Tax deductions for scientists
For scientists, a lot of the tax rules depend on where you are working that day. The drive from home to your lab is private, but the drive from your lab to a field site can be claimed. And in the ATO's own example, a research laboratory assistant who moves to London for a year to study cannot claim his accommodation and meals there, even though the course improves the skills his job needs.
This page sets out what you can and cannot claim as an ecologist, environmental scientist, field, laboratory or research scientist, chemist, microbiologist, geologist or laboratory technician in Australia, checked against the ATO's current rules and examples. The ATO does not have a separate guide for scientists, 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 work in a pathology or hospital laboratory, see our guide for allied health professionals. If you work fly-in fly-out or on a mine site, see our guide for FIFO and mining workers. If you teach or are employed by a university, see our guide for lecturers and academics. If you work on your own ABN or own a consultancy, start with a business consultation.
Aevum Accounting is a CPA practice and registered tax agent in Balcatta, Perth, working with scientists across Australia.
Approved by Ben De Rosa, CPA. Last checked against the ATO's guidance on 26 October 2026.
What scientists 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
Driving from your lab to a field site, or from home straight to one that is not your usual workplace.
Parking and tolls on work trips.
Accommodation, meals and incidentals when fieldwork keeps you away overnight.
A lab coat you buy yourself to protect your clothes.
Washing claimable clothing, even a lab coat your employer supplies.
Protective boots and wet-weather gear that pass the ATO's protective test.
Safety glasses, goggles, gloves and face masks you pay for.
Sunscreen, a sunhat and sunglasses for prolonged outdoor work.
Field and lab equipment you buy for work. Outright at $300 or less, otherwise over its effective life.
The work share of your phone, data and internet.
Academic and technical journal subscriptions you use for work.
Professional association and union fees.
Renewing a licence or permit you need to keep doing your current job.
Postgraduate study that improves the skills you need in your current job.
Conferences and seminars for your current work.
Not deductible, however it feels
The drive between home and your regular lab or office, however far it is.
Parking at or near your regular workplace.
Accommodation and meals your employer provides or pays you back for.
Accommodation and meals on a long posting, once you are living there.
Everyday clothes and shoes, even if your employer requires them.
A lab coat or safety gear your employer supplies.
Prescription glasses and contact lenses, even if you need them to work.
Vaccinations, even when your employer requires them.
The first licence or permit you need to get a job.
Study that gets you into a new job, rather than improving the one you have.
Commonwealth supported course fees, even paid upfront, and study loan repayments.
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 scientists, it depends on what your employer pays for. Protective clothing, laundry, equipment, journal subscriptions, courses and conferences you pay for yourself all count against the $1,000. Your professional association membership does not. Keep your receipts until you know which side of the line you are on.
The trip between home and your regular workplace is private, even if you live a long way away or work weekends or early morning shifts. You can have more than one regular workplace. If you work at one lab on some days and another on other days as a standard arrangement, each is a regular workplace, and the drive from home to either is private.
You can claim driving directly between two 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 directly to an alternative workplace, meaning somewhere you work that is not your usual place of work. That includes a field site, if it is not your usual place of work.
The ATO allows narrow exceptions for the trip from home. One is carrying bulky equipment that is essential to your work, when there is no secure storage for it at work and you do not carry it by choice. Another is having no fixed workplace and travelling continually between work sites before going home, which can make the trips from home to your first site and from your last site home claimable. If you think either applies to you, talk to us before you claim it.
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 at or near your regular workplace, and tolls between home and work, are private. Parking and tolls on work trips are deductible. Fines never are.
Overnight fieldwork is work travel when your duties take you away and you sleep away from home. You can claim accommodation, meals and incidentals you pay for, such as phone and internet charges for work, but not if you do not stay away overnight. There is nothing to claim if your employer provides your accommodation or meals, or pays you back.
A long stay can turn travel into living somewhere. You are generally treated as living at a location, and the costs are private, if your regular place of work changes, you are away for a relatively long period, and you stay in longer term or settled accommodation, such as a unit or house. In the ATO's example, Carlos, an IT designer from Adelaide, can claim his hotel and meals for his first two weeks in Darwin, but not his serviced apartment and meals for the further six months his manager needs him there.
Every allowance on your income statement goes in your return as income, but an allowance does not give you a deduction by itself. With a travel allowance, you claim only the travel expenses you actually incurred. If the allowance is not on your income statement, is within the ATO's reasonable amount and you spent it all on deductible travel, you can leave it out, but then you cannot claim those expenses.
Everyday clothing is private, even if your employer requires it and you only wear it at work. The ATO's examples of what you cannot claim include jeans, drill shirts, shorts, trousers, socks and everyday enclosed shoes.
A lab coat you buy yourself to protect your clothes can be claimed. The ATO lets you claim clothing you wear to avoid damaging or soiling your ordinary clothes, and its guide for medical professionals lists lab coats that protect conventional clothing as protective clothing. The same guide says a white lab coat is not occupation-specific, because several professions wear one. If your employer buys your lab coats, there is nothing to claim for buying them.
Boots and wet-weather gear count only if they have protective features and give enough protection against a risk of illness or injury in your work. The ATO's examples include steel-capped boots, rubber boots for concreters, occupational heavy duty wet-weather gear, and clothing with a UPF rating that protects you from the sun where your job requires you to work outdoors. If you are not sure about your field boots, talk to us before you claim 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, even if your employer supplied the clothing. Dry-cleaning and repairs are claimed at actual cost. If your employer launders your lab coats or pays for the cleaning, there is nothing to claim.
Protective items you pay for yourself are deductible where they protect you from a real and likely risk of illness or injury at work, such as gloves, face masks, face shields, safety glasses or goggles, and sanitiser, and so is repairing, replacing or cleaning them. You cannot claim them if your employer supplies them, pays for them or pays you back.
Prescription glasses and contact lenses are private, even if you need them to work. In the ATO's example, Boris, a medical laboratory technician, wears his prescription glasses and safety goggles when analysing samples. He cannot claim the glasses, or the goggles his employer provides. If he bought the goggles himself, he could claim them.
Sunscreen, sunhats and sunglasses can be claimed if your duties keep you outdoors in the sun for prolonged periods and you wear them for protection. The ATO accepts sunscreen with an AUST L number on the label. In its example, Jackie, a teacher who must attend a weekly outdoor school sports afternoon, can claim all three. If you also use the hat or sunglasses privately, claim the work share only.
Vaccinations are private, even if your employer requires them. In the ATO's example, Penelope, a personal carer whose employer requires a yearly flu vaccination, cannot claim it. Compulsory medical examinations your employer requires you to take in your current job are different, and can be claimed if your employer does not pay you back.
You can claim equipment you use for work, such as technical instruments, and the work share of insuring it, but not equipment someone else supplies. If you also use an item privately, claim only the work share.
An item costing $300 or less can be claimed in the year you buy it, if you use it mainly for work, it is not part of a set costing more than $300 together, and it is not one of several identical or almost identical items costing more than $300 together. That matters if you buy field or lab equipment as a set, or several identical ones. Otherwise, you claim the item's decline in value over its effective life, and if you buy it part way through the year, only for the part of the year you own it. Repairs to equipment you use for work are deductible too, for the work share.
Phone, data and internet costs are deductible for the work-related use of your own phone or devices, but not if your employer provides the phone and pays for your use, or pays you back. Keep your bills and a record of how you worked out your work use. A record over a continuous 4-week period that represents your year can be applied to the whole year.
Journal subscriptions you use for work can be claimed in the year you pay for them. The ATO's list of books and periodicals you use for work includes academic journals, technical journals and library subscriptions. Books follow the same $300 tests as equipment. Otherwise, a reference book or professional library is claimed over its effective life.
Professional association and union fees are deductible, and if the amount is on your income statement, that is your evidence. A membership of a trade, business or professional association that does not directly relate to your job is capped at $42 a year for each one. If you are not sure whether your scientific society counts as a professional association, talk to us before you claim its fee outside the $1,000.
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.
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.
Self-education is deductible if it directly relates to your current job and, when you pay for it, maintains or improves the skills and knowledge you need for your current duties, 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 or change jobs.
The ATO's self-education guidance has no example of a PhD or other research degree. Talk to us before you claim one, especially if you are paid a scholarship or stipend.
Accommodation and meals count only when study requires you to be temporarily away from home overnight. In the ATO's example, Jamal, an employee research laboratory assistant in Adelaide, moves to London for a year to do a postgraduate course on understanding research methods. Even though the course will improve the skills his job needs, his accommodation and meals in London are private living expenses.
Fees for a Commonwealth supported place are not deductible, whether you pay upfront or through HECS-HELP, but fees for a full fee-paying place can be. Study loan repayments never are.
Seminars, conferences and training courses that relate to your work are deductible, including fares, registration and, if you have to stay away overnight, accommodation and meals, unless your employer pays for them or pays you back.
If your main purpose is private, such as a holiday, you can only claim the direct costs, such as registration. If you go for both work and private reasons, such as adding a week's holiday to a week-long course, you can only claim the work-related part. If you are away for 6 or more nights in a row, you generally need to keep a travel diary showing where you were, what you were doing, and the dates and times.
For the 2025-26 return you are lodging now: receipts for everything you claim, kilometre records or a logbook for car claims, usually a travel diary for trips of 6 or more nights in a row, 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 lab coat and safety glasses?
A lab coat you buy yourself to protect your clothes, yes, and washing one, even if your employer supplied it. Safety glasses and goggles you pay for, yes, if they protect you from a real and likely risk of illness or injury at work. Prescription glasses, no, even if you need them to work.
Can I claim fieldwork trips and overnight stays?
Driving from your lab to a field site, or from home straight to one that is not your usual workplace, yes. Accommodation, meals and incidentals you pay for when the work keeps you away overnight, yes, unless your employer provides them or pays you back. Once a long posting means you are living there, those costs are private.
Can I claim journals and society memberships?
Journal subscriptions you use for work, yes, but from 2026-27 they count against the $1,000 standard deduction. Professional association fees, yes, and they sit outside it. If you are not sure whether your scientific society counts as a professional association, talk to us.
Is a postgraduate degree or PhD deductible?
It can be, if it maintains or improves the skills and knowledge you need in your current job, or is likely to increase your income from it. Study that leads to a new job is not. The ATO's self-education guidance has no example of a PhD or other research degree, so talk to us before you claim one, especially if you are paid a scholarship or stipend.
Can I claim vaccinations my fieldwork needs?
No. Vaccinations are private, even if your employer requires them, and the ATO's example is a personal carer who cannot claim the yearly flu vaccination her employer requires. Compulsory medical examinations your employer requires in your current job are different, and can be claimed if your employer does not pay you back.
How does the $1,000 standard deduction work for scientists?
From the 2026-27 return, you get up to $1,000 automatically, with no receipts needed. Any work expenses you claim reduce it, including protective gear, journal subscriptions and courses you pay for, 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 go on top either way.
Do you work with scientists 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 scientists yet, but two are relevant to you. 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. Your Tax Return, Your Way: Email or Appointment (episode 51) helps you choose how to lodge with us, and its companion is Email or Appointment.
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 engineers, WHS and environment professionals and lecturers and academics.