Tax deductions for IT professionals
IT work comes with its own expenses: a laptop, a second monitor, software, a phone that rings after hours, and courses to keep your skills current. Each has its own rules, and some of the catches are easy to miss.
This page sets out what you can and cannot claim as a software developer, systems administrator, support technician or other IT professional 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.
Aevum Accounting is a CPA practice and registered tax agent in Balcatta, Perth, working with IT professionals across Australia.
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
A laptop, monitor, printer or peripherals you buy for work, for the work-related portion.
Software, apps and software subscriptions you use for work.
Phone, data and internet, for the work-related portion.
Working from home, at 70 cents per hour for 2024-25 and 2025-26, or actual costs.
A desk and chair for your home office.
Courses that maintain or improve the skills you need in your current role.
Seminars, conferences and training courses that relate to your work.
Union and professional association fees. If the amount is on your income statement, that is your proof.
Driving from your office to a client, between clients, or from home straight to a client's office.
Parking, tolls, taxis and ride-share on those work trips.
The after-hours drive to the office, but only in the narrow case where you start fixing a problem at home and must go in to finish it.
Overtime meals, but only with an overtime meal allowance under an award or agreement.
Not deductible, however it feels
The daily drive to your office, even when you are on call or work from home on other days.
Parking at or near your regular office.
A laptop, phone or tools your employer supplies or pays for.
Office attire, even if there is a dress standard.
Prescription glasses or contact lenses, even if you need them to work.
Social breakfasts and other social functions.
Rent, mortgage interest, rates and house insurance when you work from home. Generally private for an employee.
Study aimed at a different role, such as a programmer studying to become a project manager.
Commonwealth supported course fees, even paid upfront, and study loan repayments.
Moving costs when you are transferred.
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 written evidence for every dollar you claim, not just the part above $1,000.
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.
For IT professionals, a new laptop or a course can take you past $1,000, and the decline in value of work equipment counts against it. Keep your receipts until you know which side of the line you are on.
You can claim a laptop, desktop computer, monitor or printer you buy and use for work, and peripherals such as a mouse, keyboard or docking station if you buy them separately. If you also use an item privately, keep a record, such as a diary note, of how you worked out your work-use percentage.
An item costing $300 or less can be claimed in the year you buy it, if you use it more than 50% of the time 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 $300, you claim the decline in value over the item's effective life.
Software follows the same rules. It includes apps you pay to download, annual software subscriptions, anti-virus software and a VPN. Software that comes with a computer does not need to be split out from the price. In the ATO's example, Mateo claims the decline in value of his $2,000 computer and its operating system, and claims his $99 anti-virus subscription in the year he buys it.
You cannot claim equipment your employer provides, or anything your employer pays for or reimburses.
You can claim working from home expenses if you work from home to do your job and it adds to your running costs. Occasionally checking emails or taking calls is not enough.
The fixed rate method is 70 cents per work hour for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 income years. It covers electricity and gas, internet, phone use, stationery and computer consumables, so you cannot claim those separately. That includes your mobile phone expenses on days you are not working from home. In the ATO's example, Keisha, on the fixed rate, cannot claim her mobile phone expenses separately even for those days. To claim all her work phone use, she would need the actual cost method.
Your desk, chair and computer equipment are claimed separately. In the ATO's example, Yang, a software engineer, claims $396.90 for 567 recorded hours at 70 cents, plus the $250 desk and $299 chair he only uses when working from home.
The fixed rate needs a record of the actual hours you work from home, because an estimate is not accepted, and at least one bill or receipt for each type of expense it covers. The actual cost method needs a bill or receipt for each expense and a record of your hours.
If you do not use the fixed rate, phone, data and internet are deductible for the work-related use of your own devices, worked out over a representative four-week period, such as one itemised monthly bill. For the 2025-26 return, if your work use is incidental and your claim is $50 or less, you do not need to keep bills, but you must be able to show how you worked out the claim.
You cannot claim a phone your employer provides and pays for, or tea and coffee. As an employee you generally cannot claim rent, mortgage interest, rates or house insurance, unless part of your home is a place of business.
Being on call does not make the drive to your office deductible, even when you are called in.
The exception needs all three of these: you are required to start your duties at home and travel to your regular workplace to complete them, doing the work in two places is necessary because of the nature of your duties, and the trip is not part of a normal trip to work that would have happened anyway. In the ATO's example, Tom, an IT security director on call 24 hours a day, has a secure terminal at home. When he starts on a security issue at home and has to drive into the office out of hours to resolve it, that trip is deductible. His regular daily trip is not.
An on-call allowance is income, and it does not come with a deduction. The ATO treats it as compensation for an aspect of your work, not money for expenses.
Overtime meals are deductible only if you buy and eat the meal while working overtime and receive an overtime meal allowance under an award or agreement, shown separately on your income statement, which you declare as income. In the ATO's example, Carl, a software developer, gets a $20 allowance each time he works weekend overtime but generally spends $15 on his meal, so he claims $450 for 30 meals. For the 2025-26 return, you do not need receipts if you claim no more than the ATO's reasonable amount of $38.65 a meal, but you must still be able to show you spent the money. The 2026-27 amount is $40.
You cannot claim the trip between home and your regular office, even if you live a long way away, work outside normal hours or do some work at home.
You can claim driving from your office to a client, between two workplaces on the same day (neither of them your home), and from home straight to an alternative workplace, such as a client's office. In the ATO's example, Blake, an ICT manager, can claim the drive from his city office to late client meetings and then home. If you have no fixed workplace and travel from site to site, like Helen, a software installer and support officer in the ATO's example, even the trips from home to your first client and from your last client home can be claimed.
The catch is time. An office you work at as a standard arrangement, such as every Friday, is a regular place of work, so trips from home to it are private. A site you are placed at for three months or more will usually become one too, and on a short-term contract a shorter period may be enough.
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. The rate covers all your car expenses. You still need a record of how you worked out the kilometres.
Logbook. A 12-week logbook establishes your work-use percentage, and you keep evidence of the actual costs.
If your car is salary packaged under a novated lease, you cannot claim its running costs, because it is usually your employer that leases the car and makes it available to you. You can still claim work-related parking and tolls you pay yourself.
Parking, tolls, taxis and ride-share on work trips are deductible. Parking at or near your regular office, and tolls between home and work, are not.
When your work requires you to travel and sleep away from home, such as visiting clients interstate, you can claim the accommodation, meals and incidentals you pay for yourself. In the ATO's example, Peter, based in a Perth office, stays overnight in Melbourne for monthly meetings. His employer pays his flights and accommodation, so he claims only his meals, and needs receipts for them because he gets no travel allowance. Relocation costs are private, even when the move is a condition of your job.
Self-education is deductible if, when you pay for it, it directly relates to your current job and either maintains or improves the skills and knowledge you need for your current duties, or is likely to increase your income from that job. It is not deductible if it is designed to get you a different job, or only relates to your work in a general way.
A course does not have to lead to a formal qualification. Self-education includes courses run by a professional or industry organisation, and self-paced learning. A certification course is judged by the same test as any other course.
The ATO's IT examples show where the line falls. A course to learn new software you need for your work can be claimed, and so can a Graduate Certificate in Business Cyber Security for someone whose job includes managing cyber security risks. A software programmer studying to become a project manager cannot claim it, and neither can a technical support officer doing an executive leadership course her role does not require.
In a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are not deductible, whether you pay upfront or through HECS-HELP. In a full fee-paying place, they can be, including fees paid with a FEE-HELP loan. Study loan repayments are never deductible.
Seminars, conferences and training courses that relate to your work are deductible, including fares, registration and, if you stay overnight, accommodation and meals, unless your employer pays. If a trip is mainly a holiday, you can only claim direct costs such as registration.
Union and professional association fees are deductible, and your income statement can be your evidence.
Entertainment and social functions are not deductible, even when they are compulsory. In the ATO's example, Rachael cannot claim a social breakfast run by an IT professional association.
Office attire is private, even under a dress standard. A compulsory uniform is different: in the ATO's example, Chloe, a data analyst, claims $40 for washing her employer's logo polo shirts, but not the black pants or skirt she wears with them.
Prescription glasses and contact lenses are private, even if you need them to work. The ATO counts anti-glare glasses as protective glasses, which you can claim only if you wear them to reduce a real and likely risk of illness or injury at work.
If your employer offers salary packaging, a laptop, phone or tablet you use mainly for work is currently exempt from FBT, generally limited to one item with the same function each FBT year unless it is a replacement.
That changes on 1 April 2027. From that date, work-related items provided through salary packaging, including laptops, phones, tablets and software, are no longer exempt from FBT. The same items provided outside salary packaging stay exempt. This became law in June 2026, so check with us before you package a device.
For the 2025-26 return you are lodging now: receipts for everything you claim, a record of your work-use percentage for your computer, phone and internet, a record of your hours if you work from home, kilometre records or a logbook for car claims, and your income statement. Two shortcuts still apply this year. If your total work-related expenses, other than car, travel and overtime meal allowance claims, are $300 or less, you can claim them without receipts. If your laundry claim is $150 or less, you do not need written evidence of it. In both cases you still have to be able to show 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 for every work-related expense you claim. You generally need to keep your records for five years from the date you lodge.
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 laptop, monitor and software?
Yes, for the work-related portion, if you paid for them. An item costing $300 or less, software included, can be claimed in the year you buy it if you use it mainly for work. Above $300, you claim it over its effective life.
I am on call. Can I claim the drive to the office?
Usually not. Being on call, or being paid an on-call allowance, does not make the trip deductible. The narrow exception is when your duties start at home and you have to go into the office to finish them. Your regular daily trip stays private.
How much can I claim for working from home?
For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 income years, 70 cents per hour under the fixed rate method, which covers energy, phone, internet, stationery and computer consumables, including your mobile phone expenses on days you are not working from home. You need a record of your actual hours, not an estimate.
Is a certification course deductible?
It can be, if it maintains or improves the skills you need in your current role, or is likely to increase your income from it. The ATO's own example of a claimable course is one to learn new software you need for your work. Study designed to move you into a different role, such as a programmer studying to become a project manager, is not.
How does the $1,000 standard deduction work for IT professionals?
From the 2026-27 return, you get up to $1,000 automatically, with no receipts needed. Any work expenses you claim reduce it, including the decline in value of a laptop, 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 IT professionals 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 IT professionals, but three are relevant to you. The Thousand Dollar Deduction (episode 54) explains the new standard deduction, and its companion is The $1,000 Instant Tax Deduction: What It's Actually Worth.
If you salary package, listen to FBT Power Plays: The Boss-Level Guide to Salary Packaging (episode 30).
This page is written for employees. If you are an IT contractor working through your own company or trust, The Consultant's Tax Trap: PSI and the ATO Traffic Light System (episode 42) covers personal services income, and its companion is The Consultant's Tax Trap.
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 engineers and office workers.