This section 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 nine or more passengers, such as utility trucks and panel vans
- actual expenses such petrol, repair and maintenance costs, that you incur to travel in a car that is owned or leased by someone else.
For more information, see You need to know.
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 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.
For information about:
- what expenses you claim as car expenses (at Work-related car expenses)
- what expenses you claim as travel expenses (at this section)
- some examples of trips you can and cannot claim
For additional information, see Car and travel expenses.
Want to know what work-related expenses you may be entitled to claim?
For more information and videos to help you understand what you can claim, see Deductions you can claim.
Depreciation and capital allowances tool
You can use the Depreciation and capital allowances tool to work out any deductible decline in value. To access the tool, select the 'Work it out' link in the Deductions section on the Prepare return screen.
Completing this section
You must have written evidence for the whole of your claim.
We have pre-filled your tax return with work-related travel expense information provided to us. Check for work-related travel expenses that are not pre-filled and ensure you add them.
- For each work-related travel expense that has not been pre-filled in your tax return, select Add and enter information into the corresponding fields.
- Select Save.
- Select Save and continue.
Note: If you used the Depreciation and capital allowances tool, fields containing information from the tool cannot be directly adjusted in myTax. To make any adjustments to this information, or to add new assets to the tool, select Work it out.
Tax tip
Make sure you keep accurate records of travel to make future claims.
You need to know
To claim meal, accommodation and incidental expenses you incurred when you travelled away overnight for work:
- the travel must be undertaken in performing your work duties
- you must only be working away from home for a relatively short period or periods of time (not living away from home)
- you must not have incurred the expenses because of a choice you made about where to live
- you must have a permanent home at a location away from the work location to which you are travelling
- you must have paid the expenses yourself and not have been reimbursed for them.
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 the following tables:
Condition |
Written evidence |
Travel diary (See note) |
|---|---|---|
If you did not receive a travel allowance and the travel is less than 6 nights in a row. |
Yes |
No |
If you did not receive a travel allowance and the travel is 6 or more nights in a row. |
Yes |
Yes |
If you received a travel allowance, your claim does not exceed the reasonable allowance amount and the travel is less than 6 nights in a row. |
No |
No |
If you received a travel allowance, your claim does not exceed the reasonable allowance amount and the travel is 6 or more nights in a row. |
No |
No |
If you received a travel allowance, your claim exceeds the reasonable allowance amount and the travel is less than 6 nights in a row. |
Yes |
No |
If you received a travel allowance, your claim exceeds the reasonable allowance amount and the travel is 6 or more nights in a row. |
Yes |
Yes |
Note: A travel diary is a document in which you record the nature, dates, places, times and duration of your activities and travel.
Condition |
Written evidence |
Travel diary (See note 1) |
|---|---|---|
If you did not receive a travel allowance and the travel is less than 6 nights in a row. |
Yes |
No |
If you did not receive a travel allowance and the travel is 6 or more nights in a row. |
Yes |
Yes |
If you received a travel allowance, your claim does not exceed the reasonable allowance amount and the travel is less than 6 nights in a row. |
No (See note 2) |
No |
If you received a travel allowance, your claim does not exceed the reasonable allowance amount and the travel is 6 or more nights in a row. |
No (See note 2) |
Yes (See note 3) |
If you received a travel allowance, your claim exceeds the reasonable allowance amount and the travel is less than 6 nights in a row. |
Yes |
No |
If you received a travel allowance, your claim exceeds the reasonable allowance amount and the travel is 6 or more nights in a row. |
Yes |
Yes (See note 3) |
Notes:
- A travel diary is a document in which you record the nature, dates, places, times and duration of your activities and travel.
- Written evidence is required for overseas accommodation expenses regardless of the length of the trip but not for food, drink and incidentals.
- Members of international aircrews do not have to keep a travel diary if they limit their claim to the amount of the allowance received.
Reasonable allowance amounts
If your travel allowance was not shown on your payment summary and was equal to or less than the reasonable allowance amount for your circumstances, you do not have to include the allowance as income provided that:
- you have fully spent the allowance on deductible work-related travel expenses and
- you do not claim a deduction for these expenses.
For information on the reasonable allowance amounts, see Taxation Determination TD 2017/19 together with Taxation Ruling TR 2004/6.
Expenses relating to foreign employment income
If you received assessable income from your work as an employee outside of Australia that is shown on a PAYG payment summary - foreign employment, you must claim any work-related travel expenses you incurred in earning that income at this section.
If you received assessable foreign employment income that is not shown on a PAYG payment summary - foreign employment you must claim your deductions against that income at Foreign employment in the Foreign income, assets and entities section.
Further information
For information on:
- travel deductions for employees, see draft Taxation Ruling TR 2017/D6 Income tax and fringe benefits tax: when are deductions allowed for employees' travel expenses?
- shifting places of employment, see Taxation Ruling TR 95/34 Income tax: employees carrying out itinerant work - deductions, allowances and reimbursements for transport expenses
- reasonable allowance amounts, see Taxation Determination TD 2017/19 Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2017–18 income year? together with Taxation Ruling TR 2004/6 Income tax: substantiation exception for reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expenses
- award transport allowance payments, see Award transport payments.
For additional information, see Keeping your tax records.
These myTax 2018 instructions are about travel expenses you incur in the course of performing your work as an employee.