Tax deductions for mechanics
For mechanics, most tax questions come back to the toolbox. A $352 spanner set bought one spanner at a time during the year is still a set, so you cannot claim each spanner outright. A socket bought in a later year to replace a lost one can be claimed in full, if it costs $300 or less. And driving your toolbox home only counts in narrow cases.
This page sets out what you can and cannot claim as a motor mechanic, diesel or heavy vehicle mechanic, auto electrician or apprentice in Australia, checked against the ATO's current rules and examples. The ATO does not have a separate guide for mechanics, so where a rule is not clear for your job, we say so. Where a rule has a catch in it, we have said so rather than left it out. It is written for employees. If you run your own workshop or work on your own ABN, start with a business consultation instead.
Aevum Accounting is a CPA practice and registered tax agent in Balcatta, Perth, working with mechanics across Australia.
Approved by Ben De Rosa, CPA. Last checked against the ATO's guidance on 26 September 2026.
What mechanics 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
Tools and diagnostic equipment you buy for work. Outright at $300 or less, otherwise over their effective life.
A socket bought in a later year to replace a lost one, if it costs $300 or less.
Repairs, insurance and loan interest for your work tools, for the work share.
Overalls, boiler suits, steel-capped boots and gloves you pay for.
Safety glasses, goggles, earplugs and face masks you pay for.
A compulsory uniform with your employer's logo, if you paid for it.
Washing claimable work clothing, even if your employer supplied it.
Getting or renewing a licence you need to keep doing your current job.
Training your employer requires you to pay for, and courses that improve the skills you use now.
Driving from the workshop to a customer's premises, or between two jobs on the same day.
Carrying bulky tools from home, but only where the ATO's strict conditions are met.
The work share of your phone.
Union fees.
Overtime meals, but only with an overtime meal allowance under an award or agreement.
Not deductible, however it feels
An outright claim for each piece of a set costing more than $300 together.
Tools your employer supplies or pays you back for.
Government-funded tools you received as a new apprentice.
The private share of tools you also use on your own car.
The drive between home and the workshop, even if you start early or are on call.
Taking your toolbox home when there is secure storage at work.
Parking at or near your regular workplace.
Jeans, drill shirts, shorts and everyday trousers, even if your employer says they are compulsory.
The first licence or certificate you need to get a job.
Your drivers licence, even if the job requires one.
A leadership course for a future promotion, if it does not relate to your current role.
Apprenticeship course fees your employer pays or pays you back for.
Fines, even ones you get while working.
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 mechanics, it comes down to your tools. Tools you claim outright, and the decline in value of dearer tools and sets, including ones you bought in earlier years, all count against the $1,000. So do overalls, boots and laundry. Tools already in a low-value pool, where tools costing less than $1,000 can be grouped for tax, may be treated differently, so talk to us about those. Keep your receipts until you know which side of the line you are on.
You can claim tools and equipment you buy for work, such as hand tools, power tools and diagnostic equipment, but not tools your employer or someone else supplies. If you also use a tool privately, such as on your own car, you can only claim the work share, with a record, such as a diary note, of how you worked it out.
A tool can be claimed in full in the year you buy it only if it passes all four of the ATO's tests. It cost $300 or less. You use it mainly for your work as an employee, meaning more than half the time. It is not part of a set that cost more than $300 together. And it is not one of several identical or almost identical items that cost more than $300 together. Otherwise, you claim its decline in value over its effective life, and in the first year only for the part of the year you owned it.
Sets are the trap. The ATO treats items as a set if they depend on each other, are marketed as a set, or are designed and intended to be used together. In its example, Sammy, an employee mechanic, needs a spanner set for working on cars. The spanners cost $22 each and can be bought one at a time, and Sammy buys one a fortnight from August. The 16 spanners cost $352 together, so he claims the decline in value of the set, not each spanner outright.
Items bought in a different income year do not count towards a set. So while a $350 ratchet set can only be claimed through its decline in value, the ATO says a socket bought in a later year to replace one lost from the set can be claimed in full if it costs $300 or less.
The ATO lets you claim the work-related share of what you pay to repair and insure your tools and equipment, and of the interest on money you borrow to buy them.
If you are paying tools off on an account or instalment plan, the ATO's pages do not deal with that directly, so talk to us before you claim it.
A tool allowance on your income statement is income, and you declare it. It does not give you a deduction by itself: you claim what you actually spend on deductible tools.
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. The ATO's reasonable amount for an overtime meal 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.
Everyday clothes are private, even if your employer says they are compulsory or you only wear them at work. The ATO's own example is the jeans or drill shirts worn by tradespeople, and it lists shorts and trousers too.
Protective clothing can be claimed if it has protective features and gives enough protection against the risk of illness or injury you face at work. The ATO's list includes overalls, boiler suits, steel-capped boots, gloves and fire-resistant clothing. So can a compulsory uniform that identifies you as working for your employer, where a strictly enforced workplace agreement or policy makes it compulsory. If your employer buys the clothing, there is nothing to claim for buying it.
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. That applies even if your employer supplied the clothing, but not if your employer provides or pays for the cleaning, or pays you back. Keep a record of how many loads you washed, whether each was work-only or mixed, and evidence that you paid for the laundry.
Protective items you pay for, such as safety glasses or goggles, earplugs, gloves and face masks, are deductible where your work exposes you to a risk of illness or injury that is not remote or negligible. If your employer provides them or pays you back, there is nothing to claim.
The trip between home and your regular workplace is private, even if you live a long way away, work shifts or overtime, have no public transport nearby, or are on call and get called in. In the ATO's example, Alisa, an industrial mechanic, cannot claim parking in the secure car park next to the factory where she works, because it is her regular place of work.
Carrying bulky tools is a narrow exception, and all of these have to be true. The tools are essential to your work. They are bulky, meaning awkward to move because of their size and weight, and can only be moved conveniently in a vehicle. There is no secure storage for them at work. And you do not carry them by choice. In the ATO's example, Merinda, a fitter and turner on a mine site, has a large, heavy toolkit that counts as bulky, but she takes it home every day although it fits in her secure locker at work. That is her choice, so her trips stay private.
You can claim driving from the workshop to a customer's premises or another alternative place of work, from home straight to one, such as a training venue, and directly between two jobs on the same day, as long as neither is your home. If you have no fixed place of work and regularly work at more than one site before going home, you may be able to claim the drive from home to the first site and from the last site home. If you are a mobile mechanic, talk to us before you claim them.
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.
Parking and tolls on work trips are deductible, but tolls between home and work are private, and fines never are. If you are a FIFO mechanic, our FIFO and mining guide covers flights, camps and the zone tax offset.
You cannot claim the cost of the first licence, permit, card or certificate you need to get a job. You can claim the cost of getting or renewing one you need to keep doing your current job, unless your employer pays for it or pays you back.
The ATO does not mention refrigerant handling licences. Under national rules, you need one to work on equipment containing certain refrigerants, and the licensing body says that includes air conditioning in cars and other vehicles. A licence normally lasts three years, or one year for a trainee. The ATO's general rule applies, so if you are not sure which side of the line yours falls, talk to us before you claim it.
In WA, you need a motor vehicle repairer's certificate to carry out repair work unsupervised. It does not expire, so there is no renewal to claim, and if you need it to get your job, it is not deductible. If you are finishing an apprenticeship and staying with your employer, talk to us before you claim it.
Your drivers licence is private, to get or to renew, even if the job requires one. The extra cost of a special licence your duties need, such as a heavy vehicle licence, is deductible, unless your employer pays for it. A first aid course is deductible if you are a designated first aid person who needs it for emergencies at work, unless you needed it before you could be employed or your employer pays for it.
Training courses, seminars and conferences are deductible if they maintain or increase the skills you need in your current job, unless your employer pays for them or pays you back. That covers the course or registration, fares to a venue that is not your normal workplace, and accommodation and meals if you must stay away overnight.
The ATO's guide for mining site employees has two examples about Alphonse, a diesel mechanic. He can claim the workplace health and safety training his employer requires him to pay for as an ongoing condition of his employment, because it directly relates to his current job. He cannot claim a leadership course he pays for in the hope of a future promotion, because it does not directly relate to his current role.
Longer study follows the same test. It must maintain or improve the specific skills you need in your current job, or be likely to increase your income from it. Study that only relates to your job in a general way, or helps you get a new job, is not deductible, and study loan repayments never are.
Phone, data and internet costs are deductible for the work-related use of your own phone or devices, but not a phone your employer supplies. Keep your bills and a record of how you worked out your work use. A record over a continuous four-week period can be applied to the whole year. Union fees are deductible too.
The ATO's guide for apprentices and trainees adds a few rules. Course fees are not deductible if your employer pays them outright or pays you back when you finish the course. If you pay course fees, textbooks and stationery yourself and are not paid back, they can be deductible as self-education. In the ATO's example, Connor, an apprentice hairdresser whose employer pays his course fees directly, can still claim his textbooks and stationery, with written evidence, and his travel between home and the campus.
You can claim both trips when you go from home to TAFE or trade school and back home, or from work to TAFE and back to work. If you go from home to TAFE and then to work, or from work to TAFE and then home, only the first leg counts.
You cannot claim government-funded tools you received through your employer as a new apprentice, or tools your employer paid you back for. Repayments on an Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan are not deductible.
For the 2025-26 return you are lodging now: receipts for everything you claim, a record of how you worked out the work share of any tool you also use privately, 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 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 a tool you claim through its decline in value, keep the receipt and a record of how you worked out the claim for 5 years from your last claim for it.
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 tools?
Yes, if you paid for them and were not paid back. A tool costing $300 or less that you use mainly for work is claimed in the year you buy it, unless it is part of a set, or one of several identical items, that cost more than $300 together. Buying a set one piece at a time in the same year does not get around this. Anything that fails the tests is claimed over its effective life.
Can I claim the interest on tools I buy on finance?
Yes, for the work-related share. The ATO says you can claim the interest on money you borrow to buy work tools and equipment. If you are paying tools off on an account or instalment plan, talk to us before you claim.
Can I claim driving my toolbox to work?
Usually not. The trip between home and your regular workplace is private. Carrying tools only changes that if they are essential and bulky, there is no secure storage at work, and you do not carry them by choice. If you have a secure locker at work and take your toolbox home anyway, the trip stays private.
Can I claim my refrigerant handling licence?
Getting or renewing it, yes, if you need it to keep doing your current job and your employer does not pay for it. The first licence you need to get a job is not deductible. The ATO does not mention these licences by name, so if you are not sure, talk to us before you claim it.
I am an apprentice. Can I claim my TAFE fees and tools?
Only if you pay them yourself and are not paid back. If your employer pays them, or pays you back when you finish, you cannot claim them. Either way, you can claim textbooks and stationery you pay for yourself and are not paid back for, with written evidence, and travel between home and your course. Tools you buy with your own money are claimed like anyone else's, but not government-funded tools you received through your employer.
How does the $1,000 standard deduction work for mechanics?
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 your tools, 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 fees go on top either way.
Do you work with mechanics 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 mechanics yet, but two are relevant to you. On the Tools: A Tradie's Guide to Deductions and Myth-Busting (episode 50) covers everyday claims and myths for people on the tools, and its written companion is On the Tools: The Tradie's Guide to Tax Deductions. 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.
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 tradies, FIFO and mining workers and factory workers.