Personal Trainer and Fitness Industry Tax Deductions 2025-26: What You Can and Can't Claim

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

Personal trainers and fitness and sporting industry employees run into one deduction trap more than anyone else: the ATO treats your own fitness as a private expense, full stop. There is no carve-out for the fact that being fit and looking the part is effectively a condition of the job. Gym fees, active wear, weight-management programs, special dietary food and sports supplements are all named directly in the ATO’s fitness industry guide as non-deductible — the same blanket private-expense rule that applies to every other taxpayer, with nothing written in for people whose income depends on their own fitness. What is deductible tends to be narrower and more specific than people expect: the equipment you actually train clients with, travel between gyms and training venues (never the commute), first aid recertification, and — in one genuinely fitness-specific carve-out — the music you’re required to supply to run a class.

What you can claim

Dollar ranges above are indicative of what personal trainers and fitness industry employees commonly spend — they are not ATO limits. Claim what you actually incurred and can substantiate.

What you cannot claim

• Gym fees and your own health and fitness costs. The ATO’s fitness industry guide states plainly that health and fitness expenses are private, and names gym fees directly. This extends to the cost of a program specifically designed to manage weight, normal food substitutes or food for special dietary purposes, and vitamins, minerals or sports supplements such as protein shakes. There is no exception written in for fitness or sporting industry employees — being fit for the job doesn’t change the private nature of the expense.
• Ordinary sports and activewear. Tracksuits, running or aerobic shoes, socks, sporting shirts and shorts are conventional clothing — everyday clothing worn by people regardless of occupation — and it stays private even if your employer requires it and you only ever wear it at work. Active wear also fails the occupation-specific test: it doesn’t distinctly identify you as belonging to a particular profession, and the ATO’s own example of clothing that fails this test is sports gear such as active wear. It fails the protective-clothing test too — active wear, shorts, t-shirts, trousers, socks and sports shoes are specifically listed as lacking the protective qualities designed for the risks of your work. Clothing only becomes deductible if it has genuine protective features, distinctly identifies your specific profession, is a compulsory uniform strictly and consistently enforced by your employer, or is a non-compulsory uniform registered on the Register of Approved Occupational Clothing.
• Massage and other alternative therapies. Private, even when used for recovery from the physical demands of the job.
• Grooming. Hairdressing, cosmetics, and hair and skin care products are private, even if you receive a grooming allowance and 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, sunglasses, safety glasses or goggles can be claimed.
• Watches and smart watches. Not deductible even if you rely on one to time sessions or track clients, under ordinary circumstances. The narrow exception is a watch with special characteristics you use for a work-related purpose, and you’d need a diary or similar record showing a representative period of work-related use to support the claim.
• The commute between home and your regular gym or workplace. Private, even if you live a long way away, work outside normal business hours, or come in for early-morning or weekend 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.
• Entertainment and social functions. Work breakfasts, lunches and dinners, attendance at sporting events as a spectator, gala nights, concerts and cocktail parties — even when compulsory or work is discussed. Travel to and from these events is also out.
• Food and drink during normal working hours. Private, even if you receive a meal allowance. The overtime meal exception is narrow and depends on the allowance being paid under an industrial law, award or agreement and shown separately on your income statement.
• Your driver’s licence. Not deductible even when holding one is a condition of employment.
• Relocation costs. Moving to a new work location isn’t deductible, whether the move is a condition of your existing job or you’re taking up a new one.
• Anything your employer paid for or reimbursed. Including equipment, courses and clothing.

Worked example

Kirra is a personal trainer at a gym in Newcastle earning $72,000 in 2025-26. She runs outdoor bootcamp sessions, trains clients across two gym sites, and programs sessions from home a few hours a week.

At Kirra’s marginal rate of 30% (plus 2% Medicare levy), these deductions reduce her tax by approximately $835. Run your own numbers through the Tax Return Calculator.

Note what is missing from that table: her gym membership, her own activewear, protein supplements and a general music subscription she listens to outside client sessions — none of it is deductible under the ATO’s fitness industry rules, no matter how directly it supports her ability to do the job. Note too what’s missing for a different reason: Kirra used the 70c fixed rate for her small amount of at-home programming work, and that rate already covers phone, internet, electricity and stationery, so she can’t claim those again on top of it. Compare what you can claim in the Work-Related Deductions Calculator.

ATO audit triggers

• Any gym membership, supplement or general fitness claim. The ATO’s fitness industry guide states this as a blanket private-expense rule with no professional exception — it’s one of the most direct flags in this occupation.
• Activewear claimed as protective, occupation-specific or uniform clothing. Sports gear is named explicitly as failing all three exceptions. A laundry claim or a purchase claim on ordinary gym clothes stands out immediately against that rule.
• Car claims for the regular commute between home and your usual gym. Deductible car travel is between jobs, venues and clients — never the trip you make every day to your regular workplace.
• Claiming both the WFH fixed rate and separate phone or internet. The rate is designed to cover them, and claiming both is arithmetically visible in your return.
• Self-education that points at a different job. The test is whether the study maintains or improves skills for your current duties, or is likely to lift income from your current employment — not whether it helps you move into a new field.
• A music or streaming subscription used mostly for personal listening. The deduction only survives if supplying your own music is required to run your class; if the work use is incidental to mostly personal use, none of the cost is deductible.

Records you need

• A record of hours worked from home, kept as you go — a diary, roster or calendar. An estimate written up at tax time isn’t enough for the fixed rate.
• A log of work-related car trips if you use the cents per kilometre method — dates, destinations and the work purpose of each trip between gyms, clients and venues.
• 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 note connecting any music or streaming subscription to a class you run, not just a receipt — the requirement to supply your own music is what makes it deductible.
• Confirmation you are a designated first aid officer if you claim a first aid course, and evidence your employer didn’t pay for or reimburse it.
• Evidence you were not reimbursed for any item you claim.
• If your laundry claim (excluding dry-cleaning expenses) is $150 or less, you don’t need written evidence — but you still need to be able to show how you worked out the claim.
• If your total work-related claim (including laundry, excluding car, travel and overtime meal allowance expenses) is $300 or less, you don’t need receipts at all.

Key takeaways

• Gym fees, your own fitness program, special diets and supplements are private expenses under the ATO’s own fitness industry guide — there is no professional exception for being fit as part of the job.
• Ordinary activewear stays private no matter how strictly your employer enforces it. Genuine protective features, occupation-specific clothing, or a compulsory or registered uniform are the only routes to a deduction.
• Music or streaming subscriptions are deductible only if you’re required to supply your own music to run a class, and only for the work-related portion.
• Car travel between gyms, clients and training venues is deductible; the trip from home to your regular workplace never is.
• The 70c fixed rate already bundles phone, internet, electricity and stationery — don’t double-claim them.

Sources

• ATO: Fitness and sporting industry employees – 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

• Estimate your work-related deductions in the Work-Related 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 Personal trainers — equipment, certifications, gym fees and client travel