What can warehouse or factory workers claim on their tax?
Would you ever just clock off after half a day of work thinking to yourself; “oh well, that’s good enough”, while leaving the factory floor in a complete mess and your job only half done?
People year in, year out, seem to have the same mindset to doing their Tax Return.
By leaving half your tax deductions unclaimed, you’re only doing half a job and potentially missing out on getting a bigger refund.
If you’re a factory worker, make sure you don’t forget to claim all of your tax deductions. In this article, we are going to explore everything you need to know as a factory worker in order to claim all of your tax deductions and maximise your tax refund.
What qualifies your tax deduction?
There are only three main requirements that qualify as an expense for tax deductions, 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
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 constitutes an expense as “related” to your job you might ask?
Here’s a definition of your taxable income, and a list of factory worker tax deductions.
What makes an expense related to your work?
For an expense to be directly related to your job, it has to be directly related to your ability to generate income. The best way for us to explain this is with an example:
If you are working in a warehouse, the purchase of steel cap boots are essential to wear – this will be an expense directly relating to your income because it would be impossible to do the job without it (safely!).
However, if you work in an office and you like you to look and smell nice, the purchase of a tie and cologne will not be an expense directly relating to your income, because you can still do your job without them.
See the difference?
If you’re unsure, One Click Life’s easy-to-use platform will help you qualify your deductions – along with help from our qualified tax team if you need it.
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 factory workers
Factory worker specific
- Buying work clothes/factory uniforms (if required to wear them and they have a logo)
- The cost to laundry clothes/factory uniforms
- Protective clothing items for your factory work
- Purchase of equipment and tools up to $300
- Depreciation expense of equipment and tools over $300
- The repair and/or upkeep of tools and equipment for your factory work
- Warehouse courses, licences and certificates relating to your factory work
- Fees from joining a union/other similar organisations
- Home office expenses (if needed/able to work from home)
- Interest generated from loans relating to work activities
- Self-education and courses if they are related to your factory work
- Subscriptions and magazines relating to your factory work
- Travel expenses if work related
- Cents per km for driving your car to pop out and grab supplies (everyone loves a Bunnings trip!)
Protective clothing
As a factory worker, you’ve no doubt had to use a fair share of protective gear and clothing. Usually if you work for a company you’ll be supplied with your protective clothing/equipment, but if you aren’t and you buy the clothing yourself, you can claim the purchase as a tax deduction. Hi Vis shirts, steel cap boots etc all qualify. If you have to go in and out of the warehouse, then add in a hat, sunglasses and suncream to this list.
If you need a hand deducting this, make sure you get the help from someone that knows what they’re doing.
Purchase of tools and equipment
The purchase of tools and equipment for your factory work, if you spend less than $300, can be claimed as a straight tax deduction. If the purchase was more than $300, then you’ll have to claim the depreciation expense of the good.
This is typically a cost your employer will front, but if you spend the money yourself, you can claim it as a deduction.
Factory licences
Any cost you spend to obtain licences, such as your forklift licence renewal, can be claimed as a tax deduction. Make sure you’re fully qualified for your work and then claim the expense as a deduction. If you have to occasionally drive a truck, then truck drivers license too.
General claimable tax deductions – all occupations
- 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 for work reasons (including meals)
- Work phone bills
- Work related computing
- Work 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 tips and deductions for Australian factory workers 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 (which will maximise your money) is with One Click Life.
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 OCL’s easy-to-use platform.
If you can claim OCL’s fees back on tax as a deduction too, why wouldn’t you use our platform to minimise your tax payable?
One Click Life offers online tax returns at your fingertips in an easy-to-use platform run by some of the best heads in the industry. Your tax return can be done in just 60 seconds and is overseen by one of our pros!
How easy and stress-free is that?
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.