Tax deductions for paramedics
The tax rules for paramedics are full of small catches. A fob watch is deductible and a smart watch usually is not. The drive from home to a station other than your normal one for the day can be claimed. A call-in to your normal station while you are on call cannot.
This page sets out what you can and cannot claim as a paramedic, intensive care paramedic or special operations paramedic 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 paramedics across Australia.
Approved by Ben De Rosa, CPA. Last checked against the ATO's guidance on 26 September 2026.
What paramedics 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 ambulance service 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
Your compulsory uniform and protective clothing, such as a hi-vis jacket or non-slip shoes, and washing them.
Face masks, sanitiser and protective glasses you pay for yourself.
A fob watch or pin watch.
Tools such as a stethoscope. Outright at $300 or less, otherwise depreciated.
Renewing your paramedic 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.
The additional cost of a special licence your duties need, such as a heavy vehicle permit.
Courses and conferences that improve the skills you use now, such as training on a new cannulation procedure.
Driving from home to a station other than your normal one for the day.
Parking and tolls on work trips, such as parking at a training facility.
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
An ordinary watch, even if you need one for the job, and a smart watch in ordinary circumstances.
Your first registration as a paramedic.
Your drivers licence, even if the job requires you to hold one.
The drive from home to your normal station, including a call-in while you are on call.
Gym fees, unless you work in a strenuous specialist role such as special operations. Fitness clothing, never.
Everyday clothes and shoes, even if your employer requires them.
Flu shots and vaccinations, even when work requires them.
Prescription glasses, grooming and massage.
Food and drink on a normal shift, even with a meal allowance.
Social functions, including union events, even compulsory ones.
Study loan repayments, and Commonwealth supported course fees even if you pay them upfront.
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 paramedics the answer can change each year. Laundry, protective items, a fob watch, your registration renewal, a course and drives to other stations 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. Everyday clothes and shoes are private, even if your employer requires them.
A compulsory uniform is one your employer strictly and consistently makes you wear, and that distinctly identifies you as working for them or the services they provide. Protective clothing includes hi-vis jackets, aprons or gowns, and non-slip shoes. For other footwear the general rule applies: 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. Protective boots, such as steel-capped boots, are also on the ATO's general list of protective clothing.
Washing, drying and ironing your uniform and protective clothing is deductible, at $1 a load if the load is only work clothing, or 50 cents a load if you mix in personal items. Dry cleaning and repairs are claimed at actual cost. The claim is not automatic: you need to be able to show how you worked it out.
Protective items you pay for, such as face masks and sanitiser, are deductible where they protect you from a real and likely risk of injury or illness at work, such as working close to patients. So are protective glasses, including anti-glare and safety glasses. Ordinary prescription glasses are not. Sunglasses, sunhats and sunscreen, including prescription sunglasses, are deductible on the same test if you must work in the sun for extended periods, for the work-related use only.
You can claim tools and equipment you use to do your job, such as a stethoscope. 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. Tools your employer supplies are not yours to claim.
An ordinary watch is private, even if your job requires one. A watch with special characteristics you use for work, such as a fob watch or pin watch, can be claimed, along with its repairs, batteries and watchbands.
A smart watch is treated like an ordinary watch. The ATO's paramedics guide says it is a private expense and not deductible in ordinary circumstances. In its example, a paramedic buys a smart watch to make it easier to keep personal GPS records and check her messages, both private and work. Her employer already supplies a GPS, and checking messages is not part of her duties, so she cannot claim the watch. 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.
Renewing your paramedic registration is deductible if you need it to do your job. Your first registration as a paramedic is not, because the ATO treats it as a cost of starting work rather than earning your income.
Union and professional association fees are deductible, and your income statement is your evidence if the amount is on it. Union social events are not: in the ATO's example, a paramedic cannot claim a union social breakfast.
Your ordinary drivers licence is never deductible. If your duties need a special licence or licence condition, such as a heavy vehicle permit, you can claim the additional cost, unless your employer pays or reimburses it. In Western Australia the renewal fee is the same whatever class of licence you hold, so renewing a heavy vehicle licence there usually adds nothing you can claim.
Self-education 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 examples, a paramedic who pays for a course on administering pain-relieving drugs can claim it. An intensive care paramedic who enrols in a Bachelor of Surgery cannot, because it opens up a new way of earning income. Where study is deductible, you can claim course fees, textbooks, journals and stationery, and work-related seminars and conferences, including fares and overnight accommodation.
How you pay matters. 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.
You cannot claim the trip between home and your normal station, even if you live a long way away or work early or weekend shifts. Being on call does not change it: if you are called in from home to your normal station while on standby, the drive is private.
You can claim driving from home to a station other than your normal station for the day, from your station to a meeting at head office and back, and between your paramedic job and a second job, such as first aid training, on the same day.
Relief work without a base station is different. In the ATO's example, an intensive care paramedic with no base station, called in to one station a day, cannot claim the drive from home to that station.
If you are assigned to another station for three months or more, it will usually become a regular place of work, and then the drive there from home is private. In the ATO's example, a paramedic temporarily transferred from Sydney to Newcastle for two years cannot claim her relocation costs, rent or living expenses.
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 station is not deductible. Parking at a training facility is, in the ATO's example. Overnight travel is deductible where your work requires you to sleep away from home, unless your employer paid or reimbursed the costs.
Gym fees and fitness equipment are generally private, even if you must pass medical examinations and fitness tests to keep your job.
The exception is narrow: your role must require you to keep an extremely high level of fitness, well above the general standard for paramedics, and to do ongoing strenuous physical activity as an essential and regular part of the job. In the ATO's example, a special operations paramedic whose work includes abseiling, water rescue, caves and bushfires can claim his gym fees, but not his tracksuit. A general duties paramedic could not, the same example says. Nobody can claim conventional clothing worn to keep fit, such as tracksuits, running shoes, T-shirts and shorts.
Food and drink on a 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 paramedic receives a $20 allowance for each of 20 overtime shifts and declares $400. His meals cost $15 each, under the reasonable amount, so he claims $300 without receipts.
An allowance does not give you a deduction by itself. In the ATO's examples, a retrieval paramedic gets a $4.24 allowance when he works more than five hours in a row without a meal break. He declares it, but cannot claim the meal he buys, because he eats it in his ordinary hours. A paramedic paid $16 each time she is called back before she has eaten cannot claim anything either, even to replace a spoilt meal, because it is not an overtime meal allowance. Crewing, on-call and skills 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. In the ATO's example, a paramedic finds that 45 of his 300 calls, or 15%, are for work, and claims 15% of his $49 monthly plan. Personal calls are private, even while travelling for work, and you cannot claim a phone your employer provides and pays for.
If you work or study at home, the general rules apply. 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.
If you work for a public ambulance service, a public hospital or a public benevolent institution, you may be able to salary package part of your pay.
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 smart watch?
In ordinary circumstances, no. The ATO's paramedics guide treats a smart watch as a private expense, like an ordinary watch. In its example, a paramedic who buys one for personal GPS records and messages cannot claim it, because her employer already provides the tools she needs for work. A fob watch or pin watch can be claimed.
Can I claim my paramedic registration?
The renewal, yes, if you need it to do your job. The first registration, no. The ATO treats the first one as a cost of starting work rather than earning your income.
Can I claim the drive to my station?
Not to your normal station, even when you are called in while on call. Driving from home to a station other than your normal one for the day is claimable, and so is driving from your station to a meeting at head office.
Can I claim my gym membership?
Only if your role requires an extremely high level of fitness, well above the general standard for paramedics, and ongoing strenuous physical activity as an essential and regular part of your work, as in the ATO's special operations paramedic example. A general duties paramedic cannot, even with compulsory fitness tests. Fitness clothing is never deductible.
Is my study deductible?
It can be, if it maintains or improves the skills you need as a paramedic now, or is likely to increase your income from that work. Study that leads to a different job is not deductible. 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 paramedics?
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 paramedics 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 paramedics' tax in two episodes of the Aevum Accounting Podcast: The Paramedic's Tax Playbook (episode 9) and Paramedics Tax Playbook Part Two (episode 36). Episode 36 has a written companion: Paramedic Tax Guide 2026: Smartwatches and Salary Traps.
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 nurses and midwives, firefighters and doctors and medical professionals.