Tax deductions for nurses and midwives
The tax rules for nurses and midwives are full of catches. A fob watch is deductible. The white shirt, black pants and black shoes are not, even when your employer insists on them.
This page sets out what you can and cannot claim as a registered nurse, enrolled nurse or midwife 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 nurses and midwives across Australia.
Approved by Ben De Rosa, CPA. Last checked against the ATO's guidance on 26 September 2026.
What nurses and midwives 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 hospital or employer paid for it, 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
Scrubs, non-slip nursing shoes and a compulsory uniform with your employer's logo, if you pay for them.
Washing that clothing, at $1 a load, or 50 cents for a mixed load.
A fob watch.
Equipment such as a stethoscope or midwifery kit. Outright at $300 or less, otherwise depreciated.
Gloves, face masks, sanitiser and safety glasses you pay for yourself.
Renewing your AHPRA registration. The renewal, yes. The first one, no.
Union and professional association fees. If the amount is on your income statement, that is your proof.
Commission you pay a nursing agency.
Study and conferences that improve the skills you use in your current role.
Driving from home to a patient's home, between hospitals for your employer, or between two jobs on the same day.
Overtime meals, but only with an overtime meal allowance under an award or agreement.
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.
Not deductible, however it feels
White shirts, black pants or skirts, and plain black shoes, even when your employer requires them.
A laundry claim for scrubs the hospital supplies and washes.
An ordinary watch, and a smart watch in ordinary circumstances.
Flu shots and vaccinations, even when your employer requires them.
The drive from home to your hospital, including a call-in while you are on standby.
Food and drink on a normal shift, even with a meal allowance.
Study for a new role, such as an aged care nurse studying midwifery or a carer doing a Bachelor of Nursing.
Study loan repayments, and Commonwealth supported course fees even if you pay them upfront.
Phone and data you only use to talk to your manager about shifts, or to check payslips and rosters.
Upfront, joining or search fees paid to a nursing agency.
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 nurses and midwives the answer can change from year to year. Laundry, non-slip shoes, a fob watch, your AHPRA renewal, a conference and kilometres for home visits all count towards the $1,000. Keep your receipts until you know which side of the line you are on.
You can only claim clothing that is protective, occupation-specific, part of a compulsory uniform, or a non-compulsory uniform your employer has registered. If your employer buys, repairs or replaces it, there is nothing to claim.
White shirts and black skirts or pants are the ATO's own example of conventional clothing for nurses and midwives: private, even when your employer requires them. In the ATO's example, an aged care nurse can claim shirts with her employer's logo, because they are a compulsory uniform, but not the black pants and closed black shoes she also has to wear. A required colour does not make everyday clothes a uniform.
Scrubs are different. The ATO's tax time toolkit for nurses and midwives gives scrubs and non-slip nursing shoes as examples of protective clothing. If the hospital supplies and washes your scrubs, you have no cost and nothing to claim. In the ATO's example, a theatre nurse in that position cannot claim, and cannot claim for washing the everyday clothes he wears to and from work either.
The ATO does not mention compression stockings in its nurse guide or its clothing rules. Its general rule is that shoes, socks and stockings can only be claimed where they are an essential part of a distinctive compulsory uniform, and your employer's uniform policy specifies their colour, style and type. If yours do not meet that test, talk to us before you claim them.
Laundry of claimable clothing is $1 a load if the load is only work clothing, or 50 cents a load if you mix in personal items. Laundromat costs count too, and dry-cleaning and repairs are claimed at actual cost. In the ATO's example, a nurse who washes her compulsory uniform separately twice a week for 48 weeks claims 96 loads at $1, or $96. The claim is not automatic: you need to be able to show how you worked it out.
You can claim tools and equipment you use in your work. In the ATO's example, a midwife buys a $120 kit that includes a stethoscope, fob watch and foetal stethoscope. She only uses it at work, so she claims the full $120 straight away.
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 items, that together cost more than $300. Above $300, you claim the decline in value over its effective life. Equipment your employer supplies is not yours to claim.
A fob watch is deductible, because it has special characteristics you use for work. In the ATO's example, a nurse who cannot wear a wristwatch for hygiene reasons claims a $150 fob watch worn only at work. You can also claim repairs, batteries and watchbands for special watches like this. An ordinary watch is private, even if your job requires one.
A smart watch is a private expense and not deductible in ordinary circumstances. If some of its functions are an essential part of your job, you may be able to claim the work share of the cost, backed by a diary of your use over a representative period.
Protective items you pay for are deductible where they protect you from a real and likely risk of injury or illness at work, such as gloves, face masks, sanitiser and safety glasses. Prescription glasses and contact lenses are private, and so are vaccinations and flu shots, even when your employer requires them.
Renewing your AHPRA registration is deductible if you need it for your work. Your first registration is not, because the ATO treats it as the cost that let you start work, not a cost of earning your income.
Union and professional association fees are deductible, and your income statement is your evidence if the amount is on it.
If you work through a nursing agency, you can claim the commission you pay the agency. You cannot claim upfront, joining or search fees paid to a nursing agency, or commission your employer paid.
A first aid course is deductible if you are a designated first aid person and need the training to help in emergencies at work, unless your employer pays or reimburses it.
Study is deductible if, when you pay for it, it maintains or improves the skills you need in your current work, or is likely to increase your income from it. In the ATO's example, a rural registered nurse who cares for children can claim a paediatrics course.
Study for a new role is not deductible. In the ATO's examples, an aged care nurse studying midwifery for a new position cannot claim it, because it has little or no use in her current work. A personal carer doing a Bachelor of Nursing cannot either, because the course is not relevant to her duties.
Timing matters. In the ATO's example, a nursing student who drives taxis cannot claim the fees he paid before he started work as an enrolled nurse. He can claim the self-education expenses he incurs after he started working as an enrolled nurse.
How you pay matters too. Fees for a Commonwealth supported place are not deductible, whether you pay them upfront or through HECS-HELP. Fees for a full fee-paying place can be, including fees you pay with a FEE-HELP loan. Study loan repayments are never deductible.
Where study is deductible, you can claim course fees, textbooks, journals and stationery, and work-related seminars and conferences.
You cannot claim the trip between home and your hospital, even if you live a long way away or work early or weekend shifts.
Being on call does not change it. The ATO's ruling on travel uses a nurse on standby as its example: when her employer calls her in, she drives from home to the hospital and starts her shift when she gets there. That drive is not deductible.
You can claim driving from home straight to a patient's home to provide care, between hospitals or medical facilities for your employer on the same day, and between two separate jobs on the same day, such as from a ward shift to a second job as a personal care worker. In the ATO's example, an emergency nurse who drives from the hospital to a CPD seminar and then home can claim both trips.
Agency nurses have no special travel rule in the ATO's nurse guide. The ordinary rules apply, including the one for driving between two jobs on the same day.
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.
Logbook. A 12-week logbook establishes your work-use percentage, and you keep evidence of the actual costs. More work, and usually a bigger deduction if you drive a lot for work.
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 at your own hospital is not deductible. In the ATO's example, parking at required CPD training is.
Food and drink during your normal shift is not deductible, 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. The reasonable amount is $38.65 for 2025-26 and $40 for 2026-27. Claim that much or less and you do not need receipts, though you must be able to show how you worked out the claim. Claim more and you need receipts for the whole amount. In the ATO's example, a neonatal nurse works three hours of overtime, receives a $19 allowance and spends $22 on a meal. She claims the $22.
An allowance does not give you a deduction by itself. Shift allowances, on-call allowances and rural and isolated practice allowances are income with no matching deduction.
Phone, data and internet costs are deductible for the work-related portion of your own phone or devices. You need your bills and a four-week record of your work use, which you can apply to the whole year. You cannot claim phone, data and internet use where you only use your phone to talk to your manager about shifts or the internet to check payslips, rosters or income statements.
In the ATO's example, a nurse unit manager who is on call to advise other nurses finds that 90 of 300 calls, or 30%, are for work, and claims 30% of a $69 monthly plan.
Working from home is deductible when you incur extra running costs by doing it, such as electricity, phone and internet. The fixed rate method is 70 cents per work hour for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 income years. It covers energy, phone, internet, stationery and computer consumables, so you cannot claim those separately as well. You need a record of every hour you actually work from home, because an estimate is not accepted, and at least one bill or receipt for each type of expense the rate covers.
Nurses in public hospitals, and with some other health employers, can salary package part of their pay. The caps are measured in grossed-up value, and the figure in brackets is what each cap works out to in pre-tax salary. For employees of public and not-for-profit hospitals and public ambulance services, the cap is $17,000 grossed up a year ($9,010 of pre-tax salary). For public benevolent institutions that are not hospitals, it is $30,000 grossed up ($15,900 of pre-tax salary). There is also a separate $5,000 grossed-up cap for meal entertainment and entertainment facility leasing ($2,650 of pre-tax salary).
The rules for packaged work items change on 1 April 2027. From that date, work-related items such as laptops, phones, tablets, software, protective clothing and tools of trade will no longer be exempt from FBT when they are provided through salary packaging. This became law in June 2026, so check with us before you package a device or work gear.
Some packaged benefits show on your income statement as a reportable fringe benefit amount, and packaged super shows as reportable employer super contributions. Both count toward income tests such as your HELP repayments.
For the 2025-26 return you are lodging now: receipts for everything you claim, kilometre records or a logbook for car claims, a record of your hours if you work from home, 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. The ATO's current guidance is that if you use its per-load rates for laundry, you 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 scrubs?
Yes, as protective clothing, if you pay for them, along with the cost of washing them. If the hospital supplies and washes your scrubs, there is nothing to claim. White shirts and black pants or skirts are conventional clothing and are not deductible, even when required.
Can I claim my AHPRA registration?
The renewal, yes, if you need it to work. Your first registration, no. The ATO treats that as a cost of starting work, not of earning your income.
Can I claim the drive to the hospital?
No. Home to your regular hospital is private, including when you are called in on standby. Driving from home to a patient's home, between hospitals for your employer on the same day, and between two jobs on the same day is claimable.
Is my study 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. Study for a new role, such as an aged care nurse studying midwifery, is not. The fees are only deductible in a full fee-paying place, including one funded through FEE-HELP, not a Commonwealth supported place.
How does the $1,000 standard deduction work for nurses and midwives?
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 fees go on top either way.
Do you work with nurses and midwives 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.
We have covered nurses' and midwives' tax in two episodes of the Aevum Accounting Podcast: Nurses and Midwives: The Night Shift Tax Guide (episode 12) and The Night Shift Debrief Part 2 (episode 47). Episode 47 has a written companion: The Night Shift Debrief: Advanced Tax Deductions and Myths.
For the new standard deduction, listen to The Thousand Dollar Deduction (episode 54).
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 paramedics, doctors and medical professionals and teachers.