Tax deductions for adult industry workers
For adult industry workers, a lot of the tax rules come down to what you only use for work. A costume you buy for work and never wear privately can be claimed, and so can stage make-up. Your everyday make-up and hair treatments cannot, even when your employer expects you to be well groomed.
This page sets out what you can and cannot claim as an exotic or burlesque dancer, escort, actor, performer, bartender or other employee in the adult industry in Australia, checked against the ATO's own occupation guide. Where a rule has a catch in it, we have said so rather than left it out. It is written for employees. If you work for yourself, as a sole trader or a contractor on your own ABN, it does not cover you, and a business consultation is the better place to start.
Aevum Accounting is a CPA practice and registered tax agent in Balcatta, Perth, working with adult industry workers across Australia. Like any registered tax agent, we keep our clients' information confidential.
Approved by Ben De Rosa, CPA. Last checked against the ATO's guidance on 26 September 2026.
What adult industry workers can claim
Before any specific deduction, an expense has to clear all three of these. The ATO calls them the three golden rules.
1. You spent the money yourself and were not reimbursed. If your employer paid for it or paid you back, it is not your deduction.
2. The expense directly relates to earning your income. Not helpful to your career in general. Directly related to the job you are doing now.
3. You have a record to prove it. Usually a receipt.
If an expense was part work and part private, you can only claim the work-related portion. And you cannot claim at all if you have no records, or if someone else paid.
The short version, before the detail. These are the claims worth checking every year.
Usually deductible
Costumes you buy or hire only for work, such as a burlesque dancer's costumes and dance shoes distinctive to the role.
A compulsory uniform, such as a logo shirt, if you pay for it.
Washing your costumes and uniform, even a uniform your employer supplies.
Stage make-up, and products to remove it.
Consumables you use only for work, such as condoms and lubricants.
Commission you pay to your agency.
Updating your photographic portfolio for publicity.
Music your employer asks you to provide, and props you only use at work.
Dance classes and conferences that maintain or improve the skills you use now.
Driving to and between clients on a shift, if you have no fixed workplace, and parking and tolls on those trips.
Meals and incidentals on tour or other overnight work travel.
Overtime meals, but only with an overtime meal allowance under an award or agreement.
The work share of your phone and internet, and union fees.
Not deductible, however it feels
Everyday clothes and shoes, such as plain black pants, even if you only wear them at work.
Everyday make-up, hairdressing, hair treatments and skin care, even with a grooming allowance.
Gym fees, gym clothes and fitness equipment, even if you must pass fitness tests.
A nude allowance. It is income, with nothing to claim against it.
The upfront cost of joining or using an agency or agent to get work.
The first cost of preparing your photographic portfolio.
Preparing for or going to auditions, including the travel.
The drive from home to your regular workplace, or to a single appointment on a shift.
Parking at or near your regular workplace.
Food and drink on a normal shift, even with a meal allowance.
Work dinners and other social functions, even compulsory ones.
Study to change careers, such as a law degree while you work as a dancer.
Each of these is explained properly below.
From the 2026-27 income year, if you are an Australian resident earning a salary or wage, you get a standard deduction of up to $1,000 for work-related expenses. The ATO applies it automatically and you do not need receipts for it. It became law in June 2026 and starts with the 2026-27 return, which you lodge from July 2027. It does not apply to the 2025-26 return you are lodging now.
It is not a bonus on top of your normal claims. Any work-related expenses you claim reduce it dollar for dollar. Claim $600 of expenses and your standard deduction drops to $400, so you land on $1,000 either way, with more paperwork. If your work expenses are more than $1,000, you claim them the way you do now, and you need records for every dollar you claim, not just the part above $1,000. For most expenses, that means written evidence such as receipts.
Union fees and professional association memberships sit outside it. You can claim those on top of the full $1,000, as long as you keep the records. The same goes for deductions that are not work expenses, such as donations to charity, income protection premiums and your tax agent's fee.
For adult industry workers, it depends on what the job has you buy. If you mostly claim washing a uniform your employer supplies, your work expenses may sit well under $1,000. Costumes, stage make-up, dance classes and portfolio updates you pay for yourself can take you past it. Keep your receipts until you know which side of the line you are on.
Your salary and wages go in your tax return, including cash-in-hand pay, cash tips or gratuities, and bonus payments, and so does every allowance on your income statement. An allowance does not give you a deduction by itself. One that compensates you for an unpleasant, special or dangerous part of your work, such as a nude allowance, is income with nothing to claim against it. One for certain expenses, such as laundry, can come with a deduction, but only for deductible expenses you actually have.
In the ATO's examples, Ricky, an employee dancer at an adult entertainment club, declares his $25 a week nude allowance but cannot claim a deduction, because it compensates him for his special working conditions. Wanda, who serves drinks in an adult dance club, declares her $4 a week laundry allowance and claims what she spends to wash and iron her compulsory uniform.
An allowance that shows only on your payslips, such as an overtime meal or travel allowance, does not need declaring if you spend all of it on deductible expenses and do not claim them. The allowance must also be within the ATO's reasonable amount. If your employer pays you back the exact amount you spent, that is a reimbursement. You do not declare it and you cannot claim the expense.
Everyday clothing is private, even if your employer requires it and you only wear it at work, unless it is part of a costume you only wear at work.
You can claim what you pay to buy, hire, repair or replace four kinds of work clothing. A costume is clothing you buy or hire specifically for work and do not use privately, such as a burlesque dancer's costumes and dance shoes that are distinctive to the role. Protective clothing protects you from specific risks of injury or illness at work. A compulsory uniform is one your employer strictly and consistently enforces and that distinctly identifies you as working for them. A non-compulsory uniform counts only if your employer has registered it on the Register of Approved Occupational Clothing. Clothing your employer buys, repairs or replaces is not claimable.
In the ATO's examples, Candice, an employee dancer at an adult entertainment bar, must wear costumes at work and only wears them when she is dancing there. She can claim buying and cleaning them. Tom, a bartender at an adult entertainment club, cannot claim buying or washing the smart black pants he must wear with his logo shirts, even though he only wears them to work, because plain black pants are not unique and distinctive to the club.
Washing claimable clothing can be worked out at $1 a load for work clothing only, or 50 cents a load if you mix in personal items. Dry-cleaning and repairs are claimed at actual cost. Tom washes the logo shirts his employer provides in mixed loads twice a week for 50 weeks, so he claims 100 loads at 50 cents, or $50.
Grooming costs are private, including hairdressing, cosmetics, and hair and skin care products, even if you receive a grooming allowance or your employer expects you to be well groomed. The ATO's general guidance allows hair and make-up costs in limited circumstances, such as a role that requires a particular haircut, so talk to us if yours does.
Stage make-up is the exception. You can claim stage make-up and products you use to remove it. In the ATO's example, Fiona, an exotic dancer, can claim the stage foundation, powder and lipstick she only uses for work. She cannot claim the general make-up she uses for everything else, or her weekly hair treatments.
Fitness costs are private too, including gym fees, gym clothes and fitness equipment, even if you must pass medical examinations and fitness tests to keep your job, and so are massage and other alternative therapies. The ATO's adult industry guide gives no exception, but its general guidance allows fitness costs in very limited circumstances, where your job needs an extremely high level of fitness, meaning strenuous physical activity is an essential and regular part of it. Gym clothes are private even then. Talk to us before you claim any fitness costs.
You can claim commission you pay to an agency. In the ATO's example, Zahra, an employee exotic dancer through an agency, is paid $700 for a night's work at a club and pays the agency $48 in commission. She declares the full $700 and claims the $48, because she pays it in the course of earning her wages. You cannot claim the upfront cost of joining or using an agency or agent to get work, or commission and fees your employer pays to the agency.
Maintaining a photographic portfolio for publicity is deductible, but not the first cost of preparing it. In the ATO's example, Sunita, an employee of an escort agency, claims the $650 she pays a photographer to update her portfolio.
Preparing for or going to auditions is not deductible, because you pay those costs to get work, not in doing the job you have. In the ATO's example, Brett cannot claim his travel, accommodation and meals to go from regional Victoria to Melbourne for an audition.
You can claim consumable items you use solely to earn your income as an employee in the adult industry. The ATO's own list includes condoms, lubricants, gels, oils and tissues.
The work-related part of multimedia is deductible, if it directly relates to your current job. In the ATO's example, Lucy, an employee exotic dancer, is asked by her employer to provide the music for her routines, and can claim the songs she downloads and the USB stick she saves them on.
Tools and equipment you use to do your job are deductible for their work-related use, but not ones your employer or someone else supplies. An item costing $300 or less can be claimed in the year you buy it, if you use it mainly for work and it is not part of a set, or one of several identical or substantially identical items, costing more than $300 together. Above that, you claim its decline in value over its effective life. Repairs are deductible for the work share. In the ATO's example, Esther, a roaming performer employed by an agency, can claim the $150 of props and $100 of costumes she only uses at work straight away, because they cost less than $300 and are not part of a set.
The trip between home and your regular workplace is private, even if you live a long way away or work weekend or early morning shifts.
You can claim it if you have shifting places of work, meaning you have no fixed place of work and continually travel from one work site to another before returning home. In the ATO's example, Lara, an employee exotic dancer, gets a list of client addresses at the start of each shift and drives her own car to each one. She can claim driving from home to the first client, between clients, and from the last client home. In another example, an employee escort who has one appointment per shift cannot claim the trips from home to his appointments. He goes to different locations, but does not continually travel between appointments before going home.
You can also claim driving directly between two separate jobs on the same day, as long as neither is your home, between workplaces for the same employer on the same day, and from home straight to a workplace that is not your regular one. That does not include going from home to a single appointment on a shift, as the escort example shows.
Parking at or near your regular workplace, and tolls between home and work, are private. Parking and tolls on work trips are deductible. In the ATO's example, Marnie, an employee exotic dancer, can claim parking and tolls between clients on her shift.
Cents per kilometre. 88 cents per kilometre for 2024-25 and 2025-26, and 91 cents for 2026-27, capped at 5,000 work kilometres per car per year. You still need a record of how you worked out the kilometres. The alternative is a 12-week logbook and your actual costs.
You can claim accommodation, meals and incidentals when your work requires you to travel and sleep away from home overnight, but not a room or meals your employer provides or pays you back for. In the ATO's example, Veronique, a burlesque dancer touring the major capital cities in her employer's production, gets $375 a week for meals and incidentals, $8,250 for the 22-week tour, shown on her income statement. She declares the $8,250 and claims what she spends on meals and incidentals, without receipts, because she spends less than the reasonable amount. She cannot claim her airfares or accommodation, which her employer pays.
With a travel allowance, a claim within the reasonable amount needs no receipts, except for overseas accommodation, but you must still be able to show you spent the money. Claim more and you need written evidence for all of it. From 2026-27, travel allowance expenses you claim count against the $1,000 standard deduction, and the reasonable amount exception still applies.
Food, drink and snacks during your normal working hours are private, even if you receive a meal allowance.
Overtime meals are deductible only if you buy and eat the meal while working overtime, you receive a separate overtime meal allowance under an industrial law, award or agreement, not one folded into your salary and wages, and you declare it as income, even if it shows only on your payslips. In the ATO's example, Carl, who works at an adult entertainment bar, gets a $20 award allowance on 10 overtime occasions, shown as $200 on his income statement, and generally spends $15 on his meal, so he claims $150.
The reasonable amount is $38.65 for 2025-26 and $40 for 2026-27. If your claim is no more than that, you do not need receipts, but you must still be able to show what you spent and how you worked it out.
Work breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and other entertainment and social functions, are private, even compulsory ones, and so is getting to and from them.
Self-education is deductible if it directly relates to your current job and maintains or improves the skills and knowledge you need for your current duties, or is likely to increase your income from your current job. It is not deductible if it only relates to your job in a general way, or helps you get a job or change jobs. Study loan repayments are never deductible, and neither are fees under HECS-HELP. Seminars, conferences and training courses that relate to your work are deductible too, including fares, registration and, if you stay overnight, accommodation and meals, unless your employer pays.
In the ATO's examples, Carmel, an exotic dancer, can claim dance classes that maintain her existing dance skills and teach her new ones, and Gwyneth, an actor in the adult industry, can claim the fee she pays each year to attend an adult entertainment conference. Allanah, a burlesque dancer, cannot claim the law degree she studies part time to become a lawyer, because it will help her change jobs.
Phone, data and internet costs are deductible for the work-related use of your own phone or devices. Keep your bills and a record of how you worked out your work use. A phone your employer provides and pays for is not claimable, and calls to family and friends are private.
Union and professional association fees are deductible, and if they are on your income statement, that is your evidence.
For the 2025-26 return you are lodging now: receipts for everything you claim, your income statement and payslips, which show your allowances, kilometre records or a logbook for car claims, and a record of how you worked out your phone and internet work use. Two shortcuts still apply this year. If your total work-related expenses, other than car, travel allowance and overtime meal allowance claims, are $300 or less, you can claim them without receipts. If your laundry claim, not counting dry cleaning, is $150 or less, you do not need written evidence of it. In both cases you still have to be able to show that you spent the money and how you worked out the figure.
From 2026-27, those shortcuts end for everyone. If you claim more than the standard deduction, you need written evidence, such as receipts, for your work-related expenses. Some exceptions continue, including travel allowance and overtime meal allowance claims within the ATO's reasonable amounts, and car claims at cents per kilometre. For those, you still need records that show how you worked out the claim. For laundry worked out at the ATO's per-load rates, its current guidance is to keep a record of how many loads you washed, whether each was a work-only or mixed load, and evidence that you paid for the laundry.
The ATO's myDeductions tool in their app is a reasonable way to keep records through the year. We cannot access it directly, but you can export from it and send it to us. A shared Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox folder works just as well.
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Can I claim my costumes?
Yes, if you buy or hire them specifically for work and do not use them privately, and you can claim cleaning them too. Everyday clothes, such as plain black pants, are private, even if your employer requires them and you only wear them at work.
Can I claim my make-up and hair?
Stage make-up, yes, and products to remove it. Your normal make-up, hairdressing, hair treatments and skin care are private, even if your employer expects you to be well groomed or pays you a grooming allowance.
Can I claim the commission I pay my agency?
Yes. In the ATO's example, an employee exotic dancer paid $700 for a night's work pays her agency $48 in commission, declares the full $700 and claims the $48. You cannot claim the upfront cost of joining or using an agency or agent to get work.
Can I claim driving to clients?
Yes, if you have no fixed workplace and travel from client to client on a shift before going home. If you have one appointment per shift, the trips from home are private, even if the location changes. Parking and tolls between clients can be claimed, but not parking at your regular workplace.
I work for myself or as a contractor. Is this page for me?
No. This page is written for employees, so it does not cover you if you work as a sole trader or a contractor on your own ABN. A business consultation is the better place to start. If you are not sure whether you are an employee or a contractor, talk to us before you lodge.
How does the $1,000 standard deduction work for adult industry workers?
From the 2026-27 return, you get up to $1,000 automatically, with no receipts needed. Any work expenses you claim reduce it, including costumes and laundry, so it helps most when your work expenses are under $1,000. If they are over, claim them as normal and keep records for every dollar. Your union and professional association fees go on top either way.
Do you work with adult industry workers outside Perth?
Yes. We are based in Balcatta and we work with clients across Australia, by email or online appointment. See our pricing page for how the two options differ, or book an appointment.
There is no episode of the Aevum Accounting Podcast just for adult industry workers, but two are relevant to you. The Thousand Dollar Deduction (episode 54) explains the new standard deduction, and its written companion is The $1,000 Instant Tax Deduction: What It's Actually Worth. Your Tax Return, Your Way: Email or Appointment (episode 51) helps you choose how to lodge with us, and its companion is Email or Appointment.
We are a CPA practice and registered tax agent, TPB registration 26302591. You can check our credentials, meet the team, or book an appointment.
Also worth reading: tax accountants Perth for how we work with individuals, and our guides for performing artists, hospitality workers and media professionals.