The three golden rules — you must meet all three
You spent the money yourself and weren't reimbursed — If your employer bought the item, or paid you back for it, you can't claim it.
The expense directly relates to earning your income — Where something is used for both work and private purposes, you can only claim the work-related portion.
You have a record to prove it — Usually a receipt. A bank statement on its own is not enough.
What you can claim
Scissors, clippers, combs, rollers and razors
Tools you buy yourself and use for work. Items costing $300 or less can be claimed in full in the year you buy them.
Equipment costing more than $300
Hairdryers, straighteners and other equipment over $300 are claimed as decline in value over their effective life. If bought part-way through the year, claim only for the days you owned it.
Tool repairs
Repairs to the tools you use for work. If you also use them privately, claim only the work-use portion.
Aprons and gloves that protect against colour and bleach
These protect you from chemicals, so they are deductible — and so is the cost of laundering them.
A uniform with your employer's logo, and laundering it
If your employer supplies the uniform, you can only claim the laundry.
Professional magazines and publications
Publications directly connected to your work, such as hair-design trade magazines. General fashion magazines don't count.
Work-related courses
Courses that improve the skills you use in your current job or are likely to increase your income from it — for example, an advanced cutting and styling course for a hairdresser.
Seminars and trade shows
Entry fees and travel for hair and beauty expos, where you paid and weren't reimbursed.
Travel between salons
Travelling from one salon to another on the same day, or to a client's home to do their hair.
Work use of your phone
The work-related portion, such as calls to confirm bookings.
Union and professional association fees
Deductible in full.
What you cannot claim
Black clothing without a logo, and other everyday clothes
Even if the salon requires black pants and shoes, they are conventional clothing and can't be claimed. The same goes for jeans, shorts, socks and shoes.
Your own hair, make-up and nails
This is the big one. Even if the salon requires a particular hairstyle or make-up — or asks you to colour your own hair with salon products — it is a private expense. The answer is the same if you receive a grooming allowance.
Products you use on yourself
Hair and skin-care products you use personally aren't deductible.
Travel between home and the salon
Taking your tool bag home each day doesn't make it deductible if the bag isn't bulky and the salon has a secure place to store it — that is a personal choice.
Watches and smartwatches
An ordinary watch is treated as a private item.
Meals during your shift
Food during normal working hours is private, even if you receive a meal allowance.
Study to change careers
For example, a hairdresser doing a make-up course — it doesn't relate to your current job, so it isn't deductible.
HELP or HECS repayments
Course fees may be deductible if they meet the rules, but repayments of a study loan are not.
Key thresholds — 2025–26
- Car expenses
- 88 cents per kilometre, up to 5,000 km a year. Using this method means you can't separately claim fuel, servicing or insurance.
- Working from home
- 70 cents per hour under the fixed rate method. You must keep a record of the actual hours worked from home across the whole year — estimates are not accepted.
- Laundry
- $1 a load where the load is work clothing only, or 50 cents a load when washed together with other clothes. No receipts needed if the laundry claim is $150 or less.
- Total work expenses
- If your total work-related expenses come to more than $300, you need written evidence for all of them — not just the amount above $300.
- Single asset limit
- Items costing $300 or less can be claimed in full in the year you buy them. Above $300 you claim the decline in value over the item's effective life.
- Phone and internet
- No separate records are needed where work use is incidental and the claim is $50 or less. Above $50 you need records showing your work use.
- Small expenses
- Expenses of $10 or less, up to $200 in total for the year, can be recorded in a diary note — date, supplier, amount and what it was for — instead of a receipt.
- Record retention
- Keep your records for five years from the date you lodge your return. For depreciating assets, five years from the year of your last claim.