Things to know
To claim a deduction for work-related travel expenses as an employee, you must have incurred the expenses in the course of performing your work.
To claim a deduction for a work-related expense:
- you must have spent the money yourself and weren't reimbursed
- it must be directly related to earning your income
- you must have a record to prove it (usually a receipt).
You can only claim a deduction for the work-related portion of an expense. You can't claim a deduction for any part of an expense that isn't directly related to earning your income or that is private.
If your total claim for work-related expenses is more than $300, you must have written evidence to prove your claims.
What you can claim
Travel expenses include:
- taxi, ride-share and public transport fares, airfares, short-term car hire, road and bridge tolls and parking fees
- overnight travel expenses, such as accommodation, meal and incidental expenses
- expenses for a vehicle that isn't yours or isn't a car, such as
- expenses for motorcycles
- expenses for vehicles with a carrying capacity of one tonne or more, or 9 or more passengers, such as utility trucks and minibuses
- actual expenses such as petrol, repair and maintenance costs, that you incurred to travel in a car someone else owned or leased.
If the travel was partly private, you can claim only the part that relates to work travel. For more information, see Trips you can and can't claim.
If you received an award transport payment from your employer, you can claim a deduction for work-related transport expenses these payments cover.
If your employer provided a vehicle for you or your relatives’ exclusive use (including under a salary sacrifice arrangement) and you or your relatives could use it for non-work purposes:
- you can't claim a deduction for work-related expenses for operating the vehicle, such as petrol, repairs and other maintenance (this is the case even if the expenses relate directly to your work)
- you can claim expenses such as parking, bridge and road tolls for a work-related use of the vehicle, excluding parking at or travelling to a normal or regular place of work.
If you no longer own or use an item costing over $300 (such as a ute or van with a carrying capacity of one tonne or more) and you previously claimed a deduction for its decline in value, you may need to make a balancing adjustment.
Claim at this section any work-related travel expenses incurred in earning assessable foreign employment income shown on an income statement or PAYG payment summary – foreign employment.
For information on:
- travel deductions for employees, see
- shifting places of employment, see Taxation Ruling TR 95/34 Income tax: employees carrying out itinerant work – deductions, allowances and reimbursements for transport expenses.
- reasonable allowance amounts, see
Related page
Claiming deductions
How to claim deductions for work-related expenses when lodging your tax return using myTax.
Accommodation, meal and incidental expenses
To claim accommodation, meal and incidental expenses, you must have incurred the expenses when you travelled and stayed away from your home overnight in the course of performing your work duties. You must also have paid for the expenses yourself and not been reimbursed.
You can’t claim accommodation, meal and incidental expenses if the expenses you incurred were because:
- you lived a long way from where you worked because of your personal circumstances
- there was a change to your regular place of work and you lived away from your usual residence to be closer to your new regular place of work (living away from home)
- you chose to sleep at or near your workplace rather than returning to your home between shifts.
Overnight travel expenses includes information about records and evidence you need if you want to claim accommodation, meal and incidental expenses you incurred when you travelled away overnight for work.
Travel allowances for overnight travel
Your employer may have paid you a travel allowance to cover travel allowance expenses you incurred when you travelled that involved sleeping away from home overnight to perform your employment duties.
Receiving a travel allowance from your employer doesn't automatically mean you can claim a deduction. You can only claim a deduction for the deductible travel allowance expenses that you actually incurred.
You don't have to include the allowance at Salary, wages, allowances, tips, bonuses where all the following apply:
- your income statement or payment summary doesn't show the travel allowance
- the travel allowance is equal to or less than the reasonable allowance amount for your circumstances
- you have fully spent it on deductible work-related travel expenses.
If you don't include the allowance at Salary, wages, allowances, tips, bonuses, you can't claim a deduction for these expenses at this section.
What you can't claim as a travel expense
You can't claim expenses relating to normal trips between your home and work, except in limited circumstances.
You also can't claim food and incidental expenses if you don't sleep away from your usual residence overnight. For example, if you travel interstate for work purposes but return home the same day.
Don't show at this section
Don't show the following at this section:
- Expenses (apart from bridge and road tolls, and parking fees) relating to a car you owned, leased or hired under a hire purchase agreement, go to Work-related car expenses.
- Expenses you incurred in earning assessable foreign employment income not on an income statement or PAYG payment summary – foreign employment, go to Foreign employment.
- For any balancing adjustment, show your
- losses at Other work-related expenses
- profits at Other income.
Any balancing adjustment amounts calculated in the Depreciation and capital allowance tool will show automatically.
Completing this section
If your total claim for all work-related expenses is $300 or less, you need records (such as a document or spreadsheet) to show how you calculated your claim. If you exceed the $300 limit, you must have written evidence of all your expenses (such as receipts or invoices), unless an exception applies.
If you receive a travel allowance from your employer, you may be eligible for the record keeping exception.
Written evidence must show the:
- name or business name of the supplier
- amount of the expense or cost of the asset
- nature of the goods or services you buy
- date you buy the goods or services
- date the document was produced.
Make sure you keep accurate written evidence of travel to make future claims. You may also need to keep other records such as a travel diary or similar record of your travel activities.
If you want to claim accommodation, meal, and incidental expenses you incurred when you travelled away overnight for work, see Domestic travel or Overseas travel to work out what evidence you need.
We pre-fill your tax return with work-related travel expense information you uploaded from myDeductions. Check them and add any work-related travel expenses that haven't pre-filled.
To claim work-related travel expenses, you must first show income from salary and wages or foreign employment income in the Income statements and payment summaries section.
To personalise your tax return to show work-related travel expenses, at Personalise return select:
- You had deductions you want to claim.
- Work-related expenses.
To claim your work-related travel expenses, at Prepare return select 'Add/Edit' at the Deductions banner.
At the Work-related travel expenses banner:
- For each work-related travel expense that hasn't pre-filled in your tax return, select Add and
- enter Your description. To assist in record keeping, add a short description of your expense.
- enter the Amount.
The Depreciation and capital allowances tool can help you to work out any decline in value deduction. It can also work out any deductible balancing adjustment when you stop holding a depreciating asset. Access this tool in the Deductions section.
Fields from this tool can't be adjusted in myTax. To make any adjustments, or to add new assets to the tool, select the 'Use the depreciation and capital allowances tool' link.
- Select Save.
- Select Save and continue when you have completed the Deductions section.
You need to keep records for 5 years (in most cases) from the date you lodge your tax return.
Our myDeductions tool is free to use and is available through the ATO app. The tool makes it easier and more convenient to keep records of your expenses and income in one place, including photos of your receipts and invoices.