If you earn your income as an employee in building and construction — a carpenter, bricklayer, concreter, plasterer, painter, scaffolder, plant operator or similar — the ATO lets you claim work-related expenses you paid for yourself, weren't reimbursed for, and have a record of. The big-ticket items for this trade are tools and equipment, protective gear, and travel between worksites; but a lot of what tradies try to claim (everyday work clothes, the drive to and from one regular site, your driver's licence) is specifically off-limits. This page sets out what the ATO's "Building and construction employees" guide actually allows 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 what you shelled out for this year, hit print, hand it to your accountant. Nothing gets uploaded anywhere.
If you do work from home (e.g. quoting, ordering materials, admin), you can claim the additional running costs. For 2025-26 the fixed rate method is 70 cents per hour worked from home, which covers electricity, gas, phone, internet and stationery — and you keep a record of the actual hours worked from home (timesheet, roster or diary; an estimate isn't accepted). Note that if you use the fixed rate, you can't also claim a separate phone/internet deduction. Alternatively, the actual cost method lets you claim the real work-related portion of each running expense with full records. As an employee you generally can't claim occupancy costs (rent, mortgage interest, rates, house insurance), and you can't claim items your employer provides or reimburses.
Keep written evidence (usually a receipt or invoice) showing the supplier's name, the amount, what you bought, the date of purchase and the date of the document. If your total work-related claims come to more than $300, you must have written evidence for all of them. Keep a logbook or odometer records for car claims, a diary for apportioning phone/internet or other mixed-use items, and a travel diary if you're away six or more nights in a row. The myDeductions tool in the ATO app can track expenses and trips. Keep all records for five years from the date you lodge your return. Some exceptions apply: no receipts needed for laundry of $150 or less, incidental phone/data/internet of $50 or less, or overtime meal/travel allowance claims within the Commissioner's reasonable amounts — but you must still be able to show how you worked the claim out and that you spent the money.
Every deduction passes the same inspection: you paid, and the boss didn't reimburse you; it's directly connected to earning your income; and there's a docket or record behind it. Gear that's half work, half weekend gets split — you claim the work half.
Generally no — travel between home and your regular worksite is a private expense, even if the site is far away or you work outside normal hours. You can claim it only in limited cases: where you carry genuinely bulky tools that are essential and have no secure storage at the site, where you have shifting places of work, or when you travel between separate worksites or to an alternative workplace during the day.
You can claim steel-capped boots, hi-vis and other genuinely protective gear. You can't claim jeans, drill shirts, shorts, trousers, socks or ordinary closed shoes — the ATO treats these as conventional clothing, even if your boss requires them and you only wear them at work. The ATO also says construction workers don't have 'occupation-specific' clothing.
No. If the items form a set that together cost more than $300 in the income year, you must claim the decline in value over time rather than an immediate deduction — even if each individual piece cost well under $300. The same applies to identical or substantially identical items that together top $300.
You must declare both as income on your tax return. An allowance is not an automatic deduction — for the tool allowance you can only claim the actual tools you bought (with records). For an award fares allowance, you can claim deductible transport without written evidence only up to the relevant 1986 award amount; to claim more you need full records.
You can't claim your ordinary driver's licence even if it's a condition of your job — that's private. But you can claim the extra cost of a special licence or condition needed for your duties, such as a heavy vehicle licence, and you can claim renewals of work licences/permits/cards you need to keep doing your current job (the initial cost of first getting one to land the job isn't claimable).
No — food, drinks and snacks during normal working hours are private, even if you get a meal allowance. The exception is overtime meals: if you receive an award/agreement overtime meal allowance and buy a meal while working overtime, you can claim it (up to the reasonable amount of $38.65 for 2025-26 without receipts), and you can claim meals when travelling overnight for work.
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):
- ATO — Building and construction employees: income and work-related deductions
- ATO — Building and construction employees: Deductions for work expenses
- ATO — Building and construction employee expenses A–F
- ATO — Building and construction employee expenses G–O
- ATO — Building and construction employee expenses P–S
- ATO — Building and construction employee expenses T–W
- ATO — Building and construction employees: Record keeping for work expenses
- ATO — Fixed rate method (working from home)
- ATO — Cents per kilometre method
- ATO — TD 2025/4 Reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for 2025–26
Your call
Tools under $300 you claim outright this year; over $300 you depreciate over their life. Either way the receipt is the whole game — photograph it before it fades on the dash of the ute.