If I don't enter any deductions, do I still get $300 deducted by default?

No. There is no automatic $300 deduction. The $300 rule is a record-keeping exception: if the total of work-related expenses you actually spent is $300 or less, you can claim it without receipts. If you did have work-related expenses, you need to provide the actual amounts, and the assigned registered tax agent checks whether the deduction can be claimed when preparing your return.

Can I combine $150 of laundry and $300 of other expenses and claim $450 without receipts?

No. The ATO says the $150 laundry limit is included in the $300 limit for total work-related expenses and does not increase the amount you can claim without receipts to $450. However, if your laundry is $150 or less, the laundry itself doesn't need written evidence even when your total work-related expenses exceed $300; your other expenses do.

Can I use my card statement instead of a receipt?

A bank or card statement on its own isn't written evidence. If your total work-related expenses are $300 or less, highlighting the amounts on the statement and noting what each item was and how it related to your work can serve as a record showing you spent the money and how you calculated your claim. If you've lost the receipt for something you paid by card, find the purchase date and amount in your bank statement.

I lost my receipts. Does that mean I can't claim?

If your total work-related expenses are $300 or less, you can claim without receipts. If you're over $300 and lost a receipt, first check whether the supplier can give you a copy or substitute document. A complete copy can be treated as the original. In limited circumstances, such as when records are accidentally destroyed and no substitute can be obtained, the ATO may grant relief from keeping records, but there must be sufficient evidence that you incurred the expense and that it is deductible.

I don't have my receipts or car logbook right now. Can I still apply for my tax return?

Yes. You don't need to have every receipt in hand when you apply. The assigned registered tax agent will ask for any documents they need while preparing your return, so keep the receipts and records you have. Without a valid logbook you can't use the logbook method, so the claim method or amount may differ; the assigned registered tax agent confirms which records support what you can claim.

Can I claim work boots?

Protective footwear that protects you from a risk of injury at work, such as steel-capped boots or non-slip shoes, may be claimable. Everyday shoes without protective features can't be claimed, even if your employer requires you to wear them. The record rules are the same as for other work-related expenses: if your total work-related expenses are over $300, you need receipts.

Can I get the $1,000 standard deduction that starts in 2026-27 on my 2025-26 return?

No. The ATO says the standard deduction applies from the 2026-27 income year and does not apply to 2025-26 tax returns. On a 2025-26 return, you claim the work-related expenses you actually incurred under the rules on this page.

All guides

Can I claim work-related deductions without receipts in Australia? (The $300 rule, laundry, car and phone)

For the 2025-26 income year, if the total of your work-related expense claims is $300 or less, you can claim it without receipts. It is not an automatic $300 deduction, though: you must be able to show that you actually spent the money and how you worked out the amount. Laundry and car expenses have their own rules, and the $300 and $150 receipt exceptions no longer apply from the 2026-27 income year.

As of 2026-11-02

What do you need to claim a work-related expense?

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) says that to claim a work-related expense you must meet all three of the following conditions.

Condition	What it means
You spent the money yourself and weren't reimbursed	You can't claim an expense your employer paid for or reimbursed you for.
It directly relates to earning your income	There must be a close connection between the expense and your work. Your employer asking you to buy something doesn't automatically make it deductible.
You have a record to prove it	Usually a receipt. If one of the exceptions below applies, other records can take its place.

Private, domestic or capital expenses can't be claimed. For example, normal travel between home and work and buying lunch each day are private expenses. If an expense is partly for work and partly private, you can only claim the work-related part.

What exactly is the $300 rule?

For the 2025-26 income year, if the total of your work-related expense claims is $300 or less, you can claim a deduction without full written evidence such as receipts. You still need to be able to show that you spent the money and how you calculated your claim. As an example, the ATO gives the amounts highlighted on a bank statement with a written description of each item and how it directly related to your work.

This rule does not give you an automatic $300 deduction. The ATO states that record-keeping exceptions don't allow you to claim an automatic deduction. Money you didn't spend, or expenses unrelated to your work, can't be claimed however small the amount.

If your total is more than $300, you need full written evidence for all of your claims, not just the part above $300. The ATO says that if you didn't keep records because you believed only work expenses above $300 needed them, it won't grant relief from keeping records for the first $300 either.

The $300 rule does not apply to car expenses, meal allowances, award transport payments allowance or travel allowance expenses. These are claimed separately and have their own record-keeping rules.

Without a receipt, which records count?

For the ATO, records include not only receipts and invoices from a supplier but also spreadsheets, logbooks, and diary or calendar entries. They can be on paper or electronic, and photos of receipts are accepted.

Situation	Records the ATO describes
Total work-related expenses of $300 or less	A record showing you spent the money and how you calculated the claim. Example: amounts highlighted on a bank statement with a description of each item
Small expenses of $10 or less each (total claimed this way of $200 or less a year)	If you can't get a receipt from the supplier, a diary entry or phone note made right after the expense (supplier, amount, goods or services, date of purchase, date of the record)
Expenses where a receipt is hard to get	A diary entry or phone note made right after the expense (the same details as above)
You were unable to get a receipt from the supplier	The ATO may grant relief from keeping records. You need a bank or card statement showing the amount, date and payee, plus other documents showing the nature of the goods or services and a written record in your work diary
Total work-related expenses of more than $300	Written evidence for every work-related expense you claim (a receipt or invoice showing the supplier, amount, nature of the expense, date of purchase and date the document was prepared)

A bank or credit card statement on its own isn't written evidence, because it isn't from the supplier and doesn't include all the information required. If you paid cash and have no other documents at all, you won't have enough evidence to support the claim.

Keep your written evidence for 5 years from the date you lodge your tax return. For assets you claim a decline in value for, keep the records for 5 years from your last decline in value claim.

How much can you claim for uniform and work clothing laundry without receipts?

You can claim laundry for clothing that is occupation-specific (such as a chef's chequered pants), protective clothing, a compulsory uniform that identifies your employer (for example with a logo) and that a strictly enforced workplace policy requires you to wear, or a registered non-compulsory uniform. This applies even if your employer supplied the clothing, but you can't claim if your employer pays for or reimburses the cleaning.

The ATO considers a reasonable basis to be $1 per load if the load contains only work clothing, and 50c per load if you mix personal clothing in with it. You can also claim your actual laundry costs instead of using this basis.

ATO example	Calculation
Uniform washed in a separate load twice a week, 48 weeks worked in the year	2 loads × 48 weeks = 96 loads, 96 loads × $1 = $96

For the 2025-26 income year, if your laundry expenses (excluding dry-cleaning) are $150 or less, you can claim them without written evidence of the laundry, even if your total work-related claims are over $300. In that case your other work-related expenses do need written evidence. If your laundry is over $150 and your total work-related claims are also over $300, you need written evidence such as diary entries and receipts for the laundry too. Either way, you must be able to explain how you calculated the claim, and it is not an automatic deduction.

Writing down the number of loads and how you calculated the claim in a phone note or spreadsheet gives you the kind of record the ATO describes.

Conventional clothing that people wear regardless of their occupation, such as black trousers, business attire or jeans, can't be claimed, for purchase or laundry, even if your employer says it's compulsory or you only wear it at work. Even where a logo shirt is a compulsory uniform, black pants or shoes that you are told to wear with it, specified only by colour, are treated as conventional clothing.

Can you claim car expenses without receipts?

If you used a car you own or lease for work-related trips, you don't need receipts such as fuel receipts when you use the cents per kilometre method. The rate for the 2025-26 income year is 88 cents per kilometre, and you can claim up to 5,000 work-related kilometres per car. The rate covers decline in value, registration, insurance, maintenance, repairs and fuel, so you can't add other car expenses on top of it.

You don't need receipts, but you do need to be able to show that you own the car and how you worked out your work-related kilometres (for example, with a diary or the myDeductions tool in the ATO app). A reasonable estimate of work kilometres is allowed. For example, a 20 km work-related round trip once a week for 48 weeks is 960 km, and 960 km × 88 cents = $844.80.

The logbook method lets you claim the work-related share of your actual car expenses. You need a logbook covering at least 12 continuous weeks that is representative of your travel, odometer records, and receipts or records of your car expenses such as fuel. Each journey must be recorded at the end of the journey or as soon as possible afterwards. Without a valid logbook you can't use the logbook method, and you would check whether the cents per kilometre method can be used instead.

Trips between home and your regular place of work aren't deductible, even if you live a long way away, work late hours or have no public transport. Trips directly between two separate workplaces (where neither is your home), or from your regular workplace to an alternative place of work, may be deductible. Trips between home and work may also be deductible if you have to carry bulky tools or equipment that are essential for your work and there is no secure storage for them at the workplace.

The purchase price of the car itself is not a car expense. Car expenses are also outside the $300 rule and follow the separate rules above.

How do you work out the work-use percentage of phone and internet bills?

You can only claim the work-related portion of phone and internet costs, and the work-use percentage must be worked out on a reasonable basis. If you receive an itemised bill, work out your work-use percentage over a continuous 4-week period (one monthly bill) that represents your usual use, and apply it to the whole year. If your work-use percentage changed during the year, split the year into periods, as in the ATO's example. If you don't get an itemised bill, for example on a prepaid plan, keep a record of all your work and private calls and internet use over a continuous 4-week period to set the percentage. If you claim working from home expenses using the fixed rate method, your phone and internet usage is already included in that rate, so you can't claim it separately.

ATO example	Calculation
$65 monthly plan, 20% work use from one itemised monthly bill, 11 months worked	20% × $65 × 11 months = $143
$50 monthly prepaid plan, 25 work hours and 75 private hours over 4 weeks (25% work use), 11 months worked	25% × $50 × 11 months = $138

You can't claim private calls and texts or phone use for seeking employment. If you are a casual employee, calls or texts with your employer asking you to work or checking your availability aren't deductible either. Nor can you claim costs that someone else pays or reimburses.

The records to keep are your phone and data bills, diary entries (including electronic ones) showing how you worked out your work-use percentage, and receipts for devices you buy. If your total work-related expenses are $300 or less, the $300 rule lets you claim without full written evidence, but you still need to be able to show how you calculated the percentage.

For the phone itself, if it cost $300 or less and meets the same 4 tests as the tools and equipment below, you can claim it in the year you buy it; if it cost more than $300, you claim it as decline in value over its effective life. If the handset cost is included in your monthly plan, you don't claim that part each month; you work out the decline in value based on the total cost of the device.

How does the $300 threshold change things for tools and equipment?

This $300 is a different threshold from the $300 record-keeping rule above: it is the cost of one item (or one set). Cost includes the purchase price and expenses of buying it, such as delivery, and for an item you own jointly with someone else it is the cost of your share.

Purchase price	How you claim it
$300 or less	If all 4 tests are met, an immediate deduction in the year you buy it for the work-related portion: ① it cost $300 or less ② you use it mainly (more than 50%) to earn income that is not business income, such as wages ③ it isn't part of a set bought in the same income year costing more than $300 in total ④ identical or substantially identical items bought in the same income year don't cost more than $300 in total
More than $300 (or a test is not met)	A deduction for the decline in value spread over the item's effective life

Purchase price

How you claim it

$300 or less

If all 4 tests are met, an immediate deduction in the year you buy it for the work-related portion: ① it cost $300 or less ② you use it mainly (more than 50%) to earn income that is not business income, such as wages ③ it isn't part of a set bought in the same income year costing more than $300 in total ④ identical or substantially identical items bought in the same income year don't cost more than $300 in total

More than $300 (or a test is not met)

A deduction for the decline in value spread over the item's effective life

If you also use the item privately, you can only claim the work-related percentage, and you can't claim tools or equipment someone else supplies for your use. Tools and equipment are claimed as work-related expenses, so if your total work-related expenses are over $300 you need written evidence such as receipts.

What changes from the 2026-27 income year?

The ATO says that from the 2026-27 income year, eligible people can receive a standard deduction (also called the 'instant tax deduction') of up to $1,000 for work-related expenses. It does not apply to 2025-26 tax returns. It is for people who meet the ATO's eligibility requirements, which include being an individual who is an Australian resident for tax purposes and earns labour income such as salary and wages. Working holiday makers who are foreign residents for tax purposes therefore do not meet this requirement. The standard deduction is also reduced dollar for dollar by any work-related expenses you claim in your return that are covered by it, so you cannot get both in full.

Also from 1 July 2026, the $300 work-related expense exception and the $150 laundry exception no longer apply. So from the 2026-27 income year, if you claim more in work-related expenses than your standard deduction, you can't use the $300 or $150 record-keeping exceptions, and the ATO says you need written evidence such as receipts for every work-related expense you claim. For working holiday makers who are foreign residents for tax purposes, this means that from 2026-27 there is no standard deduction and no $300 exception, so every work-related expense they claim needs written evidence. Item-specific record rules, such as those for the cents per kilometre method, follow the relevant ATO page. The $300 and $150 exceptions on this page apply only to returns for 2025-26 and earlier income years.

Get your fixed price

FAQ

If I don't enter any deductions, do I still get $300 deducted by default?: No. There is no automatic $300 deduction. The $300 rule is a record-keeping exception: if the total of work-related expenses you actually spent is $300 or less, you can claim it without receipts. If you did have work-related expenses, you need to provide the actual amounts, and the assigned registered tax agent checks whether the deduction can be claimed when preparing your return.
Can I combine $150 of laundry and $300 of other expenses and claim $450 without receipts?: No. The ATO says the $150 laundry limit is included in the $300 limit for total work-related expenses and does not increase the amount you can claim without receipts to $450. However, if your laundry is $150 or less, the laundry itself doesn't need written evidence even when your total work-related expenses exceed $300; your other expenses do.
Can I use my card statement instead of a receipt?: A bank or card statement on its own isn't written evidence. If your total work-related expenses are $300 or less, highlighting the amounts on the statement and noting what each item was and how it related to your work can serve as a record showing you spent the money and how you calculated your claim. If you've lost the receipt for something you paid by card, find the purchase date and amount in your bank statement.
I lost my receipts. Does that mean I can't claim?: If your total work-related expenses are $300 or less, you can claim without receipts. If you're over $300 and lost a receipt, first check whether the supplier can give you a copy or substitute document. A complete copy can be treated as the original. In limited circumstances, such as when records are accidentally destroyed and no substitute can be obtained, the ATO may grant relief from keeping records, but there must be sufficient evidence that you incurred the expense and that it is deductible.
I don't have my receipts or car logbook right now. Can I still apply for my tax return?: Yes. You don't need to have every receipt in hand when you apply. The assigned registered tax agent will ask for any documents they need while preparing your return, so keep the receipts and records you have. Without a valid logbook you can't use the logbook method, so the claim method or amount may differ; the assigned registered tax agent confirms which records support what you can claim.
Can I claim work boots?: Protective footwear that protects you from a risk of injury at work, such as steel-capped boots or non-slip shoes, may be claimable. Everyday shoes without protective features can't be claimed, even if your employer requires you to wear them. The record rules are the same as for other work-related expenses: if your total work-related expenses are over $300, you need receipts.
Can I get the $1,000 standard deduction that starts in 2026-27 on my 2025-26 return?: No. The ATO says the standard deduction applies from the 2026-27 income year and does not apply to 2025-26 tax returns. On a 2025-26 return, you claim the work-related expenses you actually incurred under the rules on this page.

Sources

Updated 2026-11-02