What can you claim on tax as an Office Worker? Collate all of your expenses from this year and start filing away your tax deductions into your tax return. Here are some tax deductible expenses for office workers. Don’t leave anything out of your online tax return. If you save every little bit, and deduct everything you’re entitled to, the tax return can be massive.
When it comes down to it, there are three main criteria that qualifies an expense for tax deduction, which is calculated against your income:
- You must have spent the money and not have been reimbursed
- It must be related to your job
- You must have a record to prove it
However, this in itself can be hard to understand. What constitutes an expense as “related” to your job? Here is what defines your taxable income, and a list of office worker tax deductions.
Remember, a record isn’t necessarily a receipt. There are tax deductions you can claim without a receipt. Continue on to find out more.
What Is Your Taxable Income
Your taxable income is money generated from your employer or your work. Your taxable income also includes:
- PAYG summaries
- Pensions and government allowances
- Interest earned (banks etc)
- Dividends
- Rental property income
- Business income
- Other income earned (capital gains etc)
Tax Deductible Expenses For an Office Worker
Office Worker Specific
- Buying office clothing and uniforms (if required to wear them)
- The cost of laundry for office work clothes/uniforms
- Protective clothing items (if required)
- Purchase of equipment and tools for office workers (if required) up to $300
- Depreciation expense of equipment and tools over $300
- The repair and/or upkeep of office worker tools and equipment (if required)
- Home office expenses
- Interest generated from loans relating to work activities
- Self-education and courses if they are related to your office work
- Licenses and certificates relating to your office work
- Fees from joining a union/other similar organisations
- Subscriptions and magazines relating to your work
- Travel expenses if work related (conferences etc)
- Driving between two places of work in your own vehicle. This is usually best claimed using the cents per km method of claiming a tax deduction.
Office Worker Clothing
You are only allowed to add your office worker clothing you buy or your laundry expense as a tax deduction if the clothing has your business name, logo, or is specific to your company. If you are unsure if your work clothes adhere to this rule, see a professional.
Home Office Expenses
As an office worker, during these hard times dealing with the global pandemic, you will have probably spent money setting up a home office. These things can include internet costs, computers, and even desks. There are three ways to calculate your home office tax deductions:
- The fixed rate method
- The actual cost method
- The shortcut method
If you are unsure how to calculate them, get help from a tax accountant.
Travel Expenses
No you can’t claim your train and parking tickets for your commute to and from work. You can claim some expenses if you are moving between clients while at work, but not getting to work.
If you ever need to travel interstate or internationally for a work conference or to see clients, you are able to claim that as an expense. ATO business deductions make it easier to get around. For more information, see a professional.
General
- Car expenses and general wear if your car use is work related (estimated Km or a logbook with all expense items)
- Travel expenses for your work (flights, taxis and trains etc)
- Accommodation needed on work reasons (including meals)
- Phone bills for work
- Work related computing
- Working from home costs
- Self-education
- Tax return fees dating to the year previous
- Insurances
- Rental expense (if you are renting)
- Charity donations and gifts
- Sun protection (if you have to work outside)
Maximising Your Tax Return With An Online Tax Agent
There will be more tax deductions for office workers and business tax deductions that aren’t on this list. Tax deductions are not only industry specific, but also change from individual to individual.
The best way to claim the most you can is with a tax agent like One Click Life. We have made the process simple with 5 easy steps.
The more you deduct, the less tax you pay and the more money you can spend on yourself. Clearly, you will want to deduct the most you can, and the sure-fire way to do that is with a tax agent or accountant. If you can claim your tax agent/tax return fee back on tax, why wouldn’t you use one to minimise your tax?
One Click Life fast offers online tax returns at your fingertips in an easy-to-use platform run by industry professionals.
Taxes, health insurance, and wills can be time-consuming and tedious. Our app allows you to be able to do this fuss-free, giving you a simple way to organise, track and manage all of your life admin in one place.
Let One Click Life take care of your tax return, and life’s essential tasks so you can spend more time doing the things you love.