Tax Deductions for Doctors, Specialists & Medical Professionals (2025–26)

Updated for the 2025–26 income year, with 2026–27 changes noted. Reviewed 19 October 2026.

This guide covers employed GPs, specialists, registrars, dentists, psychologists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, chiropractors and similar health professionals (nurses and paramedics have their own guides). If you work through your own practice entity, business rules also apply.

This guide covers 2025–26 tax returns (lodged from July 2026) and flags what changes in 2026–27. It follows the ATO's Doctor, specialist and other medical professionals – income and work-related deductions guide, rewritten in plain language with practical examples.

What you can claim

Professional costs

• Annual practising certificate and registration renewals (not your first registration).
• Membership of professional associations, colleges and bodies (for example, a medical association).
• Professional indemnity insurance you pay for, if your employer doesn't.
• Medical journals, textbooks and online reference subscriptions for your current work. Items of $300 or less are claimed immediately and a professional library is depreciated.
• Medical equipment you buy yourself (stethoscope, diagnostic tools, loupes) and insurance on it.
• Protective items, such as gloves, gowns, masks and protective eyewear.
• Watches with special functions you need for your work.

Car expenses between workplaces

Driving between two workplaces, from your usual workplace to an alternative site, or to a client or supplier during the day is claimable. Normal trips between home and work are private, even if you live far away or work early or late. Use the cents per km method (88c per km for 2025–26, up to 5,000 km; 91c for 2026–27) or a logbook. See our car expenses guide.

Training and self-education

Course fees, textbooks and seminars are claimable if they maintain or improve the skills you use in your current job, or are likely to increase your income from it. Study to get a new job, or general interest courses, can't be claimed, and neither can study loan (HELP) repayments. You can't claim costs your employer pays or reimburses.

Overnight work travel

If you have to travel and sleep away from home for work, you can claim accommodation, meals and incidentals you paid for and weren't reimbursed for. If you get a travel allowance, include it as income unless it's left off your income statement and you don't claim the expenses. Keep receipts, and a travel diary for trips of 6 or more nights in a row.

Phone, internet and devices

Claim the work-related percentage of your mobile phone, data and home internet. Work it out from a 4-week representative period of your itemised bills, and keep those bills. Devices over $300 are depreciated.

Union and professional fees

Union fees and subscriptions to professional or trade associations related to your work are claimable. These don't reduce the 2026–27 standard deduction, so you can claim them on top of it.

What you can't claim

• Your first registration, or exam fees to qualify.
• Conferences that are mainly holidays, and the private part of a mixed trip.
• Vaccinations required for your job.
• Conventional business clothing.
• Travel between home and your main hospital or clinic.

Conferences and continuing professional development

CPD courses, registration fees for conferences, and travel to them are claimable if they relate to your current role. If a trip combines a conference with a holiday, you can only claim the work part. Keep the conference program and itinerary.

Worked example

Example (illustrative figures only – not real client data): Dr Chen is a hospital registrar. She pays her own college fees, registration renewal and indemnity insurance, and buys journals and a new stethoscope.

2026–27 comparison: $4,510 of these expenses are the kind that reduce the new standard deduction. Because that is more than $1,000, claiming the actual expenses (with records) would give a bigger deduction than the standard deduction. The $1,900 of union or professional fees can be claimed either way.

Checklist before you lodge

• Collect renewal invoices and insurance certificates.
• Keep CPD records and conference programs.
• Check your income statement in myGov is marked 'tax ready' and every allowance is included.
• Remove any expense your employer paid for or reimbursed.
• Apportion anything used privately and keep a note of how you worked out the percentage.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Claiming your initial registration or exam fees.
• Claiming the holiday part of a conference trip.
• Claiming indemnity insurance your employer paid.

Record keeping

• You must have spent the money yourself and not been reimbursed, the expense must be directly related to earning your income, and you need a record to prove it.
• Keep receipts, invoices or bank statements for 5 years from when you lodge. The ATO app's myDeductions tool or photos of receipts are fine.
• If you use something for both work and private purposes, you can only claim the work-related portion – keep a diary or other evidence of how you worked that out.
• 2025–26: if your total work-related claims are $300 or less you don't need written evidence (but must be able to show how you worked the amount out), and laundry claims up to $150 can be made without written evidence using the ATO rates.
• From 2026–27: those $300 and $150 exceptions are removed. A new standard deduction of up to $1,000 applies automatically for eligible employees; if your actual work-related expenses are higher, you can claim them instead with records.

When to see an accountant

Talk to a registered tax agent if:

• you have private practice income or a service entity;
• you have salary packaging or fringe benefits;
• you're unsure whether an expense is private or work-related, or your claims are much higher than last year;
• you have an ABN, side business or rental property as well as your job;
• you have received an ATO letter, review or amended assessment.

Related guides

• Nurses and midwives
• Paramedics
• Self-education
• all occupation and industry guides

ATO sources for this guide

• ATO: Doctor, specialist and other medical professionals – income and work-related deductions
• ATO: Cents per kilometre method
• ATO: Trips you can and can't claim
• ATO: Self-education expenses
• ATO: Seminars, conferences and training courses
• ATO: Overnight travel expenses
• ATO: TD 2025/4 reasonable amounts (2025-26)
• ATO: Mobile phone, mobile internet and other devices
• ATO: Phone and internet expenses
• ATO: Union fees and subscriptions
• ATO: Professional memberships and accreditations
• ATO: Records you need to keep
• ATO: Standard deduction for work-related expenses
• ATO: Copyright notice

This guide is written in our own words. It draws on information published by the Australian Taxation Office, and some short phrases are quoted with attribution. Source material: © Australian Taxation Office for the Commonwealth of Australia. Top Accountants is not endorsed by, or affiliated with, the ATO.