Hairdressers! Snip off all the expenses you can from your tax return this year as tax deductions. This isn’t just a trim! 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 expenses that you as a hairdresser can deduct on your next online tax return.
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 Hairdressers
Specific for Hairdressers
- The purchase of work related hairdressers clothing
- The expense for laundry on your hairdresser uniform
- Protective clothing (such as gloves, hairdressing aprons, hairdresser shoes etc)
- Purchase of equipment and tools up to $300
- Depreciation expense of equipment and tools over $300
- The repair and/or upkeep of hairdressing tools and equipment
- Interest generated from loans relating to hairdressing activities
- Self-education and courses for hairdressing
- Fees from joining a union/other similar organisations
- Subscriptions and magazines that will inform you on hairdressing news
- 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.
Itemised Purchases: Record Them!
As a hairdresser, you’re going to have a lot of different itemised purchases. Scissors, gels, creams, shampoos, even the salty-dog salt water hair solution! It’ll be difficult, but you should record every one of those purchases because they are eligible for a tax deduction!
Travel Expenses
If you work from a central business/location, you can’t claim your travel expense to and from work. However, if you have to drive to clients’ homes and can’t store your equipment at work, and have to store it in your house, you can indeed claim your travel expense. This infamous hairdresser’s car is tax deductible! You can claim up to $300 of work related travel expenses without a receipt. There are two ways to calculate your car usage:
- Cents Per Kilometre: Claim a percentage of your fuel per kilometer up to 5000km.
- Logbook Method: Keep a logbook of your driving for 12 or more weeks and calculate what percentage of use is for business use.
Using Your Phone For Work
If you use your phone for making hairdressing appointments, you can claim a percentage of your bill as a tax deductible expense. Say you have a $100 a month phone plan and use 53% of your phone usage for business, you can claim $53 a month on tax.
Training
Hairdressing courses, lessons and training is a tax deduction you can claim if you are currently a hairdresser and the course translates to your current job.
General
- Car expenses and general wear (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 you can deduct that isn’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 offers fast 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.