Income and allowances

Income and allowance amounts you need to include in your tax return and amounts you don’t include.

Amounts you do and don't include

You must include all the income you receive as an employee in the retail industry during the income year in your tax return, this includes:

• salary and wages, including cash or bonus payments
• allowances
• compensation and insurance payments – for example, payments made under an income protection insurance policy to replace salary and wages.

Don't include as income any reimbursements you receive.

Your income statement or payment summary will show all your salary, wages and allowances for the income year.

Allowances

You must include all allowances your employer reports on your income statement or payment summary as income in your tax return.

An allowance is where your employer pays you an amount as an estimate of costs you might incur:

• to help you pay for a work expense – for example, steel cap boots
• as compensation for an aspect of your work such as working conditions or industry peculiarities – for example, working in the cold
• as an amount for having special duties, skills or qualifications – for example, first aid qualifications.

Your employer may not include some allowances on your income statement. Find out about declaring income and claiming deductions for Allowances not on your income statement.

Allowances not on your income statement

If you receive an allowance from your employer, it does not automatically mean you can claim a deduction.

Your employer may not include some allowances on your income statement, you will find these amounts on your payslip. You don't need to declare these allowances as income in your tax return, unless you're claiming a deduction. Examples include travel allowances and overtime meal allowances.

If you spend the allowance amount on work expenses, you:

• don't include it as income in your tax return
• can't claim any deductions for the work expenses the allowance covers.

If you're not claiming a deduction, you don't need to keep any records of the amounts you spend.

If you spend your allowance on a deductible work-related expense, to claim a deduction you:

• include the allowance as income in your tax return
• include a claim for the work expenses you incur in your tax return
• must have records of your expenses.

If you can claim a deduction, the amount of the deduction is not usually the same amount as the allowance you receive.

Allowances and claiming a deduction

The following table sets out allowances you may receive and when you can claim a deduction.

Allowance types, reason for the allowance and if you can claim a deduction

Reason for allowance	Example of allowance type	Deduction (Yes or No)
Compensation for an aspect of your work that is unpleasant, special or dangerous or for industry peculiarities	Cold work allowance Recall allowance	No These allowances don't help you pay for deductible work-related expenses
An amount for certain expenses	Overtime meal allowance	Yes If you incur deductible expenses
An amount for special skills	A first aid certificate	Yes If you incur deductible expenses

 

 

Reimbursements

If your employer pays you the exact amount for expenses you incur (either before or after you incur them), the payment is a reimbursement.

A reimbursement isn't considered to be an allowance.

If your employer reimburses you for expenses you incur:

• you don't include the reimbursement as income in your tax return
• you can't claim a deduction for them.

Find out about retail industry workers':

• Deductions for work expenses
• Record keeping for work expenses