Deductions for travel expenses
Travel expenses include the costs you incur on car expenses, airfare, taxi, hire car, public transport, accommodation and meals to:
- inspect, maintain or collect rent for a rental property you own or have an ownership interest in
- travel to any other place as long as it is associated with earning rental income from your existing rental property (for example, visiting your real estate agent to discuss your current rental property).
Prior to 1 July 2017:
- you could claim your travel expenses relating to your residential rental property, and
- you didn’t include the travel expenses in the cost base or reduced cost base when calculating any capital gain or capital loss when you sold the property.
From 1 July 2017 you can't claim any deductions for the cost of travel you incur relating to your residential rental property unless you are either:
A residential premises (property) is land or a building that is:
- occupied as a residence or for residential accommodation
- intended to be occupied, and is capable of being occupied, as a residence or for residential accommodation.
To be residential premises, the premises must be fit for human habitation.
For example, a house or a unit used as residential accommodation to produce rental income is residential rental property.
A caravan or a houseboat is generally not residential rental property.
Example: individual with residential rental property
Sarah owned and rented out her residential rental property in the 2023–24 income year. She travelled to the property to repair damages caused by tenants during the year.
As the investment is a residential property and Sarah is not in the business of letting rental properties or an excluded entity, she can't claim a deduction for her travel expenses.
End of exampleCommercial rental properties, for example factories or office blocks, are not residential rental properties. If you own or have an ownership interest in a commercial rental property, you can claim a deduction for travel expenses incurred in earning your rental income from the property.
Example: ownership interest in commercial property
Kei is the sole owner of a commercial rental property. Her husband, Bert, occasionally drives to the rental property in his own car to undertake maintenance. As he has no ownership interest in the property, Bert can't claim travel expenses. Similarly, since Kei didn't travel to the property to undertake the maintenance, she can't claim a deduction.
As the property is a commercial rental property rather than a residential rental property, if Kei and Bert co-owned the property, Bert could share his travel expenses with Kei in line with their legal interest in the property.
Example: individual with a commercial investment property
In the 2023–24 income year, Greg purchased a shopfront and leased the property to Paul. Paul used the shopfront to operate a bakery and paid rent to Greg under a 12-month lease contract.
Greg travelled to the shopfront to inspect the property at the end of the tenancy agreement. As the property was used for commercial purposes, Greg can claim the travel expenses.
End of exampleIn the business of letting rental properties
You can claim your travel expenses if you are in the business of letting rental properties. Generally, owning one or several rental properties will not be considered being in the business of letting rental properties.
If you are an individual and you receive income from letting property to a tenant, or multiple tenants, you are not typically carrying on a business of letting rental properties. Generally, we consider your activities are a form of investment rather than a business, so you can't claim deductions for travel expenses.
Entities that can claim travel expenses
You can claim travel expenses, if you're a:
- corporate tax entity
- superannuation plan that is not a self-managed superannuation fund
- public unit trust
- managed investment trust
- unit trust or a partnership, where all of the members are entities of a type listed above.
Example: an excluded entity in 2023–24
Terry's Pty Ltd, a property manager, incurred travel expenses in 2023–24 to inspect a tenanted residential investment property. Since Terry's Pty Ltd is a corporate tax entity (a company), it can claim a deduction for travel expenses.
End of exampleTravel expenses you can't claim
Even if you are eligible to claim travel expenses, you still can't claim for expenses related to:
- your personal use of the property or for purely private purposes
- carrying out general maintenance of the property while it's not genuinely available for rent
- undertaking repairs, where those repairs are not because of damage or wear and tear incurred while you rented out the property.
For example, if you travel to undertake initial repairs before you rent the property for the first time, these are capital expenses and may be included as part of the cost base for capital gains tax calculation when the property is being sold later.
If your travel expenses are partly for private purposes and partly related to the rental property, you can only claim the amount relating to the rental property.
Travel expenses before you purchase
You can't claim for travel expenses to inspect a property before you buy it.
You also can't claim for travel expenses to (or other costs for) rental seminars about helping you find a rental property to invest in.
Seminars are only tax deductible if they relate to earning rental income from your existing rental property. When a seminar teaches you how to locate a suitable rental property to buy, you can't claim a deduction against rental income for the cost of the seminar because the costs incurred are 'too soon' before the commencement of the income producing activity.
Some promoters have incorrectly told taxpayers that they can claim the cost of their travel to and from a property they may purchase. You can't claim these costs for properties within Australia nor overseas.
Travel expenses you can claim
If you are in the business of letting rental properties or an excluded entity, and eligible to claim travel expenses, the types of expenses you can claim include:
- preparing the property for new tenants (except for the first tenants)
- inspecting the property during or at the end of tenancy
- undertaking repairs, where those repairs are because of damage or wear and tear incurred while you rented out the property
- maintaining the property, such as cleaning and gardening, while it is rented or genuinely available for rent
- collecting the rent
- visiting your agent to discuss your rental property.
For more information, see Rental expenses to claim.
Car travel
If you use your own car to travel to inspect your rental property or to collect rent, you must use the same method to calculate your deductions as work-related car expenses.
Overnight travel
You can claim a deduction for travel expenses for travelling to your rental property if:
- you own a rental property that is far away from where you live
- it would be unreasonable to expect you not to stay near the rental property overnight when making an inspection
- your main purpose in travelling was to inspect and maintain the rental property.
Where you stay overnight, you can claim meals and accommodation.
Where your trip is mainly for private purposes (for example, having a holiday) and inspecting the property is incidental to that main purpose, you can't claim the costs of getting to your destination or returning home. You can only claim local expenses incurred after you arrive at your destination that are directly related to the property inspection such as taxi fares to and from the rental property. You may also be able to claim a proportion of your accommodation expenses.
Example: apportionment of travel expenses
Bill and Marli King are joint owners of a residential rental property in a resort town on the north coast of Queensland. In 2016–17, they spent $1,800 on airfares and $1,500 on accommodation when they travelled from their home in Melbourne, mainly for the purpose of holidaying in the resort town, but also to inspect the property. They also spent $100 on taxi fares from the hotel to the rental property and back. The Kings spent:
- one day (10% of their total time in Queensland) on matters relating to the rental property
- 9 days (90% of their total time in Queensland) swimming and sightseeing.
They can't claim a deduction for any part of the $1,800 airfares because the main purpose of the trip is a holiday and the property inspection is incidental.
Since the travel expenses were incurred in the 2016–17 year, they can claim deductions for the $100 taxi fares and $150 as a reasonable apportionment of the accommodation expenses (that is, 10% of $1,500).
The total expenses the Kings can claim are therefore $250 (that is, $100 taxi fares plus $150 accommodation). Since they jointly own the rental property, they can claim a deduction of $125 each.
Example: apportioning accommodation expenses
Jabari is the sole owner of a rental property on the Gold Coast. In 2016–17, he travels from Sydney to the Gold Coast to undertake deductible repairs on his rental property but takes his spouse, Kym, with him for company and to share the driving. Jabari and Kym stay in a hotel where the cost of a:
- single room is $55
- double room is $70
A reasonable basis for apportionment of accommodation expenses in this instance is to claim the single room rate of $55 (rather than half the double room rate), as Jabari would have stayed in the single room if Kym had not travelled with him.
End of exampleOverseas travel
If you are an Australian resident and own a rental property overseas, you may travel overseas on holiday and inspect your rental property at the same time.
If the main purpose of the trip is a holiday, you can't claim the cost of getting there. You can only claim local expenses incurred after you arrive at your destination that are directly related to inspecting the property, such as taxi fares to and from the rental property. You may also be able to claim a deduction for part of your accommodation expenses.
You must be able to show your reason for visiting the rental property.
The records you keep, such as invoices for your accommodation or airline tickets, will help you do this.
Record keeping for travel expenses
If you can claim your travel expenses and you travel over a considerable distance to inspect a rental property (for example, interstate), you need written records to show that you travelled and what expenses you incurred.
Written records can include:
- a travel diary
- receipts for
- airline tickets
- fuel
- accommodation
- other purchases while travelling
- items you used for repairs and maintenance that you purchased when you travelled to, or stayed near, the rental property.
If you spend 6 or more nights away from where you live, you must keep a travel diary or similar document that shows the nature of the activities, dates, places, times and duration of your activities and travel.