Tax Deduction for Travel Expenses? 2025–26 Guide

Updated for the 2025–26 income year (tax returns lodged from 1 July 2026), with 2026–27 changes noted. Reviewed 19 October 2026.

Can I claim a tax deduction for my travel expenses? Yes, if the travel is part of doing your job and you paid for it yourself. Different rules apply to day trips (transport costs) and to overnight work travel (accommodation, meals and incidentals), and your record-keeping depends on whether you received a travel allowance.

1. Work trips you can claim

• Directly between two separate workplaces – for example, when you have a second job
• From your normal workplace to an alternative workplace (for example, a client's premises) while on duty, and back to work or directly home
• From home to an alternative workplace for work purposes, then to your normal workplace or home (not where that place has become a regular workplace)
• If you have shifting places of employment – you regularly work at more than one site each day
• If you have to carry bulky tools or equipment used for work and can't leave them at work – for example, an extension ladder or a cello

Transport costs for these trips can include car expenses (see our car expenses guide), taxi, ride-share and public transport fares, parking and tolls.

2. Travel you can't claim

• Normal trips between home and your regular workplace, even if you do minor tasks on the way (such as picking up the mail) or work outside normal hours
• Travel your employer pays for or reimburses
• Overnight costs where you weren't required to sleep away from home for work – for example, flying interstate and back on the same day, or choosing to stay near work
• The private part of a trip – if you tack a holiday onto a work trip, you can only claim the work-related portion
• Relocation costs when you move for a new job

3. Overnight work travel

If your job requires you to travel and sleep away from home, you can claim accommodation, meals and incidental expenses (such as a taxi from the airport) that you paid for and weren't reimbursed. You can't claim accommodation your employer provides or meals they supply.

A living-away-from-home allowance (where you've relocated for work for a period) is treated differently from a travel allowance, and the costs it covers are generally private. Talk to us if you're unsure which applies.

4. Travel allowances and the ATO "reasonable amounts"

Each year the ATO publishes reasonable amounts. If you receive a travel allowance and your claim is within the reasonable amount, you don't need to keep written evidence such as receipts for meals and incidentals (domestic accommodation too, in commercial establishments) – but you still need to show you travelled, spent the money and how you worked out the claim.

For 2025–26 (TD 2025/4), the reasonable amounts for an employee earning $148,250 or less travelling to Melbourne are:

Other cities, regional centres, salary bands, truck drivers and overseas travel have their own amounts – see TD 2025/4. Important points:

• You claim what you actually spent, not the reasonable amount.
• If you claim more than the reasonable amount, you need receipts for the whole claim, not just the excess.
• Overseas accommodation always needs receipts.
• If your allowance isn't on your income statement, is within the reasonable amount and you spent it all on travel costs, you can leave it out of your return – but then you can't claim the expenses.

5. Records you need

• Receipts or other written evidence for travel costs (unless the reasonable-amount exception applies)
• A travel diary if you're away for 6 or more nights in a row, showing where you were, the dates and times, and what work you did. There are limited exceptions if you received a travel allowance and claim within the reasonable amounts. No diary is needed for trips of fewer than 6 nights, though notes still help.
• Your income statement or payslips showing any allowance

6. What changes from 1 July 2026

For 2026–27, new reasonable amounts apply under TD 2026/4. Also from 1 July 2026, the $300 work-expense record-keeping exception and the award transport payment exception are removed, and a new standard deduction of up to $1,000 applies automatically for eligible employees. Travel and transport costs reduce that standard deduction, so keep good records if your travel claims are larger.