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

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

Retail deductions are modest but easy to leave on the table, and one distinction decides most of them: whether your work clothes carry your employer’s logo. A branded, compulsory uniform is deductible along with the cost of washing it. A plain white shirt and black pants — the ATO’s own example of conventional clothing for retail employees — are not, even where the dress code is strict and you never wear them anywhere else. Everything else in a typical retail return comes down to protective gear, union fees, and training that relates to the job you already hold.

What you can claim

Dollar ranges above are indicative of common retail spending, not ATO limits. Claim what you actually incurred.

What you cannot claim

• Plain black-and-white work clothes. The ATO’s stated example of conventional clothing for retail is a plain white shirt and black pants. Conventional clothing is not deductible even if your employer requires it and you only wear it at work — and neither is laundering it.
• Vaccinations. Including the flu shot, even where your employer requires it. The ATO treats vaccination as a personal health expense.
• Grooming. Hairdressing, cosmetics, hair and skin care products are private, even if you receive a grooming allowance or your employer expects you to be well groomed.
• Prescription glasses and contact lenses. Private, even when you need them at work. Only protective eyewear qualifies.
• Trips between home and your regular store. Private, even if you live a long way away or work early-morning and weekend shifts. Parking near the store and tolls on the commute go with it.
• Child care. Including holiday programs and before and after school care.
• Food and drink during normal working hours, even with a meal allowance. The overtime meal exception is narrow.
• Entertainment and social functions. Work lunches and dinners, staff social nights, concerts — even when attendance is compulsory or work is discussed.
• Your driver’s licence, even if holding one is a condition of employment.
• Fines and penalties, including a speeding fine on the way to work.
• Anything your employer paid for or reimbursed, including a first aid course they funded.

Worked example

Chloe works full time in a homewares store in Brisbane earning $58,000 in 2025-26. Her employer issues a compulsory logoed polo, she is the store’s designated first aid officer, and she is an SDA member.

At Chloe’s marginal rate of 30% (plus 2% Medicare levy), these deductions reduce her tax by approximately $510. Run your own numbers through the Tax Return Calculator.

Chloe’s laundry claim is $96 — under the $150 laundry threshold — so she does not need written evidence for it, although she still has to be able to explain how she arrived at 96 loads. Because her total work-related claim is above $300, she does need written evidence for everything else.

ATO audit triggers

• Claiming plain work clothing or its laundry. Retail is one of the occupations the ATO names when explaining conventional clothing. A clothing claim with no compulsory or registered uniform behind it is a direct flag.
• A laundry claim that implies more loads than shifts worked. The $150 no-evidence threshold is not a standard deduction — you still need a defensible basis for the number of loads.
• Claiming a flu shot or other vaccination. Explicitly not deductible for retail workers.
• First aid training claimed by someone who is not the designated first aid person, or where the employer paid.
• Self-education aimed at leaving retail. A course that qualifies you for a different field is not deductible; the test is your current duties at the time you incur the cost.

Records you need

• Receipts for uniform items and protective gear, plus something showing the uniform is compulsory or registered — a staff handbook page or policy email is usually enough.
• A basis for your laundry claim — the number of work-only loads and mixed loads per week, and the weeks worked. Keep it as a note you write during the year, not a reconstruction in October.
• Your phone bills and a representative four-week record of work use, unless your total phone, data and internet claim is $50 or less.
• Union fee evidence — usually your income statement.
• Course invoices and evidence you were not reimbursed.
• If your total work-related claim (including laundry, excluding car, travel and overtime meal allowance expenses) is $300 or less, you can claim without receipts — but you must still be able to show how you worked out the total.

Key takeaways

• Logo decides it: a compulsory or registered uniform is deductible, plain black-and-white work clothing is not.
• Laundry is $1 per work-only load and 50c per mixed load, and claims of $150 or less need no written evidence.
• Protective items — steel-cap shoes, gloves, safety glasses — are deductible where they address a real risk, unlike the clothes worn over them.
• Vaccinations, grooming and prescription glasses are private, no matter what your employer requires.
• Union fees and designated first aid training are the two most commonly missed retail deductions.

Sources

• ATO: Retail industry workers – income and work-related deductions
• ATO: Clothing, laundry and dry-cleaning expenses
• ATO: Deductions you can claim
• Legislative anchor: ITAA 1997 s 8-1 and Div 900

Next step

• Bundle every claim type 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 Retail managers — uniforms, rosters, current-role training