Tax deductions for lawyers
For lawyers, a lot of the tax rules turn on one question: is this cost part of the job you have now, or the price of getting it? Your admission fees and first practising certificate are not deductible. Renewing that certificate each year is. Study works the same way: a course for the job you have can be claimed, and one for a different job cannot.
This page sets out what you can and cannot claim as an employed solicitor, in-house lawyer, graduate lawyer or law clerk 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, so it does not cover barristers in private practice or equity partners who share in their firm's profits, because both run a business. If that is you, a business consultation is the better place to start.
Aevum Accounting is a CPA practice and registered tax agent in Balcatta, Perth, working with lawyers 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
Renewing your practising certificate each year, if you pay for it yourself.
Union and professional association fees.
Supreme Court library fees you pay every year.
Professional indemnity and income protection insurance you pay for yourself.
CPD, seminars and study that build on your current job.
Law books and journals specific to your work.
A laptop or a bag for work documents, for the work-related portion.
Driving from home straight to court, or between your office and court.
Parking and tolls on those trips, and a taxi from your office to court.
Accommodation and meals when work takes you away overnight, such as an interstate hearing.
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.
Overtime meals, but only with an overtime meal allowance under an award or agreement.
Not deductible, however it feels
Admission fees, and your first practising certificate.
Business suits and shirts, even if you only wear them to work and court.
Hairdressing, cosmetics and grooming, even if your employer expects you to be well groomed.
The drive between home and your office, even when a client calls you in after hours.
Parking at or near your regular office.
Club memberships, such as golf, even if they help you manage client relationships.
Entertainment and social functions, even compulsory ones.
Gifts and greeting cards for clients.
Food and drink in your working hours, even with a meal allowance.
Study for a different job, such as Practical Legal Training while you work as a clerk.
Commonwealth supported course fees, even paid upfront, and study loan repayments.
Prescription glasses and contact lenses.
Moving costs when you are transferred.
The cost of defending your right to practise.
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.
For employed lawyers, it depends on who pays for what. If your employer pays for your practising certificate, professional indemnity insurance and CPD, your own work expenses may sit well under $1,000. A masters degree, a new laptop or seminars you pay for yourself can take you past it. Keep your receipts until you know which side of the line you are on.
Admission fees are not deductible, because you pay them so you can start your employment, not in the course of it. Nor is the first cost of getting a practising certificate, or any other professional membership or accreditation. In the ATO's example, Drew cannot claim the cost of being admitted or of his first practising certificate after finishing his legal training in Townsville, but once he is working as a solicitor, he can claim each yearly renewal.
A renewal is deductible if you need it for your current job and pay for it yourself. So are union and professional association fees, and if they are on your income statement, that is your evidence. Those fees sit outside the $1,000 standard deduction. The ATO's list of costs that sit outside it does not include practising certificates, and its draft ruling says other work expenses reduce the $1,000 unless the law specifically leaves them out. Talk to us before you claim your practising certificate on top of the $1,000.
Supreme Court library fees you pay every year are deductible, but not a fee you pay only once, on admission. Club memberships, such as golf, are not deductible, even if they help you manage client relationships. You cannot claim the cost of defending your right to practise.
Professional indemnity insurance is deductible if you pay for it yourself, but not if your employer pays it, as Ezra's does in the ATO's example. Insurance against losing your employment income, such as income protection, is deductible too. In the ATO's example, Dee pays $250 a month for income protection and personal injury cover, and claims only the $175 a month for income protection. From 2026-27, income protection premiums also sit outside the $1,000 standard deduction. Professional indemnity insurance is not on the ATO's list, so it counts against the $1,000 like your other work expenses.
Every allowance on your income statement goes in your return as income, but an allowance does not give you a deduction by itself. A car allowance can come with one. In the ATO's example, Bronwyn, a law clerk, declares a $256 car allowance, paid at 80 cents a kilometre, and claims $282 for her 320 kilometres of driving from the office to court, at the ATO's 88 cents a kilometre for 2025-26.
Food and drink in your working hours is private, even with a meal allowance. Overtime meals are deductible only if you buy and eat the meal while working overtime and receive a separate overtime meal allowance under an industrial law, award or agreement, not one folded into your salary and wages, which you declare as income, even if it shows only on your payslips. In the ATO's example, Moana works 3 extra hours on case preparation, gets a $20 meal allowance under her enterprise agreement, spends $21 and claims $21. 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.
Entertainment and social functions are not deductible, even compulsory ones. In the ATO's example, Rachael cannot claim a social breakfast organised by the Australian Bar Association, even though her employer encourages staff to go. Nor are gifts and greeting cards for clients.
Conventional clothing is private, even if your employer requires it and you only wear it to work. In the ATO's example, Gavin, a solicitor who meets clients and attends court hearings, cannot claim buying or washing the business shirts and suits he only wears to work.
Occupation-specific clothing, which distinctly identifies you with a particular occupation, can be claimed. The ATO's examples include a judge's robes, and its ruling on clothing adds a barrister's robes. That ruling also says judges' robes and barristers' silk robes last five to ten years, so their cost is claimed over that time, not all at once. If you buy court dress such as a wig or gown yourself as an employee, talk to us before you claim it.
A compulsory uniform can be claimed too. In the ATO's example, Angela, a lawyer in a legal firm, must buy shirts with the company logo. She can claim buying and washing the shirts, but not the pants and skirts she wears with them. 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. Angela washes her shirts in mixed loads twice a week for 40 weeks and claims $40.
Hairdressing, cosmetics, and hair and skin care products are private, even if your employer expects you to be well groomed. So are prescription glasses and contact lenses, even if you need them to work.
You cannot claim the trip between home and your regular office, even if you live a long way away. In the ATO's example, Nigel gets a call at home after hours because a client has been arrested, and drives to his office. He cannot claim the trip. Taking files home by choice does not change that. In the ATO's example, Charlie cannot claim driving about 50 kilograms of working papers home on a Friday and back on the Monday.
You can claim driving between separate jobs on the same day, as long as neither is your home, to and from an alternative workplace for the same employer on the same day, and from home to an alternative place of work. In the ATO's example, Renata's office is in a Sydney suburb. On a day in court in the city, she drives from home straight to court, then to her office. She can claim both trips, but not the drive home from the office.
Parking and tolls on work trips are deductible, and so is a taxi from your office to court, unless your employer pays you back. Parking at or near your regular office, and tolls between home and work, are not.
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.
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.
You can claim accommodation, meals and incidentals when your work requires you to travel and sleep away from home overnight, for example three nights interstate for a work-related mediation. You cannot claim them for a same-day trip, or if your employer provides them or pays you back.
If you receive a travel allowance and claim no more than the ATO's reasonable amount, you do not need written evidence, 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, not just the extra. In the ATO's example, Justin spends five nights interstate for a court hearing on a travel allowance, with his airfares paid by his employer. His accommodation claim is over the reasonable amount, so he needs written evidence for all of it. His meals and incidentals are under it, so he does not. From 2026-27, travel costs count against the standard deduction, and the reasonable amount exception still applies to a travel allowance.
Moving for work is not deductible, whether it is a condition of your job or you are taking up a new one. In the ATO's example, Caitlyn, transferred from Sydney to her employer's Melbourne office for two years, cannot claim her relocation costs, rent or other living expenses.
Self-education is deductible if it directly relates to your current job and, when you pay for it, either maintains or improves the skills and knowledge you need, such as courses for your continuing professional development (CPD) points, or is likely to increase your income from that job. It is not deductible if it only relates to your job in a general way, or helps you get a new job.
In the ATO's examples, Beryl, a solicitor, can claim an online course on effective client interviewing, and Dean, a qualified legal practitioner in commercial law, can claim his Masters of Commercial Law. Christine, a legal clerk, cannot claim Practical Legal Training to be admitted as a lawyer, because it does not directly relate to her current job as a clerk.
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 registration, fares and, if you stay overnight, accommodation and meals, unless your employer pays. In the ATO's example, Timothy claims a seminar his professional law association runs on new legislative changes, but Jenny cannot claim a time and stress management course. If you go mainly for a holiday, you can only claim the direct costs, such as registration. If you go for both work and private reasons, you can only claim the work-related part.
Law books, journals and equipment are claimable for their work use. 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 items, costing more than $300 together. Above $300, you claim its decline in value over its effective life. In the ATO's examples, Marie, an in-house lawyer, claims a $350 legal book over the effective life of her professional library. Matthew keeps the receipt for his $1,000 laptop and a four-week diary showing 100% work use, and claims its decline in value. Michael, a solicitor, claims the decline in value of the $450 leather satchel he uses to carry legal documents to court.
Newspapers and magazines are generally private. A publication is deductible only if its content is specific to your job and directly connected to your duties, like the Taxation in Australia journal that Tania, an employee taxation lawyer in the ATO's example, subscribes to.
Phone, data and internet costs are deductible for the work-related use of your own devices, but not if your employer provides the phone and pays for it, or pays you back. Keep your bills and a record of how you worked out your work use.
Working from home counts only for the extra running costs it causes, which you claim at actual cost or by the fixed rate method. The fixed rate is 70 cents per work hour for 2024-25 and 2025-26. It covers energy, internet, phone use, stationery and computer consumables, so you cannot claim those separately, and you need a record of your actual hours, not an estimate. Your desk, chair and computer are claimed separately. As an employee you generally cannot claim rent, mortgage interest, rates or house insurance, unless part of your home is a place of business.
For the 2025-26 return you are lodging now: receipts for everything you claim, your income statement, kilometre records or a logbook for car claims, a record of your work-use percentage for your laptop, phone and internet, and a record of your hours if you work from home. 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, 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.
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 practising certificate?
Yes, the renewal each year, if you need it for your current job and pay for it yourself. Your admission fees and first practising certificate are not deductible, because you pay those so you can start work. From 2026-27, talk to us before you claim your practising certificate on top of the $1,000 standard deduction. The ATO's list of costs that sit outside the $1,000 does not include it.
Can I claim my suits?
No. Business suits and shirts are conventional clothing, even if you only wear them to work and court. Occupation-specific clothing, such as a judge's robes, can be claimed, but the ATO says a judge's robes are claimed over their life, not all at once. If you buy court dress yourself as an employee, talk to us before you claim it.
Can I claim the drive to court?
Yes, if you drive from home straight to court, or between your office and court on the same day. The drive between home and your regular office is private, even when a client calls you in after hours.
Can I claim my masters degree or CPD?
Yes, if it directly relates to your current job and maintains or improves the skills and knowledge you need for it, or is likely to increase your income from it. Study to get a different job is not deductible, and neither are Commonwealth supported course fees or study loan repayments.
I am a barrister or a partner. Is this page for me?
If you are employed, yes. This page is written for employees, so it does not cover barristers in private practice or equity partners who share in their firm's profits. Both run a business, and a business consultation is the better place to start.
How does the $1,000 standard deduction work for lawyers?
From the 2026-27 return, you get up to $1,000 automatically, with no receipts needed. Any work expenses you claim reduce it, 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, and income protection premiums, go on top either way.
Do you work with lawyers 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 lawyers, 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.
For higher earners, Division 293: The Tax Bill That Arrives After You've Already Paid Your Tax (episode 55) explains the extra tax on super contributions, and The Medicare Levy, the Surcharge, and the Cover That Doesn't Count (episode 56) covers the Medicare levy surcharge and private health cover.
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 office workers and medical professionals.