The Golden Rules of claiming a tax deduction for any work‑related expenses are:
• you must have spent the money yourself and not be reimbursed
• it must directly relate to earning your income
• you must have a record to prove it.
• you can only claim the work‑related portion of an expense.
You can’t claim the cost of normal trips between home and work, even if you live a long way from your usual workplace or have to work outside normal business hours.
You can claim the cost of using a car that you own when you drive:
Directly between separate jobs on the same day – for example, driving from your main job as a psychologist to your second job as a university lecturer
To and from an alternate workplace for the same employer on the same day – for example, travelling to a client or a hospital or a medical centre and then back to your workplace
From your home to an alternative workplace and then to your normal workplace – for example, from home to a school to speak to a client’s teachers and then to your office as an educational psychologist.
From your work to attend a work-related meeting or conference that is not at your normal workplace – for example, to attend a CPD event at a conference centre
If your home is your base of employment and you start your work at home and travel to a workplace to continue the work.
If you claim car expenses, you can use the logbook method or the cents per kilometre method to calculate your deduction. With all methods you will need to keep records for 5 years.
The logbook method requires that you keep a logbook of your car use for 12 continuous weeks. For each journey (work and personal) the logbook must show:
The date of travel
The reason for travel
Odometer readings at the start and end of the trip
Kilometres travelled
You can use this to work out the percentage of time you use the car for work.
The logbook information can be used for five years, unless you get a new car or change jobs. There are minor recordings that need to be made at the start and end of the year, but you won’t need to repeat the 12-week process.
You can use a paper logbook or the electronic logbook in the myDeductions tool in the ATO app to record the information.
You must also keep written evidence of all your car expenses:
All fuel, oil, (you can keep receipts or estimate it based on the mileage records. This is the only one you can estimate)
registration, maintenance and insurance expenses
the cost of tyres and batteries
lease payments
Depreciation (the maximum deduction for depreciation on a car is $60733)
Interest on car loan
Copies of the invoice and finance documents of any new vehicle
Tolls and car parking expenses related to work
The cents per kilometre method pays you 78 cents per kilometre that you drive for work (in 2022-3). This rate includes everything (that is maintenance, repair, fuel, rego and insurance etc.), so you cannot claim it again.
If you use the cents per kilometre method, you need to be able to show how you calculated your work-related kilometres and prove they were for work. You can claim up to 5000km using this method. To record your driving for work you can use a logbook or myDeductions on the ATO app.
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