Did you have any uniform, occupation-specific clothing, protective clothing, laundry or dry-cleaning expenses that relate to your work as an employee?
Claim work-related clothing expenses at item D3 on your tax return.
You cannot claim a deduction for the cost of purchasing or cleaning conventional or ordinary clothing worn at work, even if your employer tells you to wear it, as it is a private expense. You cannot claim your expenditure on:
- clothing worn for medical reasons (for example, support stockings)
- conventional clothing that is damaged at work
- everyday footwear (for example, dress shoes, casual shoes or joggers).
If you received an allowance from your employer for clothing, uniforms, laundry or dry-cleaning, show the amount at item 2 on your tax return. You cannot automatically claim a deduction just because you received a clothing, uniform, laundry or dry-cleaning allowance from your employer.
You cannot claim costs met by your employer or costs that are reimbursed, see reimbursements.
You can claim a deduction for the cost of buying, renting, repairing and cleaning certain work-related uniforms, occupation-specific clothing or protective clothing.
Compulsory uniforms
A compulsory uniform is a set of clothing that, worn together, identifies you as an employee of an organisation having a strictly enforced policy that makes it compulsory for you to wear the uniform while at work.
You may be able to claim a deduction for shoes, socks and stockings if they are an essential part of a distinctive compulsory uniform, the characteristics of which (colour, style, type) are specified in your employer’s uniform policy. Wearing of the uniform must be consistently enforced. If your employer requires you to wear a distinctive uniform but does not consistently enforce the wearing of the uniform, the design of the uniform must be registered before you can claim a deduction, see Non-compulsory uniforms or corporate wardrobe.
Single items of compulsory clothing
You may be able to claim for a single item of distinctive clothing, such as a jumper or tie, if it is compulsory for you to wear it at work. Generally, clothing is distinctive if it has the employer’s logo permanently attached and the clothing is not available to the general public.