Things to know
Complete this section if you incurred travel expenses in performing your work as an employee.
To claim a deduction for a work-related expense:
- you must have spent the money yourself and weren't reimbursed
- it must be directly related to earning your income
- you must have a record to prove it (usually a receipt).
You can only claim a deduction for the work-related portion of an expense. You can't claim a deduction for any part of an expense that is not directly related to earning your income or that is private.
If your total claim for work-related expenses is more than $300, you must have written evidence to prove your claims.
Work-related travel expenses include:
- public transport, air travel and taxi fares
- short-term car hire
- accommodation, meal and incidental expenses you incur while away overnight for work
- 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
- bridge and road tolls, and parking fees for
- cars (don't claim these at 'Work-related car expenses')
- motorcycles and vehicles with a carrying capacity of one tonne or more, or 9 or more passengers
- 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.
You can claim
You can claim the cost of trips you undertake in the course of performing your work duties. This may also include trips between your home and your workplace if:
- you used the vehicle because you had to carry bulky tools or equipment that are essential to perform your employment duties and could not leave at your workplace because there was no secure storage (for example, an extension ladder or cello)
- your home was a base of employment (that is, undertaking work in 2 locations is necessary due to the nature of your duties and you were required to start your work duties at home and travel to your workplace to complete those particular work duties)
- you had shifting places of employment (that is, you regularly worked at more than one site each day before returning home).
Work-related travel expenses also include the cost of trips:
- between 2 separate places of employment when you have a second job, providing one of those places is not your home
- from your normal workplace or your home to an alternative workplace that is not a regular workplace (for example, a client’s premises) while you are on duty
- from an alternative workplace that is not a regular workplace back to your normal workplace or directly home.
If the travel was partly private, you can claim only the work-related part.
Claim at this section any work-related travel expenses incurred in earning assessable foreign employment income shown on an income statement or PAYG payment summary – foreign employment.
If you received an award transport payment from your employer, you can claim a deduction for work-related transport expenses these payments cover.
If your employer provided a car for you 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 can't claim a deduction for work-related expenses for operating the car even if the expenses relate directly to your work, such as
- petrol
- repairs
- other maintenance
- you can claim expenses for a work-related use of the car, such as
- parking
- bridge and road tolls.
Parking at or travelling to a regular workplace is not ordinarily considered to be a work-related use of the car.
If you no longer own or use an item costing over $300 (such as a ute or van with a carrying capacity of a tonne or more) and you previously claimed a deduction for its decline in value, you may need to make a balancing adjustment.
Accommodation, meal and incidental expenses
To claim accommodation, meal 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 can’t claim accommodation, meal 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.
Overnight travel expenses includes information about records and evidence you need if you want to claim accommodation, meal and incidental expenses you incurred when you travelled away overnight for work.
Your employer may have paid you a travel allowance to cover travel allowance expenses you incurred when you travelled away from home 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.
If you receive a travel allowance, you may be eligible for a record keeping exception if your deductible travel allowance expenses are within the reasonable amounts.
The reasonable amounts are not amounts that you can automatically claim as a deduction.
For information on:
- travel deductions for employees, see
- 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.
- substantiation exceptions, see
- Taxation Determination TD 2023/3 Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2023–24 income year?
- Taxation Ruling TR 2004/6 Income tax: substantiation exception for reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expenses.
Related page
Claiming deductions
How to claim deductions in your return using myTax.
You can't claim
You can't claim normal trips between your home and your workplace, even if:
- you did minor work-related tasks at home or between home and your workplace
- you travelled between your home and workplace more than once a day
- you were on call
- there was no public transport near work
- you worked outside normal business hours
- your home was a place where you ran your own business and you travelled directly to a place of employment where you worked for somebody else.
Do not show at this section
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 where the expense is not related to motorcycles and vehicles with a carrying capacity of one tonne or more, or 9 or more passengers, such as utility trucks and panel vans, go to Work-related car expenses
- Expenses you incurred in earning assessable foreign employment income not shown on an income statement or PAYG payment summary – foreign employment, go to Foreign employment
- For any balancing adjustment, show your
- losses at Other work-related expenses
- profits at Other income.
Any balancing adjustment amounts calculated in the Depreciation and capital allowance tool will show automatically.
Completing this section
You must have written evidence for the whole of your claim.
We pre-fill your tax return with work-related travel expense information you uploaded from myDeductions. Check them and add any work-related travel expenses that have not pre-filled.
To claim work-related travel expenses, you must first show income from salary and wages or foreign employment income in the Income statements and payment summaries section.
To personalise your return to show work-related travel expenses, at Personalise return select:
- You had deductions you want to claim
- Work-related expenses.
To claim your work-related travel expenses, at Prepare return select 'Add/Edit' at the Deductions banner.
At the Work-related travel expenses banner:
- For each work-related travel expense not pre-filled in your tax return, select Add and
- enter Your description. To assist in record keeping, add a short description of your expense.
- enter the Amount.
The Depreciation and capital allowances tool can help you to work out any decline in value deduction. It can also work out any deductible balancing adjustment when you stop holding a depreciating asset. Access this tool in the Deductions section.
Fields from this tool can't be adjusted in myTax. To make any adjustments, or to add new assets to the tool, select the 'Use the depreciation and capital allowances tool' link.
- Select Save.
- Select Save and continue when you have completed the Deductions section.
You need to keep records for 5 years (in most cases) from the date you lodge your tax return.
Our myDeductions tool is free to use and is available through the ATO app. The tool makes it easier and more convenient to keep records of your expenses and income in one place, including photos of your receipts and invoices.