Use this checklist to determine your eligibility for the most common work-related tax deductions for individuals.
| 2016/17 year end — allowable deductions for individuals | Yes | No | Ref | |||
| D1 | Car-related expenses (work-related daily travel expenses) | |||||
| • | Do you travel between two work sites? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| Number of kilometres: __________________ | ||||||
| • | Do you travel for work? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| Number of kilometres: __________________ | ||||||
| • | Do you travel between home and work carrying bulky equipment or bulky items for sale? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| Number of kilometres: __________________ | ||||||
| You can only claim this if you don’t have locked storage at work. | ||||||
| All log books from before 1 July 2012 will need to be updated for the current tax year. | ||||||
| All cents per kilometre method claims are at a rate of 66 cents per kilometre. | ||||||
| You cannot claim: | ||||||
| • | a trip consisting of home-work-home | |||||
| • | travel between work and home more than once a day | |||||
| • | trips if you are on call, and | |||||
| • | trips outside normal business hours. | |||||
| D3 | Clothing expenses | |||||
| • | Do you wear clothing to protect yourself from the risk of illness or injury posed from your working environment? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| Cost of safety-coloured clothing: ____________ | ||||||
| Cost of steel-capped boots: ____________ | ||||||
| • | Are you required to wear a distinctive uniform by your employer? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, is this policy strictly enforced? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| If “Yes”, list type and cost of clothing: | ||||||
| ______________________________ | ||||||
| If “No”, has your employer registered the design with AusIndustry? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| If “Yes”, list type and cost of clothing: | ||||||
| ______________________________ | ||||||
| • | Have you incurred laundry and dry-cleaning expenses for any of the above items? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, list the cost: __________________ | ||||||
| Tip | ||||||
| You can have clothing expenses from prior years, and laundry expenses for such clothing this year. | ||||||
| You cannot claim: | ||||||
| • | purchasing and cleaning of: | |||||
| – | plain uniforms or conventional clothing | |||||
| – | sports clothing | |||||
| – | clothing worn for medical reasons | |||||
| – | everyday footwear (ie dress or casual shoes) | |||||
| • | items that were purchased or reimbursed by your employer, and | |||||
| • | a deduction just because you received a clothing, uniform and laundry allowance. | |||||
| D4 | Self-education expenses | |||||
| • | Did you undertake a course of study designed to lead to an increase in income from your current employment? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, list the details: | ||||||
| Type of course of study: ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Educational facility: ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Cost of course fees: ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Cost of textbooks: ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Cost of stationery: ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Cost of equipment/computers: ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Cost of subscriptions: ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Cost of travel from work: ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Tip | ||||||
| You cannot claim a self-education course for the purposes of finding new employment or starting a new income-earning activity. | ||||||
| D5 | Other out-of-pocket, work-related expenses | |||||
| • | Did you pay union or professional association fees? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, list the cost: __________________ | ||||||
| • | Did you pay fees for professional seminars, courses, conferences or workshops? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, list the cost: __________________ | ||||||
| • | Did you pay for reference books, technical journals or trade magazines? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, list the cost: __________________ | ||||||
| • | Did you pay for safety items such as hard hats, safety glasses or sunscreen? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, list the cost: __________________ | ||||||
| • | Did you use your personal telephone and/or internet service for work? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, what is the work-related percentage: ____________% and cost __________________ | ||||||
| Do you have itemised phone bills? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| If “Yes”, number of months: __________________ | ||||||
| Do you have a four-week diary of calls made? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| • | Do you work from home and incur electricity costs? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, list number of hours per week you work from home: __________________ | ||||||
| Do you have a four-week diary of the hours worked? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| A notional claim for electricity when working at home is $0.45 per hour. | ||||||
| • | Did you receive an “overtime meal allowance” as part of your award or industrial agreement? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, did you actually work overtime on those occasions? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| If “Yes”, was the amount you received equal to or less than the Commissioner’s reasonable amount ($29.40 in the current year)? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| If “Yes”, did you spend it on overtime meals? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| If “Yes”, list the cost or number of days: __________________ | ||||||
| If you answered no to any of the above, you cannot claim a tax deduction for overtime meals. | ||||||
| • | Did you pay for tools and equipment (under $300 each)? | ☐ | ☐ | |||
| If “Yes”, list the cost: __________________ | ||||||
| Tools and equipment note | ||||||
| No immediate deduction is available for tools and equipment costing $300 or more. For items purchased between $300 and $1,000, they may be placed in a low value pool in Item D6 and depreciated so long as individual remains employed in the industry. Purchases over $1,000 to be depreciated of their effective life until its written down value is less than $1,000. Then it may enter the low value pool. | ||||||
| NB: All items only depreciable on work-related portion. | ||||||
| Tip | ||||||
| You cannot claim: | ||||||
| • | child care expenses | |||||
| • | driver’s licence fees | |||||
| • | fitness costs | |||||
| • | meals during a normal working day | |||||
| • | newspapers or online subscriptions | |||||
| • | removal/relocation costs, even if you are transferred by your employer, and | |||||
| • | rent or mortgage interest. | |||||
| D9 | Gifts or donations | |||||
| Did you make any gifts or donations of $2 or more to a deductible gift recipient? | ☐ | ☐ | ||||
| If “Yes”, list below: | ||||||
| ____________________________________ | ||||||
| ____________________________________ | ||||||
| ____________________________________ | ||||||
| ____________________________________ | ||||||
| Tip | ||||||
| Your receipt from the approved organisation will show whether your donation is tax-deductible. | ||||||
| You cannot claim time spent volunteering for an organisation. | ||||||
| The source of this content is CCH‘s professional information services. Thompsons Australia has a professional subscription with CCH providing access to in-depth quality technical information and commentary used by Thompsons Australia in keeping staff and clients currently in formed. |
