Life Admin Hub  ›  Tax  ›  Occupation Tax Tips  ›  Tax Deductions for Customer Service Workers

Tax Deductions for Customer Service Workers

Make sure you tend to all the expenses you can claim in your tax return as tax deductions. 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 customer service worker 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 Customer Service Workers 

Customer Service Worker Specific 

  1. Purchasing store uniforms with your company logo 
  2. Laundry for your compulsory uniforms 
  3. Protective clothing you will need for work
  4. Purchase of equipment and tools up to $300 
  5. Depreciation expense of equipment and tools over $300
  6. The repair and maintenance of equipment related to customer service
  7. Interest on loans for work related expenses
  8. Self-education and courses for customer service
  9. Fees from joining a union/other similar organisations 
  10. Subscriptions and magazines that relate to your work 
  11. Travel expenses if work related (conferences etc)
  12. 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.

Buying Your Work Uniform 

As a customer service worker or retail worker, one of your tax deduction can be your work uniform.  will likely have their uniform be the biggest tax deduction. The uniform must have thethe workplacea logo or of the sorts on it that brands the clothing item to the business which you work for. 

For example, if your uniform is to wear a blank white t-shirt, that cannot be tax deductible. But, if you work for McDonalds, and have to wear the branded hat, shirt & pants Bunnings & have to wear a bright red & green shirt with a big BUNNINGS logo on it,  if your uniform is to wear a giant rat costume  because you work for a pet store, which you have had to buy yourself, that is tax deductible.  

Are You Using Your Mobile Phone to Call Customers?

If you are using your mobile phone to call customers for work, you can claim your phone bill as a tax deduction. Let’s say you have a $100 a month phone bill, and 36% of your mobile phone usage is for customer calls, you can claim $36 a month as a tax deductible expense. 

General Customer Service Worker Tax Deductions

  1. Car expenses and general wear (estimated Km or a logbook with all expense items)
  2. Travel expenses for your work (flights, taxis and trains etc)
  3. Accommodation needed on work reasons (including meals)
  4. Phone bills for work
  5. Work related computing 
  6. Working from home costs 
  7. Self-education 
  8. Tax return fees dating to the year previous 
  9. Insurances 
  10. Rental expense (if you are renting)
  11. Charity donations and gifts
  12. Sun protection (if you have to work outside)

Maximising Your Tax Return With An Online Tax Service

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.

It’s all just ONE CLICK away