D2 Work-related travel expenses 2026

Things you need 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. See, Overnight travel expenses and allowances and Trips you can and can't 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 meals, accommodation, 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.

If you received assessable income from your work as an employee outside of Australia, that is on an income statement or a PAYG payment summary – foreign employment, you must claim any work-related travel expenses you incurred in earning that income at this question.

If you received an award transport payment under an industrial law or award in force on 29 October 1986, see Award transport payments.

If your employer provided a vehicle for you or your relatives' exclusive use (including under a salary sacrifice arrangement) and you or your relatives used 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 (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 don't have work-related travel expenses, go to question D3 Work-related clothing, laundry and dry cleaning expenses.

For more information, see:

• Travel deductions for employees
  • Taxation Ruling TR 2021/1 Income tax: when are deductions allowed for employees' transport expenses?
  • Taxation Ruling TR 2021/4 Income tax and fringe benefits tax: employees: accommodation and food and drink expenses, travel allowances, and living-away-from-home allowances.
• 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
  • Taxation Determination TD 2025/4 Income tax: reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2025–26 income year
  • Taxation Ruling TR 2004/6 Income tax: substantiation exception for reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expenses

Meal, accommodation, and incidental expenses

To claim meal, accommodation 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 be reimbursed.

You can't claim meal, accommodation and incidental expenses, if the expenses you incurred were because:

• you lived a long way from where you work 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.

If you want to claim meal, accommodation and incidental expenses you incurred when you travelled away overnight for work, use tables 4 and 5 in Special circumstances 2026 to work out what evidence you need.

Travel allowances for overnight travel

Your employer may have paid you a travel allowance to cover travel allowance expenses you incurred when your travel 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 question 2 Allowances, earnings, tips, directors fees etc, where all the following apply:

• your income statement or payment summary didn't show the travel allowance
• the travel allowance was equal to or less than the reasonable allowance amount for your circumstances
• you fully spent it on deductible work-related travel expenses.

If you don't include the allowance at question 2, you can't claim a deduction for these expenses at this question.

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 didn't sleep away from your usual residence overnight. For example, if you travelled interstate for work purposes but returned home the same day.

Don't show at this question

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, you must claim your deduction at question D1 Work-related car expenses 2026.
• Expenses you incurred in earning assessable foreign employment income not on an income statement or a PAYG payment summary – foreign employment, you claim your deductions at question 20 Foreign source income and foreign assets or property 2026.

What you need to answer this question

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 received 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
• the amount of the expense or cost of the asset
• the nature of the goods or services you buy
• the date you buy the goods or services
• the 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 meal, accommodation and incidental expenses you incurred when you travelled away overnight for work, use tables 4 and 5 in Special circumstances 2026 to work out what evidence you need.

You need to keep records for 5 years (in most cases) from the date you lodge your tax return.

Completing your tax return

To complete this question, follow the steps.

Step 1

Add up all your deductible travel expenses.

Step 2

Write the total amount at question D2 – label B.

Where to go next

• Go to question D3 Work-related clothing, laundry and dry cleaning expenses.
• Return to main menu Individual tax return instructions 2026.
• Go back to question D1 Work-related car expenses 2026.