You may be able to claim deductions for your work-related expenses. Work-related expenses are expenses you incur on items used to earn your income as a teacher or education professional.
To claim a deduction for a work-related expense:
- you must have spent the money yourself and weren’t reimbursed
- it must be directly related to earning your income
- you must have a record to prove it (usually a receipt).
If the expense was for both work and private purposes, you can only claim a deduction for the work-related part. You can’t claim a deduction for any part of the expense that relates to personal use.
You can use the myDeductions tool in the ATO app to help keep track of your work-related expenses. It’s an easy way to capture information on the go and makes tax time quicker by uploading your deductions to your tax return. If you use a tax agent they can access your uploaded data through their practice management software or you can email a copy to them from the app.
For a summary of common deductions for teachers and education professionals, see Teacher deductions (PDF, 148KB)This link will download a file.
(Teacher and education professionals – income and work-related deductions, 2021)
Ato.gov.au. 2021. Teacher and education professionals – income and work-related deductions. [online] Available at: <https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Income-and-deductions/In-detail/Occupation-and-industry-specific-guides/Teacher-and-education-professionals—income-and-work-related-deductions/?anchor=Deductions#Deductions> [Accessed 15 February 2021].
