need to keep receipts, but you must be able to show how you worked out your claims.

Work-related daily travel expenses

When you can make a claim

Transporting bulky tools and equipment

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

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

Travelling between worksites

You can claim a deduction for the cost of trips between worksites on the same day. This includes travelling between either of the following:

different worksites for the same employer
separate places of employment.

Shifting places of employment

You can claim the cost of trips between home and work if you regularly work at many sites each day before returning home.

Example 1

Roger’s employer has a depot where the crew can meet and travel to the various worksites – usually five each day – in the company truck, which is loaded with all the necessary tools and equipment. Roger chooses to use his own car in which he carries his own tools.

Even though Roger is carrying tools and works at several different sites, he is not entitled to claim a deduction for his travel expenses because he chooses not to use the transport and tools supplied by his employer. This means his travel expenses are private expenses.

Example 2

George does maintenance work. To do his work, he carries a boot load of tools and equipment and travels to several worksites each day.

George is entitled to a deduction for his car expenses between home and work because he works at several worksites each day.

Example 3

Tony works on a large project where secure storage is available for his tools. As Tony chooses to transport his tools to and from work every day, instead of leaving them in the secure storage provided, he cannot claim a deduction for his transportation costs.

For more information about claiming car expenses, refer to Deductions essentials - Car expenses.

Daily travel expenses you cannot claim

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

there was no public transport near where you worked so you used a car
you worked outside normal business hours – for example, shift work or overtime
you used your own vehicle to travel from home to work to collect a work vehicle.

Keeping records of your daily travel expenses

Car expenses

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 be a car if it is any of the following:

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
a motorcycle.

If your vehicle is not a car or is a car that you don’t own or lease, see Vehicles other than cars.

Methods of working out your car expenses

The deduction you can claim must be worked out using one of four methods. The records you must keep will depend on:

the estimated amount of business kilometres you travelled for the income year
which method you use for claiming car expenses.

For more information on methods of working out your car expenses, refer to Deductions essentials - Car expenses.

The following two methods are those most commonly used by concreters.

The logbook method

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

a logbook
odometer records
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.

The cents per kilometre method

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

you don't need receipts or other written evidence but we may ask you to show how you worked out your estimate of business kilometres. For example

by using a diary of work-related travel
by basing your costs on a regular pattern of travel

you can only claim up to the first 5,000 business kilometres you travel.

Car expenses are claimed at D1 Work-related car expenses on your tax return.

To help you calculate your car expenses, use our Work related car expenses calculator.

Vehicles 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 claim these expenses at D2 Work-related travel expenses on your tax return.

Direction icon

For more information, refer to Claiming travel expenses.

Other daily travel expenses

You will need to keep records for other daily travel expenses such as:

car parking
bridge and road tolls
taxi and bus fares.

You claim these expenses at D2 Work-related travel expenses on your tax return.

Work-related overnight travel expenses

When you can make a claim

You can claim a deduction for the full amount of your travel expenses where both of the following apply:

your employer requires you to travel to a worksite for a short period to perform work
it would be unreasonable to expect you to return home each day, which means you must stay at or near that worksite while performing that work.

This is the case unless the place at which you stay becomes your temporary residence. That is, you are living away from home for work purposes – see Overnight travel expenses you cannot claim.

Travel expenses include:

meals, accommodation and incidental expenses
car, air, bus, train, ferry and taxi fares between home and the site.

If you are claiming travel expenses and you receive a travel allowance from your employer, you must record the allowance on your tax return at item 2.

For more information about claiming travel expenses, refer to Claiming travel expenses.

Overnight travel expenses you cannot claim

You cannot claim a deduction for the travel expenses you incur if any of the following apply:

your employer reimburses your expenses
you get a job that results in you having to incur travel expenses because you choose not to relocate
you live away from your usual home to perform your work.

If you live away from home to perform your work you may receive a living-away-from-home allowance from your employer. Because you cannot claim a deduction for your expenses, your employer must pay fringe benefits tax on the allowance and you do not need to include the allowance on your income tax return.

Your employer should not show the allowance on your payment summary. If it appears on your payment summary, check with your employer that it has not been shown by mistake.

Example 4

Joe lives in the city and applied for a job to work on a large construction project near a country town. He is paid an allowance to meet his accommodation and meal costs. As Joe applied for the job in the country town and has chosen not to relocate, he is not entitled to a deduction for his expenses. Joe's allowance is a living-away-from-home allowance that his employer must pay fringe benefits tax on. The allowance should not be shown on Joe's payment summary.

Fly in/fly out jobs

If you have a job involving a typical fly in/fly out arrangement, it is likely your employer provides you with all of the following:

barracks-style accommodation while you are on onsite that you must vacate when you fly out
canteen meals while you are onsite
transport from a pickup (which may be a nominated airport) to and from the site.

In these circumstances, the site is not your temporary residence, so you can claim a deduction for any contribution you make to the accommodation or meals provided. However, you cannot claim a deduction for your costs of travelling from your home to the pickup point.

Keeping records of your overnight travel expenses

Expenses for which you do not have to keep records

You can claim a deduction for the full amount of your travel expenses without keeping all your records if you meet both of the following conditions:

you receive a travel allowance that could reasonably be expected to cover your accommodation, and/or meals and/or expenses incidental to the travel. Remember, a token amount paid as a travel allowance is not accepted as reasonably covering such costs
your travel expenses are equal to or less than the reasonable allowance amount we state.

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 both of the following apply:

you have spent the entire allowance on expenses for which you can claim a deduction
you are not claiming the deduction.

Otherwise, you must show the allowance on your return.

We set the reasonable allowance amount for your circumstances in an annual taxation determination that explains:

when you do not need evidence of your expenses
the way in which you can claim them.

For the 2008–09 reasonable allowance amount, refer to Taxation Determination TD 2008/18 – Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and meal allowance expense amounts for 2008–2009?

Example 5

Antoni travels from Adelaide to Mt Gambier for a job. He is away from home for five nights. His employer pays him a travel allowance of $110 per night for accommodation, meals and incidentals. The allowance is not shown on his payment summary.

The travel allowance amount paid to Antoni is less than the reasonable allowance amount and Antoni spends all of the travel allowance on his travel expenses.

Antoni chooses not to include his allowance on his tax return because:

it is less than the reasonable allowance amount
it is not shown on his payment summary
he spends it all to cover his travel expenses.

This means Antoni cannot claim a deduction for his expenses on his tax return

Expenses for which you must keep records

If you are claiming more than the reasonable allowance amount, you must keep records to show the full amount you spent, not just the amount over the limit. These records include:

a travel diary if your travel is six or more nights in a row – that is, a document that shows the dates, places, times and duration of your activities and travel
invoices, receipts or other documents showing your travel expense 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.

If you do not receive a travel allowance, you must keep all of your records.

If you receive a travel allowance that is more than the reasonable allowance amount, you must show the allowance as income on your tax return at item 2.

If you receive a token amount paid as a travel allowance

If you receive a token amount paid as a travel allowance that could not reasonably be expected to cover your costs for accommodation, meals and incidental travel expenses, it is not accepted as being a travel allowance. As a result, you must show the total amount you receive on your tax return. You must also keep records to show the full amount you spent.

You claim your overnight travel expenses at D2 Work-related travel expenses on your tax return.

Other work-related expenses

Unless indicated otherwise, you can claim the following expenses at D5 Other work-related expenses on your tax return.

Protective equipment and clothing

You can claim a deduction for protective equipment you use on the job that costs $300 or less in the year you incur the expense. This would include equipment such as helmets, harnesses and goggles. You cannot claim a deduction for protective equipment costing more than $300 that is used over a longer period. You can claim a deduction for its decline in value.

Examples of protective clothing include:

fire resistant and sun-protection clothing
high visibility vests and shirts
rubber boots
steel-capped boots, gloves, overalls, heavy duty shirts and trousers that are designed to protect the wearer from the risk of injury at work.

Jeans, drill shirts and trousers that are not designed to protect you are not considered to be protective clothing.

Your expenses for protective clothing items are claimed at D3 Work-related clothing, laundry and dry-cleaning expenses on your tax return.

Tools and equipment

You can claim the decline in value on your tools and equipment. The amount you can claim depends on the amount of time you use them for work purposes. For example, if you own a power tool which you use half for business purposes and half for private purposes, you can only claim half the decline in value.

You can claim that part of the cost of a tool or piece that applies to the amount you use it for work purposes where either of the following conditions apply:

it does not form part of a set and it cost $300 or less
it forms part of a set and the set cost $300 or less.

You can also claim the work-related cost of repairing and insuring your tools and equipment, and any interest charges you incur on money you borrowed to purchase these items.

For more information about claiming decline in value, refer to Work related expenses – decline in value.

Sunglasses, sunhats and sunscreens

You can claim a deduction for these items if you meet both of the following conditions:

you have to work in the sun for all or part of the day
you use these items to protect yourself from the sun while at work.

Home office expenses

If you maintain an office at home where you carry out tasks for work, then you should have a look at the home office expenses calculator on our website to see what you are eligible to claim. Just making work-related telephone calls from home won’t necessarily mean that the room from which you make those calls qualifies as a home office.

For more information about home office expenses, refer to Miscellaneous work related expenses .

Overtime meals

You can claim a deduction for overtime meal expenses if you meet both of the following conditions:

you received an overtime meal allowance under an industrial award for working overtime
you purchased a meal when you worked overtime.

You must include the allowance you received on your tax return under any of the following circumstances:

if you have an overtime meal allowance on your payment summary
if you are claiming a deduction and the allowance is not shown on your payment summary
if you have received an allowance in excess of the reasonable allowance amount.

If the overtime meal 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 if both of the following apply:

you have spent the entire allowance on expenses for which you can claim a deduction
you are not claiming the deduction.

If your overtime meal allowance is already included in your normal salary or wage (not included as a separate allowance on your payment summary), you cannot claim a deduction for it.

To find out the reasonable allowance, refer to Keeping travel expense records.

Records you must keep

The records you must keep may include any of the following:

receipts, or other written evidence for 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 telephone accounts on which work-related calls can be identified
a diary you have created to work out how much you use your equipment, home office and telephone for business purposes over a representative four-week period
payment summaries showing items such as overtime meal allowances.

What to read/do next

For information about particular types of work-related expenses, refer to:

If you need help applying this information to your own situation, phone us on 13 28 61.

Last Modified: Thursday, 25 June 2009

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