Tax Insight · Deductions
Office Worker Tax Deductions 2025-26: What You Can and Can't Claim
- Published
- July 2026
- Last reviewed
- Tax-year context
- 2025-26
- Reading time
- 9 min
General information only — we maintain pages with primary-source checks and date-based reviews. See editorial policy.
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Office workers have the narrowest deduction profile of any large occupation group, and it catches people out every year. There is no uniform to launder, no tools to depreciate, and no travel between job sites — so the claims that do exist tend to be small, specific, and easy to get wrong. The single biggest error is clothing: the ATO is explicit that business attire is conventional clothing and is not deductible, no matter how strictly your employer enforces a dress code. What is deductible is mostly the cost of working from home, keeping your professional credentials current, and the equipment you buy yourself.
What you can claim
| Deduction | Typical range | Key rule |
|---|---|---|
| Working from home — 70c/hour fixed rate | Varies by hours | 70c per work hour for 2025-26. Covers internet, phone usage, electricity, gas, stationery and computer consumables — you cannot claim those separately as well |
| Union and professional association fees | $200–$900/year | Fully deductible. Your income statement often shows the amount, which is enough evidence |
| Renewing a practising certificate, membership or accreditation | $100–$800/year | Deductible if you need it to work in your field — but not the initial certificate you had to hold before being employed |
| Office equipment costing $300 or less | Up to $300 per item | Immediate deduction in the year you buy it, for the work-use portion — keyboards, mice, power boards, desk lamps, chargers |
| Office equipment costing more than $300 | Work % of decline in value | Chairs, desks, monitors, computers and bookshelves are claimed over their effective life, apportioned for private use |
| Repairs to tools and equipment you use for work | Actual cost | Work-related portion only |
| Seminars, conferences and training courses | $200–$2,000 | Must relate to your current work. Includes fares and registration, plus accommodation and meals if you must stay away overnight |
| Self-education | Varies | Only if it maintains or improves the skills for your current duties, or is likely to increase income from your current employment |
| Professional publications and digital information services | $50–$400 | Needs a direct connection between the content and your specific duties — general-interest newspapers and magazines are private |
| Stationery bought for work | $30–$200 | Diaries, pens and notepads used for work. Not claimable on top of the WFH fixed rate, which already covers stationery |
| Taxi, rideshare and public transport during the working day | Varies | Travelling from your office to a client’s office is deductible; home to work is not |
| Overnight work travel | Varies | Accommodation, meals and incidentals when your work requires you to sleep away from home |
| Overtime meals | Per meal | Only if you receive an overtime meal allowance under an industrial law, award or agreement, shown separately on your income statement and declared as income |
| Protective or anti-glare glasses | $100–$500 | Deductible where they reduce a real and likely risk of illness or injury — work-use portion only |
| First aid course | $80–$250 | Only if you are a designated first aid officer and need the training for emergencies at work |
| Parking and tolls on work trips | Varies | Deductible for work-related trips, never for parking at or near your regular workplace |
Dollar ranges above are indicative of what office workers commonly spend — they are not ATO limits. Claim what you actually incurred and can substantiate.
What you cannot claim
- Business attire. Suits, dresses, shirts, ties and dress shoes are conventional clothing — everyday clothing worn by people regardless of occupation. The ATO names business attire worn by office workers as the textbook example. It stays private even if your employer requires it and you only ever wear it at work. Laundry of that clothing is not deductible either.
- Trips between home and your regular office. Private, even if you live a long way away, work outside normal business hours, or come in for weekend or early-morning shifts. Parking at or near your regular workplace and tolls on that commute are private for the same reason.
- Child care. Including school holiday programs and before and after school care. It has no direct connection to earning your income, however necessary it is to your ability to work.
- Grooming. Hairdressing, cosmetics, hair and skin care products are private — even if you receive a grooming allowance and even if your employer expects you to be well presented.
- Prescription glasses and contact lenses. Private, even where you need them to do your job. Only protective eyewear such as anti-glare or photochromatic glasses can be claimed.
- Entertainment and social functions. Work lunches and dinners, sporting events, gala nights, concerts and cocktail parties — even when attendance is compulsory or you discuss work at the event. Travel to and from these functions is also out.
- Food and drink during normal working hours. Private, even if you receive a meal allowance. The overtime meal exception above is narrow and depends on the allowance being paid under an award and shown separately.
- Your driver’s licence. Not deductible even when holding one is a condition of employment.
- Fines and penalties. Including a parking fine incurred outside your workplace.
- Relocation costs. Moving to a new work location is not deductible, whether the move is a condition of your existing job or you are starting a new one.
- Anything your employer paid for or reimbursed. Including your home office setup.
Worked example
Nadia is an operations manager in Perth earning $95,000 in 2025-26. She works from home two days a week, renewed her AHRI membership, and bought her own desk setup.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Working from home — 70c/hour × 620 hours | $434 |
| AHRI professional membership renewal | $395 |
| Monitor and office chair (decline in value, 80% work use) | $260 |
| Keyboard, mouse and dock (each $300 or less, 80% work use) | $192 |
| Professional publication subscription | $180 |
| Leadership seminar related to her current role | $540 |
| First aid course (designated first aid officer) | $150 |
| Tax agent fee | $250 |
| Total deductions | $2,401 |
At Nadia’s marginal rate of 30% (plus 2% Medicare levy), these deductions reduce her tax by approximately $768. Run your own numbers through the Tax Return Calculator.
Note what is missing from that table: internet, phone and stationery. Nadia used the 70c fixed rate, which already includes them, so claiming them again would be a double deduction. Her monitor, chair and desk accessories stay in, because decline in value of technology and office furniture sits outside the fixed rate. Compare both methods in the Work From Home Deductions Calculator.
ATO audit triggers
- Any clothing or laundry claim. Office workers claiming clothing is a known error pattern precisely because business attire is the ATO’s own example of non-deductible conventional clothing. A laundry claim on a page with no uniform is a direct flag.
- Claiming both the WFH fixed rate and separate phone or internet. The rate is designed to cover them. Claiming both is arithmetically visible in your return.
- 100% work use on a laptop, phone or internet connection. Very few office workers use a device exclusively for work. Apportion, and keep a representative 4-week record supporting the percentage.
- Self-education that points at a different job. A course that helps you move into a new role or a new field is not deductible. The test is your current duties at the time you incur the cost.
- Round-number WFH hours. The fixed rate requires a record of the total hours actually worked from home. A tidy 1,000 hours with no diary behind it invites a request for evidence.
Records you need
- A record of hours worked from home for the whole income year — a diary, roster, timesheet or calendar kept as you go. An estimate written up at tax time is not enough for the fixed rate.
- Receipts for equipment, with the purchase date and cost, so items can be split correctly between the immediate $300-or-less deduction and decline in value.
- A basis for every work-use percentage you apply — typically a representative four-week diary for a device or connection.
- Evidence you were not reimbursed for any item you claim, particularly home office equipment.
- Membership and course invoices. Union and professional association fees often appear on your income statement, which the ATO accepts as evidence of the amount paid.
- If you claim phone, data and internet separately (that is, you are not using the fixed rate) and the total claim is $50 or less, you do not need records. Above $50 you need the bills plus evidence of work use.
Key takeaways
- Business attire is not deductible. This is the most common office-worker error and the ATO uses it as its own example of conventional clothing.
- The renewal of a practising certificate or membership is deductible; the one you had to hold before you were hired is not.
- The 70c fixed rate is usually the simplest route for office workers, but it rules out separate internet, phone, electricity and stationery claims.
- Equipment splits at $300: at or below, an immediate deduction; above, decline in value over the effective life — both apportioned for private use.
- Self-education must connect to the job you have now, not the one you want.
Sources
- ATO: Office workers – income and work-related deductions
- ATO: Fixed rate method – working from home
- ATO: Deductions you can claim
- Legislative anchor: ITAA 1997 s 8-1 and Div 900; PCG 2023/1
Next step
- Compare the two work-from-home methods in the Work From Home Deductions Calculator
- Run your estimate 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 Office managers — WFH, admin tools, phones, current-role training