Tax deductions for police officers and detectives
Some of the kit you use at work is issued, and some of it you buy yourself. Only what you pay for can be claimed, and even then the ATO draws firm lines. Extra ammunition for training can be claimed. In most cases, plain clothes and the gym cannot.
This page sets out what you can and cannot claim as a police officer, detective or recruit 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 police officers and detectives across Australia.
Approved by Ben De Rosa, CPA. Last checked against the ATO's guidance on 26 September 2026.
What police officers and detectives 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 issued it to you, 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 police uniform, if you pay to buy, hire, repair or replace it, and the laundry for it, even if it was issued.
Body armour and duty gear you buy that is extra to, or better than, what you were issued.
Extra ammunition you buy for work-related training.
Gun-related equipment you buy for work, and the cost of cleaning your police-issued firearms.
The additional cost of getting or renewing a licence, permit or certificate you need to keep doing your duties. The firearm licence you needed to get the job, no.
Membership of a Federal or State Police pistol club. No other club.
Union and professional association fees. If the amount is on your income statement, that is your proof.
Protective items such as gloves, goggles and face masks, where the risk at work is real.
Sunglasses, a hat and sunscreen, if you work in the sun for extended periods.
Informant expenses you pay out of your own pocket.
Self-education, seminars and training linked to your current duties.
Driving from home to court to give evidence, or between two workplaces on the same day.
Phone, data and internet, for the work-related portion.
Overtime meals, but only with an overtime meal allowance under an award or agreement.
Not deductible, however it feels
Plain clothes, including a detective's everyday work clothes. Only a narrow undercover exception applies.
Gym fees and fitness costs, even though a fitness standard applies. The exception is a role that needs fitness well above ordinary police standards, such as special operations.
Your drivers licence. Private, even if the job requires you to hold one.
A firearm licence you needed to get the job. Renewals are a different matter.
Haircuts, cosmetics and grooming, even with a grooming allowance.
Prescription glasses or contact lenses. Protective glasses are a different matter.
The drive from home to your station, even when you are on call and get called in.
Guard dogs and home security, even though they protect you and your family.
Social functions, including union functions, even if they are compulsory.
Fines, including a speeding fine on the way to court.
Moving costs when you transfer to a new station.
Flu shots and vaccinations, even when they are required for work.
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 police officers it depends on how much of your own kit you buy. If your uniform and gear are all issued, your work expenses may sit well under $1,000, and you get the full amount without receipts. Extra ammunition, better body armour and a course you pay for can pass $1,000 in a year. Keep your receipts until you know which side of the line you are on.
Your normal police uniform counts as a compulsory uniform. If you pay to buy, hire, repair or replace it, you can claim it, along with the laundry, which can be worked out at $1 a load for work clothing only, or 50 cents a load if you mix in personal items. If it is issued, you cannot claim the uniform itself, but you can still claim washing it. In the ATO's example, a traffic officer who buys lookalike cargo pants instead of wearing the issued ones cannot claim them.
Plain clothes are not a uniform. Everyday clothing is private even if you only wear it at work, so plain clothes officers and detectives cannot claim their everyday work clothes, or the cost of washing and repairing them.
There is one narrow exception. An undercover officer may be able to claim extra conventional clothing bought to wear during a specific operation, such as clothes you would not normally wear that help you pose as a gang member.
Protective items are deductible where the risk is real, not remote or negligible: gloves, goggles, safety glasses, face masks and face shields. In the ATO's example, a crime scene examiner claims cut-proof and puncture-proof gloves. Prescription glasses and contact lenses are private, even if you need them to work.
Sunglasses, hats and sunscreen are deductible for their work use if you must work in the sun for extended periods and use them to protect against a real and likely risk of illness or injury.
Haircuts, cosmetics, and hair and skin care products are private, even with a grooming allowance.
You can claim extra ammunition you buy for work-related training. You can also claim body armour and duty gear you buy that is additional to, or more sophisticated than, what you were issued, such as extra holsters, handcuffs, pouches and utility belts. Gun-related equipment you buy for work, such as a speed loader or sighting device, is claimable too, and so is the cost of cleaning your police-issued firearms.
Equipment costing $300 or less is deductible 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, costing more than $300 in total. Above $300, you claim the decline in value over the item's effective life. If you also use it privately, you claim the work portion only.
Club membership fees are not deductible, with one exception: Federal or State Police pistol clubs. In the ATO's example, an officer cannot claim the fees for a local pistol club.
Informant expenses are out-of-pocket amounts you pay another person for information about specific police matters you are involved in. They are deductible if your police service's policies allow the payments, you can prove you paid them, and you were not entitled to be reimbursed. In the ATO's example, a detective who pays informants $600 in cash and $220 in meals, and keeps a diary, claims $820.
Your drivers licence is never deductible, even if you must hold one for the job. If you needed a firearm licence to get the job, it is not deductible either, because the ATO treats it as a cost of starting to earn your income, not of earning it. The ATO's police guide does let you claim the additional cost of getting or renewing a licence, permit, card or certificate you need to keep performing your duties. The extra cost of a special licence or condition, such as a heavy vehicle permit, is claimable too, unless your employer pays or reimburses it.
Union and professional association fees are deductible, and your income statement can be your evidence. Social functions are not, including union functions, even compulsory ones.
Self-education is deductible if it directly relates to your work as a police officer and maintains or improves the skills you need for your current duties, or is likely to increase your income from your current job. It is not deductible if it helps you get a job or change jobs. In the ATO's examples, a detective studying for a Bachelor of Criminology in forensics can claim it, and an officer studying business administration to leave the police cannot. Seminars and courses linked to your duties are deductible too, but if the main purpose of a trip is not work, you can only claim the direct costs.
Depending on how their training is structured and whether they are employed by the police service while they train, recruits at the Police Academy may be able to claim training materials, the decline in value of equipment used for training such as a computer, travel between home and the academy, and accommodation and meals if they have to stay away overnight.
The ATO names police officers specifically: you cannot claim your fitness expenses, even if you have to pass medical and fitness tests to keep your job. In the ATO's example, a general duties officer cannot claim gym fees.
The exception is narrow. It applies where your role requires a level of fitness well above ordinary police standards, such as special operations, and strenuous physical activity is an essential and regular part of the work. In the ATO's examples, a Diving Squad officer and a Police Academy physical training instructor can claim their gym fees. Conventional clothing worn to keep fit, such as a tracksuit, is never deductible, so the instructor cannot claim his.
You cannot claim the trip between home and your station. That is private travel, even if you work shifts, are on call, or get called in from home.
You can claim driving from home directly to an alternative workplace, such as to court to give evidence in a criminal trial. You can also claim driving between two separate workplaces on the same day. In the ATO's example, an officer who drives from the station to the range for weapons training, because no fleet car is available, can claim it. A speeding fine on the way to court is never deductible.
Carrying bulky equipment is a narrow exception. It only applies where the equipment is essential and you do not carry it by choice, a vehicle is the only convenient way to move it, and there is no secure storage at work.
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.
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 or near your station is not deductible. Parking and tolls on work trips are. In the ATO's example, an officer cannot claim parking at a suburban station, but can claim city parking for a briefing.
Overnight travel is deductible where your duties make you sleep away from home: accommodation, meals and incidentals, unless your employer provided or reimbursed them. Choosing to sleep near work rather than go home does not count.
Moving costs when you transfer are private, and a relocation allowance is income. In the ATO's example, a highway patrol officer temporarily transferred for two years cannot claim relocation, rent or living costs. A workplace you are assigned to for three months or more will usually become your regular place of work, so the daily drive there is private too.
Phone, data and internet costs are deductible for the work-related use of your own phone or devices. You need your bills and a record of your work use, such as a representative four-week period. You cannot claim if your employer provides the phone and pays for the usage, and calls to family and friends are private.
You cannot claim phone or 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.
Working from home counts when you do work there that adds to your running costs, such as a prosecutor preparing cases. Minimal tasks, like checking your shift times, do not. The fixed rate method is 70 cents per work hour for 2024-25 and 2025-26. It covers energy, phone, internet, stationery and computer consumables, so you cannot claim those separately as well. You need a record of your actual hours and at least one bill or receipt for each type of expense the rate covers.
Food and drink during a normal shift is not deductible, even if you receive a meal allowance.
Overtime meals are deductible only if all three of these apply: 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 overtime meal expenses 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. In the ATO's example, an officer who spends $15 on each of 30 overtime meals claims $450.
Allowances are income, and they do not create a deduction on their own.
If you are a police officer in WA, you can salary package through an approved WA Government provider.
Right now, a laptop, tablet or phone used mainly for work is exempt from FBT when it is packaged. That changes 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 equipment.
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 diary of any informant payments, 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. For laundry worked out at the ATO's per-load rates, its current guidance is to 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 plain clothes as a detective?
No. Plain clothes officers and detectives cannot claim their everyday work clothes, or the cost of washing them, because everyday clothing is private even if you only wear it at work. The narrow exception is undercover work: an undercover officer may be able to claim extra conventional clothing bought to wear during a specific operation, such as clothes you would not normally wear that help you pose as a gang member.
Can I claim my gym membership?
Not as a general duties officer. The ATO says police officers cannot claim their fitness expenses, even if you have to pass fitness tests. The exception is a role that needs fitness well above ordinary police standards, such as special operations.
Can I claim my firearm licence?
Not the one you needed to get the job, because the ATO treats it as a cost of starting work rather than doing it. The ATO's police guide does allow the additional cost of getting or renewing a licence, permit or certificate you need to keep performing your duties. Pistol club fees are only deductible for a Federal or State Police pistol club.
Can I claim the drive to the station when I get called in?
No. Home to your regular station is private travel, even if you are on call and get called in. Driving from home straight to an alternative workplace, such as court to give evidence in a criminal trial, is claimable.
How does the $1,000 standard deduction work for police officers and detectives?
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 police officers and detectives 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 tax for police officers in two episodes of the Aevum Accounting Podcast. The Police Debrief: Your Annual Tax Checklist (episode 10) works through the yearly checklist, and Police Debrief Part 2 (episode 43) is the follow-up. Episode 43 has a written companion: The Police Officer's Tax Guide: Busting the Biggest Deduction 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 firefighters, paramedics and nurses and midwives.