Farm and Agricultural Worker Tax Deductions 2025-26: What You Can and Can't Claim

General information only. Speak with a registered tax agent for advice.

This guide is for agricultural employees — station hands, jillaroos and jackaroos, shearers’ hands, farmhands and other people who work for a farm business — not for people running their own primary production enterprise. If you’re a business owner, arrangements like income averaging, farm management deposits and livestock trading stock rules apply to you instead, and none of that is covered here. What makes the agricultural worker deduction list distinctive is a small group of claims almost no other occupation gets: the work-related use of a quad bike or all-terrain vehicle, sun protection for people who genuinely work outdoors all day, a working dog or horse, and even a firearm where pest control is part of the job. Each of those comes with its own condition list, and the one that trips people up most often is the working dog or horse claim — get the three-part test wrong and a legitimate claim becomes a reviewed one.

What you can claim

Dollar ranges above are indicative of what agricultural workers commonly spend — they are not ATO limits. Claim what you actually incurred and can substantiate.

The 70c-a-work-hour working-from-home fixed rate doesn’t feature in the ATO’s agricultural workers guide, and it’s easy to see why: most station and farm roles involve almost no hours worked from a home office. It’s left out of the table above for that reason. If part of your role genuinely does involve working from home, claim the actual phone, data and internet costs shown in the table instead of reaching for the fixed rate.

What you cannot claim

• Conventional clothing. Jeans, drill shirts, shorts and general work trousers are everyday clothing worn regardless of occupation. They stay private even if you only wear them on the job, unless they carry genuine protective features.
• The purchase price of a working dog or horse. Buying the animal is a capital expense. You can claim its decline in value and running costs (food, vet bills), but never the amount you paid to acquire it.
• Prescription glasses and contact lenses. Private, even though you need them to do your job. Only protective eyewear — anti-glare, photochromatic or safety glasses — is deductible.
• The initial cost of a licence, permit or card. A heavy vehicle permit, firearm licence or forklift licence you needed to get the job in the first place is private. Only the cost of renewing it while you’re employed is deductible.
• Your driver’s licence. Not deductible even where holding one is a condition of your employment.
• Fines and penalties. Including a fine for overloading a truck — connection to work doesn’t make a fine deductible.
• Child care. School holiday programs and before-and-after-school care have no direct connection to earning your income.
• Your children’s education. School, university and TAFE fees, plus items like laptops, iPads or desks bought for their study, are private family expenses.
• Music streaming, podcasts and audiobooks. Even if they help you stay motivated or occupied during long days on the job, they’re private.
• General newspapers, news services and magazines. Only a publication with a direct, specific connection to your particular duties is deductible — general-interest content is private.
• Removal and relocation expenses. Moving to take up or continue a job is not deductible, whether or not the move is a condition of employment.
• Food and drink during normal working hours. Private, even with a meal allowance — the overtime meal exception is narrow and requires a separately identified allowance under an award.
• Anything your employer paid for or reimbursed. Animal costs, firearms, protective gear, tools — if your employer covers it, you can’t claim it too.

Worked example

Bellamy works as a station hand on a cattle property in regional Queensland, earning $58,000 in 2025-26. Her role requires her to muster on a quad bike, provide and work her own cattle dog, and control vermin with a firearm supplied under her own licence.

At Bellamy’s marginal rate of 30% (plus 2% Medicare levy), these deductions reduce her tax by approximately $956. Run your own numbers through the Tax Return Calculator.

Notice what isn’t in that table: the purchase price of her dog and the cost of her original firearm licence. Both are capital or private outlays, not deductions — only the animal’s ongoing costs and decline in value, and the licence renewal, count. Her jeans and drill shirts don’t appear either; they’re conventional clothing regardless of how often they get worn on the job. Compare your own claim shape against other roles with the Work-Related Deductions Calculator.

ATO audit triggers

• A working dog or horse claim that fails any of the three conditions. If your employer doesn’t actually require you to provide your own animal, if it isn’t genuinely used in carrying out your duties, or if it’s treated more like a pet than a trained working animal, the claim doesn’t hold up.
• The purchase price of a working animal claimed as a deduction. Buying the dog or horse is capital. Only decline in value and running costs are deductible — claiming the sticker price is a direct flag.
• A firearm claim with no demonstrable link to your duties. Vermin or pest control needs to be part of the job you actually do, not a general rural-lifestyle justification.
• 100% work-use claims on an ATV or car with no apportionment. Very few of these vehicles are used exclusively for work — a claim with no private-use discount invites scrutiny.
• Sun-protection claims with no genuine prolonged outdoor exposure. The condition is specific: you must work outdoors in the sun for prolonged periods and face a real and likely risk, not just prefer wearing sunglasses.
• Laundry claims with no protective, occupation-specific or uniform clothing behind them. A laundry deduction only stands up if the clothing itself would separately qualify.

Records you need

• A diary or log of ATV and car use showing work-related trips and distance, especially if you’re near the 5,000km cents-per-kilometre cap.
• Evidence your employer requires you to provide your own working animal, plus food and vet receipts and a basis for the animal’s decline in value.
• Firearm licence renewal receipts, ammunition receipts and evidence connecting the firearm to your specific duties (for example, a vermin-control responsibility in your role).
• A record of how you calculated your laundry claim, even if it’s $150 or less and you don’t need to keep the receipts themselves.
• Receipts for tools, protective items and equipment, with purchase date and cost, so items split correctly between the immediate $300-or-less deduction and decline in value.
• Evidence you weren’t reimbursed for any item you claim — animal costs, firearms and protective gear in particular.
• Phone and data bills if your claim for those items is more than $50; below $50, no records are required.
• If your total work-related claim (including laundry, but excluding car, travel and overtime meal allowance expenses) is $300 or less, you don’t need written evidence for that portion — but you still need to be able to show how you worked it out.

Key takeaways

• The working dog or horse test has three parts — animal used in your duties, employer requires your own animal, trained for the role not treated as a pet — and the purchase price is never deductible regardless.
• Sun protection (sunglasses, sun hats, sunscreen) is only deductible where prolonged outdoor work creates a real and likely risk — not simply because you’d rather wear sunglasses at work.
• A firearm is deductible only with a direct connection to your duties, such as vermin control, and only for decline in value, maintenance, ammunition and licence renewal — never the initial licence.
• An ATV or quad bike used to reach livestock a car can’t get to is deductible for its work-related decline in value and running costs, apportioned for any private use.
• Laundry, tools and car claims follow the same rules as most occupations — but they only apply on top of clothing, equipment or travel that separately qualifies.

Sources

• ATO: Agricultural workers – income and work-related deductions

Next step

• Run your estimate in the Tax Return Calculator
• Compare your claim shape in the Work-Related Deductions Calculator

Occupation guides

These role-specific guides cover the practical deduction rules, record-keeping checkpoints, and the best calculator to use next.

• Tax for Farmers — equipment, sun protection, working animals and site travel