What Can You Claim at Tax Time?

At tax time, your client can claim eligible expenses they paid, with the work connection and evidence the tax rules require. Review each claim before promising a refund. Deductions reduce taxable income, while the final assessment also depends on income and tax already paid.

Check Each Claim Against Its Records

Check who paid each expense and why it relates to your client’s income before testing the records. An invoice proves a purchase, but it does not establish a work purpose. Use this review sequence for each proposed work expense.

1. Confirm the client incurred the expense. Exclude amounts paid by someone else and amounts reimbursed or due to be reimbursed.
2. Identify the employment duty the expense supports. Record the connection in the client’s own explanation.
3. Separate private use. Keep the calculation supporting the work portion.
4. Apply the relevant deduction and substantiation rules. Record whether the claim uses actual expenses, a permitted method or a specific exception.

The ATO’s employee expense guide explains the difference between entitlement and evidence. A missing receipt does not create a deduction.

For total work-related expenses of $300 or less, receipts are generally unnecessary, but the client must show how they calculated actual spending. Above that threshold, written evidence covers the whole claim. Car expenses and specified allowance-related expenses have separate rules. The ATO’s substantiation guidance lists the exclusions.

Ask for a duplicate receipt, electronic invoice or purchase record when the original is missing. A bank statement can support payment but may not identify what the client bought. Assess the available documents together against the applicable evidence rule. If an exception applies, record why it applies and how the claim was calculated.

Start with the annual client-record request for collection. This review decides whether the proposed deduction follows from those records.

Work Expenses Need a Clear Connection

Claim work expenses only when they support the client’s existing income-producing duties. Remove private use and employer payments. Review the category and calculation together. A familiar occupation or an employer’s encouragement does not establish every expense as deductible.

Proposed expense	Eligibility question	Records and review action
Work travel and car use	Was the trip for employment duties? Ordinary commuting is generally private.	Keep trip purpose and destinations. Apply the car method’s kilometre or logbook evidence requirements. For overnight travel, review actual costs and any applicable travel diary or allowance rules.
Tools and equipment	Did the client buy and use the item for work?	Keep the purchase record, work-use evidence and acquisition details. Decide whether an immediate deduction or decline in value applies. Check set and identical-item restrictions before claiming the full cost.
Working from home	Did employment duties create additional running expenses?	Choose the fixed rate or actual cost method. For the fixed rate, keep actual hours for the whole year and evidence of each covered expense incurred. Review separate asset claims.
Professional subscriptions	Does the membership or publication relate to the client’s work?	Keep renewal notices or receipts. Remove private subscriptions and check whether prepayment rules affect the amount for the income year.
Self-education	Does the study maintain or improve current work skills, or likely increase income from existing work?	Keep course details, invoices and the explanation of current duties. Study to enter a new occupation generally fails this test. Review eligible course components separately where necessary.

The ATO’s home-working guidance sets out both methods. Its fixed-rate guideline explains the records and expenses covered. Do not claim those covered costs a second time.

A fuel card can organise purchase records. It does not turn a private trip into work travel or establish who bore the cost. Under the cents per kilometre method, the rate already covers fuel and other car costs.

For a teacher, test classroom materials against actual teaching duties and employer reimbursements. Apply the same work-use test to materials also used at home. Ordinary clothing does not become deductible because a teacher wears it at school. A course preparing someone for their first teaching job differs from study improving an employed teacher’s current skills. The ATO’s self-education rules govern that distinction.

Personal Super Contributions

A personal super contribution deduction needs an eligible contribution, a valid notice of intent and the fund’s written acknowledgment. Payment alone is insufficient. Keep the fund transaction record and confirm the income year in which the fund receives the contribution.

Use this checklist before entering the deduction.

• Separate personal contributions from employer contributions and salary sacrifice.
• Check the fund type and the client’s age-related eligibility. For clients aged 67 to 74, test the work test or its exemption.
• Review the concessional cap position, including other contributions and any available carry-forward amount.
• Obtain a valid notice covering the intended deduction and the fund’s acknowledgment before claiming it.
• Check for a rollover, withdrawal or pension commencement that affects notice validity. Resolve this before the client changes the fund arrangement.

The notice must reach the fund by the earlier of return lodgment or the end of the following income year. Use the ATO’s notice instructions for the validity conditions.

The personal contribution guidance also covers older-client restrictions. Check the actual contribution and eligibility before discussing a tax break. A deduction changes the contribution’s tax treatment and can affect other super concessions. Refer decisions about locking away savings to a licensed financial adviser where personal financial advice is needed.

Gifts and Donations

A deductible donation needs an eligible recipient, an eligible gift and evidence of what the client gave. Check deductible gift recipient status for the relevant organisation or fund when the gift is made. Charity registration alone is insufficient.

For a money gift, the usual minimum is $2. The donor must give voluntarily without receiving a material benefit. Keep the donor’s receipt or other permitted evidence, then check any gift-specific conditions. A payment to a fundraiser does not automatically satisfy these rules.

Raffle tickets are not deductible donations. A fundraising dinner or auction purchase involves a benefit and needs a separate contribution-rule assessment. Property gifts have their own conditions. The ATO’s gifts guidance explains the gift and contribution distinction. Its donation summary covers common exclusions.

The timing of a donation does not make an ineligible recipient or purchase deductible. Record the payment in its proper income year and apply the same eligibility test whenever the client gives.

Explain the Client’s Tax Position

A deduction reduces taxable income, so the client does not receive the expense back dollar for dollar. A tax offset reduces tax calculated on that income. A credit records an amount recognised against the liability, such as tax withheld or instalments paid. A refund is the balance returned after the assessment and any account adjustments.

Use the ATO’s deduction and offset explanation when a client confuses those terms. Some offsets are non-refundable. An eligible deduction can reduce a bill without producing a refund.

For a repeated tax bill, compare total income with tax withheld and instalments. Review additional jobs, investment income and compulsory study-loan repayments. Check applicable Medicare charges too. The ATO’s tax-bill explanation connects these amounts to the annual assessment.

A claim that everyone receives an extra $1,000 is not an assessment rule. Identify the particular offset or payment the client means, then test its eligibility and income-year rules. Do not add an amount because the client expects a tax-time bonus.

When the client sells an asset, ask for acquisition and sale contracts, settlement statements and cost records. For an ordinary asset sale under contract, the contract usually determines the capital gains tax event’s income year. Settlement can occur later.

The gain enters the relevant return, and the resulting assessment determines tax payable. Particular withholding rules can still affect the sale proceeds. See the ATO’s capital gains timing explanation.

Retirement has no universally best tax timing. Obtain the employer’s payout breakdown and relevant super statements before comparing outcomes. Unused leave, redundancy and employment termination payments have different treatment. Age and payment components can also affect super tax.

Use the ATO’s termination-payment guidance to classify the payment. Refer retirement income strategy and financial product recommendations for licensed advice.

After lodgment, use the assessment and refund follow-up guide for processing questions.

Record the Agent’s Claim Review

Record the evidence and your conclusion for each claim so another practitioner can follow the decision. Keep an unresolved claim open until the missing facts support its tax treatment. This note is separate from the client’s general document list.

Review field	What to record
Proposed claim	Expense type, amount and relevant income year
Client explanation	Who paid, the work duty and any reimbursement
Evidence inspected	Document references and any permitted substantiation exception
Apportionment	Work-use basis, excluded private amount and calculation
Agent conclusion	Allowed amount, reduced claim or exclusion, with the reason
Follow-up and approval	Exact missing evidence, responsible staff member and final reviewer

In a hypothetical review, a teacher buys $200 of classroom consumables, including any GST charged. Receipts establish the purchase. The client’s usage record supports 60% work use and the employer reimburses nothing. The proposed deduction is $120. Record the remaining $80 as private use, together with the reason the materials support current teaching duties.

For missing evidence, ask for the document and its purpose in one request. For the teacher’s example, request the receipt and the work-use explanation before approving the amount. A replacement receipt can resolve the purchase evidence while the explanation resolves apportionment.

Tax Genie’s guided client form collects the answers and documents in one request. Its checks identify missing answers and documents, then automatic follow-up asks the client to complete them. Staff can request changes to specific sections while keeping the existing answers. Your practitioner records the deduction decision and approves the return in your tax software.

Before closing the review, reconcile every approved claim to its evidence and calculation. Record who approves the treatment and keep any unresolved item out of the final claim until it is resolved.