The following information is provided as a convenience and has been sourced from the Australian Tax Office website. Any links below will open in a new window on the ATO website.

What does the ATO say about these deductions

You can claim vehicle and other travel expenses you incur when you travel in the course of performing your work duties. However, you generally can’t claim for normal trips between home and work as this is considered private travel.

You need to keep records of your travel expenses.

Deductions you may be able to claim for vehicle and other travel expenses include:

• Travel between home and work and between workplaces
• Car expenses
• Removal or relocation
• Other travel expenses
• Accommodation allowances and expenses when travelling away from home for work
• Award transport expenses

This information has been sourced from the Australian tax office website, for additional information click here to visit the ATOs website or you can ask for help from our accounts, additional fees apply.

Removal and relocation

You can’t claim a deduction for the cost involved in taking up:

• a transfer in an existing employment
• new employment with a different employer.

Other travel expenses

Other travel expenses you have incurred as an employee that you may be able to claim as a deduction include:

• expenses you incurred for meals, accommodation and incidentals when travelling away overnight for work, such as going to an interstate work conference (generally, you can’t claim for meals if your travel did not involve an overnight stay)
• the costs you incur for driving your car (such as fuel, oil, repairs and maintenance costs) when using someone else’s car or other vehicle that is not defined as a car for work purposes
• air, bus, train, tram and taxi fares
• bridge and road tolls
• car parking and car-hire fees.

Vehicles other than cars are motorcycles, scooters, vehicles with greater than one tonne carrying capacity such as utes, trucks, heavy vehicles or a van with capacity for nine or more passengers.

You can’t claim:

• the purchase of other vehicles, but you can claim the decline in value of the vehicle over its effective life
• a deduction for
• any fines you receive, such as speeding or parking infringements
• normal daily trips between home and work – this is private travel.

You have to reduce your claim to exclude any private portion of your trip.

For a summary of this content in poster format, see Travel expenses (PDF, 526KB)This link will download a file.

If you receive a travel allowance

Receiving a travel allowance from your employer does not automatically entitle you to a deduction. Travel allowances may or may not be shown on your income statement or payment summary.

If it’s on your income statement or payment summary, you will need to:

• include the allowance in your tax return
• claim a deduction for the amount you spent on deductible expenses.

If it’s not on your income statement or payment summary and you spent the full amount on deductible expenses, you can either:

• not include the allowance in your tax return and not claim a deduction for your expenses
• include the allowance in your tax return and claim a deduction for the amount you spent on deductible expenses.

If it’s not on your income statement or payment summary and you didn’t spend the full amount on deductible expenses, you will need to:

• include the allowance in your tax return
• claim a deduction for the amount you spent on deductible expenses.

If you claim more than the reasonable allowance amount we set, you need to keep records of your expenditure.

The ATO provided examples of travel expanses here

Examples Link

Apportioning travel expenses

You need to apportion your expenses if they are partly private in nature. If you travel on a work trip, you may not be required to apportion your costs where there is a minor private component that is merely incidental to the work.

Examples of apportioning travel expenses

Examples Link

See also:

• Occupation and industry specific guides

Travel expense records

You need to keep receipts or other written evidence for your travel expenses.

You also need travel records (such as a travel diary) if you are away from home for six or more nights in a row. This is in addition to keeping receipts for your expenses.

There are some exceptions for expenses on accommodation, meals and incidental expenses. You don’t have to keep all your receipts if:

• you receive an allowance from your employer, and
• your deduction is less than the Commissioner’s reasonable amount.

You can only claim expenses you actually incurred. You can’t claim a deduction for those travel expenses which are reimbursed to you.

If you claim a deduction for more than the Commissioner’s reasonable amount you need to keep receipts for all expenses, not just for the amount over the Commissioner’s reasonable amount.

If you are not required to keep receipts, you must still be able to explain your claim and show you spent the amounts. For example, show your work diary records, your bank statements, the travel allowance you received and that you correctly declared your travel allowance.

Travel diary

A travel diary is a record of your travel movements and activities you undertake during your travel. It will help you work out the work-related and private elements of your trip.

You will need a travel diary for each trip you take away from home for six or more nights in a row.

You should record your movements and activities in whatever diary or journal you use. It can be paper or electronic and must be in English.

You must record your travel movements and activities before they end, or as soon as possible afterwards. You need to state:

• where you were
• what you were doing
• the times the activities started and ended.

The ATO, also recommends the following See also:

• Keeping travel expense records
• Travel diary
• Exceptions for keeping travel expense records
• TD 2019/11 – Income tax: what are the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2019-20 income year

Travel between home and work and between workplaces

Trips between home and work are generally considered private travel. In some circumstances, you can claim a deduction for travel between home and work, as well as for some travel between two workplaces.

If your travel was partly private, you can only claim what you incurred in the course of performing your work duties.

What you can claim

You can claim the cost of travelling:

• directly between two separate workplaces – for example, when you have a second job (if one of these places isn’t your home)
• from your normal workplace to an alternative workplace that is not a regular workplace (for example, a client’s premises) while still on duty, and back to your normal workplace or directly home
• if your home was a base of employment – you’re required to start your work at home then travel to a workplace to continue your work for the same employer
• if you had shifting places of employment – you regularly work at more than one site each day before returning home
• from your home to an alternative workplace that is not a regular workplace for work purposes, and then to your normal workplace or directly home (this doesn’t apply where the alternative workplace has become a regular workplace)
• if you need to carry bulky tools or equipment that your employer requires you to use for work but you can’t leave at your workplace (for example, an extension ladder or a cello) – the tools or equipment are bulky, meaning that because of the size or weight they are awkward to transport and can only be transported conveniently by motor vehicle.

Transport expenses can include the cost of driving your car, ride-share (such as Uber) and ride-sourcing, flights or catching a train, taxi or bus

What you can’t claim

You can’t claim the cost of driving your car between work and home if:

• you do minor work-related tasks – for example, picking up the mail on the way to work or home
• you have to drive between your home and your workplace more than once a day
• you are on call – for example, you are on stand-by duty and your employer contacts you at home to come into work
• there is no public transport near where you work
• you work outside normal business hours – for example, shift work or overtime
• your home was a place where you ran your own business and you travelled directly to a place of work where you worked for somebody else
• you do some work at home.

Itinerant work

If you do itinerant work (or have shifting places of work) you can claim transport expenses, you incur when travelling between workplaces and your home.

The following factors may indicate you do itinerant work:

• Travel is a fundamental part of your work, as the very nature of your work, not just because it is convenient to you or your employer.
• You have a ‘web’ of work places you travel to, throughout the day.
• You continually travel from one work site to another.
• Your home is a base of operations – if you start work at home and can’t complete it until you attend your work site.
• You are often uncertain of the location of your work site.
• Your employer provides an allowance in recognition of your need to travel continually between different work sites and you use this allowance to pay for your travel.

It is important to also note that the travel needs to be fundamentally tied to your employment income. If the travel is merely a matter of convenience for you or your employer it will still be considered a private expense and not deductible.

Example 1 – work that is not itinerant

Chloe is a substitute teacher, who travels to different schools when teachers are away. She sometimes attends a school for just one day, and at other times for a few weeks.  Chloe is not carrying out itinerant work. While she may not know where she is going to work each day, she will only ever work at one location for the day. She can’t claim a deduction for the cost of the transport between home and work. – End of example

Example 2 – work that is itinerant

Mitchell works as an apprentice roof tiler and is dispatched to various sites each day. He travels to the first location from his home and returns home at the end of the day from the last site at which he has worked. Mitchell is carrying out itinerant work as he is travelling between sites all day and can claim a deduction for the transport expenses he incurs when he travels between home and work each day.

Mitchell can also claim the cost of his transport to travel between each site during the day. However, if Mitchell only attended one site and worked there for several days until the job was finished, he would not be carrying out itinerant work. – End of example

I am not sure what I should do?

The more complex returns should be reviewed by and accountant, Refunded is designed to help people with simple tax returns.  Refunded provides access to a a group of certified tax agents. Looking for help then click here

Car Expenses

If you use your own car in performing your work-related duties (including a car you lease or hire), you may be able to claim a deduction for car expenses.

If the travel was partly private, you can claim only the work-related portion.

This information relates to car expenses only. A car is defined as a motor vehicle (excluding motor cycles and similar vehicles) designed to carry a load less than one tonne and less than nine passengers. Many four-wheel drive vehicles are included in this definition.

For a summary of this content in poster format, see Car expenses (PDF, 548KB)This link will download a file.

 When you can and can’t claim car expenses

When you can claim?

You can claim a deduction for work-related car expenses if you use your own car in the course of performing your job as an employee – for example, to:

• carry bulky tools or equipment (such as an extension ladder or cello) that your employer requires you to use for work and there is no secure storage available at work
• attend work-related conferences or meetings away from your normal workplace
• deliver items or collect supplies
• travel between two separate places of employment, but not if one of the places is your home (for example, when you have a second job)
• travel from your normal workplace to an alternative workplace (that isn’t a regular workplace) and back to your normal workplace or directly home
• travel from your normal workplace or your home to an alternative workplace that is not a regular workplace – for example, a client’s premises
• perform itinerant work.

If you receive an allowance from your employer for car expenses, it is assessable income and the allowance must be included on your tax return. The amount of the allowance is usually shown on your income statement or payment summary.

Using someone else’s car or other vehicle

If you use someone else’s car or other vehicle (that is not defined as a car) for work purposes, you may be able to claim the direct costs (such as fuel) as a travel expense.

Other vehicles include:

• motorcycles
• vehicles with a carrying capacity of
• one tonne or more, such as a ute, truck or panel van
• nine passengers or more, such as a minivan.

When working out your claim, you need to use the actual costs of your motor vehicle expenses. You need to keep receipts for the actual costs you incur such as fuel and oil. You can use a logbook or diary to separate private use from work-related trips. You can use the myDeductions tool to help keep your records.

See also:

• Other travel expenses – for more information about using someone else’s car or other vehicles

When you can’t claim

Generally, you can’t claim the cost of travel between home and work because this travel is private.

You can’t claim a deduction for car expenses that have been salary sacrificed or where you have been reimbursed for these expenses.

For motorcycles and other vehicles (that are not cars), you can’t claim work-related deductions under car expenses. However, you may be able to claim for work-related deductions under travel expenses (see Other travel expenses). You can only claim your actual expenses for these vehicles. You must use the logbook method to show your work-related use.

Owned or leased cars

You can claim a deduction for using a car that you owned, leased or hired under a hire-purchase agreement using either the:

• cents per kilometre method
• logbook method.

You can’t claim any expenses relating to a car owned or leased by someone else, including your employer or another member of your family.

However, we consider you to be the owner or lessee of a car and eligible to claim expenses where a family or private arrangement made you the owner or lessee even though you were not the registered owner. For example, you can claim for a car that was given to you by another member of your family and which, although it was not registered in your name, you used as your own and for which you paid all expenses.

Damage to a third-party motor vehicle

If you use your own motor vehicle in the course of your employment and you are involved in an accident that causes damage to another vehicle, you may be able to claim a deduction for the costs you incurred.

If you are liable for the damages or compensation for the damage to the other vehicle, you may be able to claim a deduction for the costs you incurred.

If an accident occurs in the course of your employment, the expenses relating to your liability to pay for the damage to the other vehicle in the accident are incidental and relevant to you earning your assessable income. They are not capital, private or domestic.

See also:

• Taxation Ruling TR 97/7 Income tax: section 8-1 – meaning of ‘incurred’ – timing of deductions
• Records you need to keep

This information has been sourced from the Australian tax office website, for additional information click here to visit the ATOs website or you can ask for help from our accounts, additional fees apply.