Things you need to know
For information about what expenses you claim as car expenses (question D1) and what expenses you claim as travel expenses (question D2), and some examples of trips you can and cannot claim, see Car and travel expenses 2023.
This question is about travel expenses you incur in performing your work as an employee. They include:
- public transport, air travel and taxi fares
- bridge and road tolls, parking fees and short-term car hire
- meal, accommodation and incidental expenses you incur while away overnight for work
- expenses for motorcycles and vehicles with a carrying capacity of one tonne or more, or 9 or more passengers, such as utility trucks and panel vans
- actual expenses, such as petrol, repair and maintenance costs, that you incur to travel in a car that is owned or leased by someone else.
If your employer provided a car for your or your relatives' exclusive use (including under a salary sacrifice arrangement) and you or your relatives were entitled to use it for non-work purposes, you cannot claim a deduction for work-related expenses for operating the car, such as petrol, repairs and other maintenance. This is the case even if the expenses relate directly to your work. However, you can claim expenses such as parking, bridge and road tolls for a work-related use of the car. Parking at or travelling to a regular workplace is not ordinarily considered to be a work-related use of the car.
Reasonable allowance amounts
If your travel allowance was not shown on your income statement or payment summary and was equal to or less than the reasonable allowance amount for your circumstances, you do not have to include the allowance at item 2 provided that you have fully spent it on deductible work-related travel expenses and you do not claim a deduction for these expenses.
Tax tips
Make sure you keep accurate records of travel to make future claims.
For information on:
- travel deductions for employees, see TR 2021/1 Income tax: when are deductions allowed for employees' transport expenses? and 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 TR 95/34 Income tax: employees carrying out itinerant work – deductions, allowances and reimbursements for transport expenses
- reasonable allowance amounts, see TD 2022/10 Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2022–23 income year? together with TR 2004/6 Income tax: substantiation exception for reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expenses
- award transport allowance payments, see Award transport payments.
Did you have any work-related travel expenses?
No |
Go to question D3 Work-related clothing, laundry and dry cleaning expenses, or return to main menu Individual tax return instructions 2023. |
Yes |
Read on. |
What you need to answer this question
You must have written evidence for the whole of your claim.
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 the expenses yourself and not been reimbursed.
You cannot claim meal, accommodation and incidental expenses, if the expenses were incurred 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.
If you wish to claim meal, accommodation and incidental expenses you incurred when you travelled away overnight for work, then to determine what evidence you need, use tables 4 and 5 in Special circumstances and glossary 2023.
If you received assessable income from your work as an employee outside of Australia that is shown 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 item.
If you received assessable foreign employment income that is not shown on an income statement or a PAYG payment summary – foreign employment you must claim your deductions against that income at question 20 Foreign source income and foreign assets or property 2023.
Completing your tax return
To complete this question, follow steps 1 and 2 below.
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 2023.
- Return to main menu Individual tax return instructions 2023.
- Go back to question D1 Work-related car expenses 2023.