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
Teaching aids and classroom materials
Stickers, paint, posters, maps, materials for science, cooking and sewing classes, and student prizes — where you paid and the school didn't reimburse you.
Stationery
Notebooks, diaries, pens and the like that you use for work.
Professional books and subscriptions
Books and journals directly connected to your teaching. Items of $300 or less are claimed in full straight away; above that, claim the decline in value. Multi-year subscriptions are spread over the period they cover.
Laptops and tablets
Above $300, claim the decline in value over the device's effective life; if you also use it privately, claim only the work-use portion.
Excursions, camps and field trips
Travel, accommodation and meals you pay for while supervising students on curriculum-related activities.
Renewing your teacher registration
The cost of renewing your registration so you can keep teaching.
Professional development and courses
Courses that maintain or improve your teaching skills or are likely to increase your income — fees, textbooks, journals and stationery.
Seminars and conferences
Registration and travel, plus accommodation and meals where you need to stay overnight. If the trip includes private time, claim only the work portion.
Marking and lesson preparation at home
Actual hours worked at home × 70 cents an hour. You must keep a record of the hours. If you have a dedicated study, you can also claim the decline in value of the desk and chair.
Work use of your phone and internet
The work-use portion, such as contacting parents and preparing lessons.
Travel between campuses and escorting students
Travelling from one school to another on the same day, or taking students to an event or the pool.
Sun protection for outdoor teaching
Hats, sunscreen and sunglasses where you teach outdoors for long periods, such as PE.
First aid courses
Where you are the designated first aid officer and the training is required.
Union and teachers' association fees
Deductible in full.
What you cannot claim
Travel between home and school
Private — even as a relief teacher going to a different school each time, or when you're called in at short notice.
Travel to meet parents
Not treated as deductible work travel.
Your first teacher registration and first Working With Children Check
These are costs of becoming qualified before you start work, so they aren't deductible. Renewals are.
Your own children's education
School fees, and your children's iPads, laptops, desks, calculators, books and pens, are all private.
Childcare
Including holiday care and before- and after-school care.
Everyday clothing
Business wear or everyday clothes, and laundering them — even if they get damaged at work.
Meals at work and staff functions
Private even if you receive a meal allowance, and the cost of social events such as staff dinners isn't deductible either.
Study to change careers
For example, a teacher studying accounting. Stress-management courses are also excluded.
Vaccinations
Treated as a private medical expense, even if the school requires them.
Gifts for students or buying students' lunches
Not treated as spent in earning your income.
General news, magazine and music streaming subscriptions
Not deductible where the work connection is only incidental.
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.