Aged Care and Disability Support Worker Tax Deductions 2025-26: What You Can and Can't Claim
- Published
- July 2026
- Last reviewed
- Tax-year context
- 2025-26
- Reading time
- 12 min
General information only — we maintain pages with primary-source checks and date-based reviews. See editorial policy.
General information only. Speak with a registered tax agent for advice.
Aged care workers, disability support workers and direct carers have one of the most travel-heavy deduction profiles the ATO recognises — and one of the most misunderstood. The rule that catches people out is the sleepover shift: even though many employers pay a sleepover allowance for staying overnight at a client’s residence, the ATO treats that allowance purely as compensation for the inconvenience, not for any expense — so nothing you spend on a sleepover shift is deductible. Meanwhile, the travel most carers do all day — driving from one client’s home to the next — is a genuine claim, quite different from an ordinary commute. Get the line between “client to client” and “home to first client” wrong, in either direction, and you either leave money on the table or invite a request for evidence.
Unlike an office-based role, this occupation’s deduction profile isn’t dominated by desk equipment or working-from-home hours. It’s dominated by things that happen on the road and on shift: kilometres between appointments, protective gear you buy yourself, laundering a uniform, and training that keeps your certifications current. Board and lodging, grooming and the base cost of a driver’s licence stay private no matter how central they feel to doing the job. The list below works through what’s actually claimable, what isn’t, and the records the ATO expects you to keep for each one.
What you can claim
| Deduction | Typical range | Key rule |
|---|---|---|
| Travel between clients during a shift | $400–$2,500/year | 88c per work km for 2025-26 (capped at 5,000 work km), for trips from one client’s home or work location to another. Home to your first client, and your last client back home, are private — the same as an ordinary commute |
| Award transport payment (fares allowance) expenses | Varies | If you’re paid an award transport payment under an award in force on 29 October 1986, you must declare it as income, but you can then claim the work-related transport expenses it covers without written evidence or travel records, provided you actually spent the money |
| Protective items (gloves, masks, aprons, safety glasses) | $80–$300/year | Deductible in full for the work-related risk they protect against — not if your employer supplies, pays for or reimburses them |
| Sunglasses, sunhats and sunscreen | $40–$150/year | Only if you must work in the sun for extended periods, and only the work-related portion if you also wear or use the items privately |
| Laundry of protective or uniform clothing | $20–$150/year | $1 per work-only load, 50c per mixed load. No written evidence needed if your total laundry claim is $150 or less |
| First aid course | $80–$250 | Only if you are a designated first aid officer and need the training to assist in emergency work situations — not if your employer pays or reimburses the course |
| Tools and equipment costing $300 or less | Up to $300/item | Immediate deduction for the work-use portion in the year you buy it — for example a fob watch, lanyard or personal duress alarm |
| Tools and equipment costing more than $300 | Work % of decline in value | Claimed over the item’s effective life, apportioned for your private use |
| Repairs to tools and equipment | Actual cost | Work-related portion only, if you also use the item privately |
| Self-education | Varies | Only if it maintains or improves the skills and knowledge you need in your current role, or is likely to increase your income from your current employment — not a course connected only in a general way, or one that helps you move into a new field |
| Seminars, conferences and training courses | $100–$800/year | Manual handling, infection control, dementia care and similar training that relates to your current work. Fares and registration are always claimable; accommodation and meals too if you must stay away overnight |
| Union and professional association fees | $150–$500/year | Fully deductible. Your income statement is often enough evidence of the amount you paid |
| Overtime meal expenses | Per meal | Only if you buy and eat the meal while working overtime, receive an overtime meal allowance under an industrial law, award or agreement, and it’s shown as a separate allowance on your income statement and declared as income |
| Phone, data and internet | $50–$400/year | Deductible for your work-related use of your own phone or device. No records needed if your total claim is $50 or less; above that, keep an itemised bill and evidence of your work use |
| Taxi, rideshare, public transport and car hire | Varies | For transport in the course of your work — for example, a taxi from one work location to another because a fleet vehicle wasn’t available. Not for trips between home and your regular place of work |
| Overnight travel (accommodation, meals, incidentals) | Varies | Only when your work requires you to travel and sleep away from home overnight — for example an interstate training course. Not for a sleepover shift at a client’s residence |
| Additional cost of a special driver’s licence or condition | Actual cost | Only the extra cost of a special licence or condition you need to perform your duties — not your ordinary licence, and not deductible if your employer pays or reimburses it |
Dollar ranges above are indicative of what aged care and disability support workers commonly spend — they are not ATO limits. Claim what you actually incurred and can substantiate.
Working from home isn’t in the table above on purpose. Most direct-care roles involve too few home-based hours — rostering apps and client notes aside — for the 70c fixed rate to add up to a meaningful claim, and if you do buy equipment for occasional at-home admin, you can still claim its decline in value in its own right without needing to log fixed-rate hours.
What you cannot claim
- Sleepover shift expenses. A sleepover allowance compensates you for the inconvenience of spending the night at a client’s residence, not for any expense you incur that night. Nothing from a sleepover shift is deductible, even though the allowance itself is real, assessable income.
- Board and lodging. If you live at the facility where you work, board and lodging are private living expenses, not work expenses.
- Home-to-first-client and last-client-to-home travel. Normal trips between your home and your regular place of work are private, even if you live a long way from your usual client base or work outside normal business hours such as weekend or early-morning shifts.
- Conventional clothing, including everyday shoes. Clothing that people wear regardless of occupation stays private even if your employer requires it and you only ever wear it at work. Only protective clothing, occupation-specific items, or a registered or compulsory uniform qualify — and only those can be laundered as a deduction.
- Child care and your children’s education costs. School holiday care, before and after school care, school fees, university and TAFE fees, and things like the decline in value of a child’s laptop or desk have no direct connection to earning your income and are private expenses.
- Grooming. Hairdressing, cosmetics, and hair and skin care products are private, even if you receive a grooming allowance or your employer expects you to be well presented.
- Prescription glasses and contact lenses. Private, even where you need them to do your job. Only genuine protective or anti-glare eyewear, or sunglasses used for a real and likely risk of illness or injury, can be claimed.
- Entertainment and social functions. Work lunches and dinners, gala nights, and similar events are private even if attendance is effectively compulsory or you discuss work matters there. Travel to and from these functions is also out.
- Food and drink during your normal shift. Meals and snacks eaten during your ordinary working hours are private, even if you receive a meal allowance — the overtime meal exception above is narrow and depends on an award-based allowance shown separately.
- Vaccinations. Not deductible even if your employer requires you to have them. These are private expenses.
- Your ordinary driver’s licence. The cost to get or renew a standard licence is private, even where holding one is a condition of your employment.
- Removal and relocation expenses. Moving to a new work location isn’t deductible, whether the move is a condition of your existing job or you’re starting a new one.
- Anything your employer paid for or reimbursed. This includes protective items, first aid courses, special licence conditions, and any transport expense your employer has already covered.
Worked example
Amira is a disability support worker in Adelaide earning $68,000 in 2025-26. She drives between clients’ homes across the day, is her team’s designated first aid officer, and pays HSU union fees.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Travel between clients — 1,800 work km × 88c | $1,584 |
| Protective items (gloves, masks, aprons) | $180 |
| Sun protection (sunscreen and hat for outdoor client visits) | $60 |
| Laundry — compulsory uniform, 45 work-only loads × $1 | $45 |
| First aid course (designated first aid officer) | $220 |
| Union fees (HSU) | $280 |
| Phone and data (work-related portion, itemised bill) | $180 |
| Manual handling and infection control training | $150 |
| Tax agent fee | $220 |
| Total deductions | $2,919 |
At Amira’s marginal rate of 30% (plus 2% Medicare levy), these deductions reduce her tax by approximately $934. Run your own numbers through the Tax Return Calculator.
Note what’s missing from her table: a working-from-home claim and any home-to-first-client travel. Amira’s day starts and ends with a client, not a desk, so she has no fixed-rate hours to log and her opening and closing trips stay private, exactly like anyone else’s commute. Run your own mix of claims through the Work-Related Deductions Calculator.
ATO audit triggers
- Car claims with no split between commute and client travel. The ATO expects the trip from home to your first client, and your last client back home, to be excluded from a client-to-client kilometre total — folding them in is a common and visible error.
- A deduction claimed on a sleepover shift. Because a sleepover allowance is expressly there to compensate for inconvenience rather than expenses, any deduction for that night directly contradicts the ATO’s own published position.
- Laundry claims with no protective or uniform clothing behind them. A laundry deduction on a return with no occupation-specific or compulsory uniform invites a request for evidence.
- 100% work-use phone or vehicle claims. Very few carers use a personal phone or car exclusively for work — apportion, and keep a record that supports the percentage you use.
- Self-education that points at a different role. A course that helps you move into a new job or a different field, rather than improving your skills in your current one, isn’t deductible — the test is the job you hold now.
- Board and lodging claimed while living on-site. This is treated as a private living expense regardless of how the arrangement is framed.
- An overtime meal claim with no separate allowance on the income statement. If the amount is folded into ordinary salary rather than itemised as an award-based overtime meal allowance, the deduction doesn’t stand up.
Records you need
- A logbook or diary of your work-related car trips — dates, the client or work location, and kilometres, if you’re using cents per kilometre for client-to-client travel.
- Receipts for protective items, tools and training, showing the purchase date and cost, so items can be split correctly between an immediate deduction and decline in value.
- Evidence you weren’t reimbursed for any item you claim, particularly protective equipment, first aid training and special licence costs.
- A record of your phone and data work use if your total phone claim is more than $50 — an itemised bill you can mark up to show work-related calls and data.
- Union and membership invoices. These often already appear on your income statement, which the ATO accepts as evidence of the amount paid.
- Confirmation of any award transport payment shown on your income statement, if you’re relying on the fares allowance exception to skip written evidence for the transport costs it covers.
- If your laundry claim is $150 or less, you don’t need written evidence — but keep a rough note of your work-only loads in case you’re close to that threshold.
Key takeaways
- Sleepover allowances pay you for the inconvenience of staying over, not for expenses — nothing from a sleepover shift is deductible, even though the allowance itself is assessable income.
- Travel between clients during a shift is a genuine deduction; travel from home to your first client and your last client home is not, the same as an ordinary commute.
- Board and lodging is not deductible if you live at the facility where you work.
- Laundry, protective items and first aid training all share one test: check whether your employer supplied, paid for or reimbursed the item before you claim it.
- Self-education must connect to the job you have now, not the one you’re hoping to move into.
Sources
- ATO: Community workers and direct carers – income and work-related deductions
- ATO: Deductions you can claim
- Legislative anchor: ITAA 1997 s 8-1
Next step
- Run your total through the Work-Related Deductions Calculator
- Estimate your refund in the Tax Return Calculator
Occupation guides
These role-specific guides cover the practical deduction rules, record-keeping checkpoints, and the best calculator to use next.
- Tax for Aged care workers — client travel, protective items, shift-related rules