If you work as a teacher, lecturer, tutor or other education professional, you can claim work-related expenses you paid for yourself that directly relate to earning your income — provided you weren't reimbursed and you kept a record. Much of what teachers spend on their classrooms and students is deductible, but the everyday business attire you wear to school and your normal trip from home to school are not. This page sets out what the ATO's guide for teachers and education professionals says you can and can't claim for the 2025-26 income year.
Before you claim: this is general information based on the ATO’s occupation guidance for 2025–26 returns — not tax advice. A deduction stands or falls on your circumstances and your records. A registered tax agent can advise on your situation.
Tick the expenses you covered yourself this year and print the list for your agent. It stays in your browser, full stop.
For 2025-26 you can claim working-from-home running costs (for lesson prep, marking and setting exams) using either the fixed rate method of 70 cents per hour, which covers electricity and gas, phone and internet, and stationery and computer consumables, or the actual cost method. Under the fixed rate you can't separately claim the items the rate covers (so no separate phone/internet claim on top), but you can separately claim the decline in value of equipment and furniture such as a desk, chair or computer. You must keep a record of the actual hours worked from home across the whole year (estimates aren't accepted). As an employee you generally can't claim occupancy costs such as rent, mortgage interest, rates or house insurance.
Keep receipts or similar documents showing the supplier's name, the amount, the nature of the goods or services, the date of purchase and the date of the document — in English. If your total work-related claim is more than $300 you must have written evidence for all of it; for some expenses you may also need a diary or similar record (for example, to show work-use percentages for phone, internet or a home office). For car claims keep a logbook (for the logbook method) or records showing how you worked out your work kilometres. A laundry claim of $150 or less doesn't need receipts but you must still be able to show how you worked it out, and a phone/internet claim of $50 or less needs no detailed records. The ATO's myDeductions tool in the ATO app can store receipts and log trips.
Same three rules for every claim: your own money, not reimbursed by the school; a direct link to earning your teaching income; and a record to prove it happened. Split anything that's part work, part private, and claim only the work share.
Yes. Teaching aids you buy and use for your teaching job — stickers, paints, posters, maps, materials for cooking, sewing or science classes, prizes to reward students and excursion entrance fees — are deductible. If you use an item for both work and private purposes you only claim the work-related portion. You can't claim if your employer provides or reimburses the cost.
No. The normal trip between home and your regular school is private, even if you return after hours for parent-teacher meetings or work outside normal business hours. You can claim work travel such as driving between two jobs on the same day, from school to an alternative workplace, transporting students to a sporting venue, or carrying bulky equipment that can't be securely stored at school.
No. Ordinary business attire is conventional clothing and isn't deductible, even if your employer requires it and you only wear it at work. You can claim protective clothing with protective features (such as steel-capped boots or an apron) and the laundry of that clothing, but not everyday clothes — even buying a school-coloured hoodie to keep warm on yard duty isn't deductible.
Yes, where the trip has an educational benefit related to the curriculum or the school's extracurricular activities. You can claim fares, camp accommodation and your own meals where you have to pay for them. An overseas holiday that happens to visit places you teach about is not deductible, because the work purpose is incidental to the private purpose of taking a holiday.
Yes, for the additional running costs. For 2025-26 you can use the 70 cents per hour fixed rate (covering electricity/gas, phone and internet, and consumables) or the actual cost method, and you keep a record of the actual hours you worked from home. You can separately claim the decline in value of a desk, chair or computer, but as an employee you generally can't claim rent, mortgage interest or other occupancy costs.
Yes. You can claim the renewal of your teaching registration while you need it for your job, and union and professional association fees you pay. You can't claim the initial cost of applying for registration, because that's incurred to start employment rather than to earn your income in your current role.
Generally no. Gym and fitness expenses, tracksuits, running shoes, sporting shirts and shorts aren't deductible even for a PE teacher, because keeping fit is a private expense unless an extremely high level of fitness (strenuous physical activity) is an essential and regular element of the role. You can, however, claim work-specific items like a whistle and stopwatch used for teaching.
General information only — not financial or tax advice. Based on ATO guidance for the 2025-26 income year, reviewed June 2026. Your circumstances differ — check the ATO or a registered tax agent before lodging.
Sources (ATO):
- Teachers and education professionals – income and work-related deductions (ATO, QC 22569)
- ATO – Deductions for work expenses (teacher shortcut)
- Working from home expenses – Fixed rate method (ATO)
- Deductions you can claim (ATO – three golden rules)
- Cars, transport and travel deductions (ATO)
- Clothing, laundry and dry-cleaning expenses (ATO)
- TD 2025/4 – Reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance amounts for the 2025–26 income year (ATO)
Your call
Claim what your classroom cost you out of pocket — but only with receipts. Snap them into myDeductions the day you buy the glue sticks, because by July you won’t remember Term 1, and the ATO doesn’t accept “trust me”.