Tax Deductions for Office Workers & Public Servants (2025–26)

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

Administration staff, managers, accountants, analysts, HR, public servants and other office-based employees often have modest deductions. Working from home, professional memberships and self-education are usually the biggest. (The ATO also has a separate summary for public servants; the same rules apply.)

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

What you can claim

Office-specific costs

• Renewing practising certificates, memberships or accreditations you need for your current job (not the first time).
• Books, journals and digital subscriptions directly connected to your work.
• Stationery and supplies you buy for work.
• Parking and tolls on work trips (not at your usual office).
• A laptop, monitor or desk you buy for work: the work-use portion, with items over $300 depreciated.

Working from home

If you genuinely do some of your work at home, you can use the fixed rate of 70c per hour (2025–26) with a record of your actual hours, or the actual cost method. See our working from home guide.

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.

Overtime meals

You can claim an overtime meal only if you received an overtime meal allowance under an industrial award or agreement and it is included in your income. Without receipts, you can claim up to the ATO's reasonable amount ($38.65 per meal for 2025–26), but you need receipts if you claim more. Meals during normal hours aren't deductible.

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.

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.

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

• Occupancy costs (rent, mortgage interest, rates) for a home office. Employees can only claim these in very limited cases.
• Tea, coffee and snacks for the office.
• Business clothing and grooming.
• Travel between home and the office.
• Items your employer provides.

Worked example

Example (illustrative figures only – not real client data): Grace is a public servant who works 2 days a week from home and keeps an hours log. She bought a monitor and pays her professional association.

2026–27 comparison: only $827 of these expenses reduce the standard deduction. On similar figures in 2026–27, it would usually be simpler to accept the automatic $1,000 standard deduction and not claim those items, while still claiming the $460 of union or professional fees on top.

Checklist before you lodge

• Keep a timesheet or diary of every hour worked at home.
• Don't claim internet or phone separately if you use the 70c rate.
• 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 occupancy expenses.
• Claiming energy, phone or internet on top of the fixed rate.
• Estimating hours worked from home.

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'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

• Working from home deductions
• Self-education
• all occupation and industry guides

ATO sources for this guide

• ATO: Office workers – income and work-related deductions
• ATO: Working from home expenses
• ATO: Fixed rate method
• ATO: Mobile phone, mobile internet and other devices
• ATO: Phone and internet expenses
• ATO: Overtime meal expenses
• ATO: TD 2025/4 reasonable amounts (2025-26)
• ATO: Self-education expenses
• ATO: Seminars, conferences and training courses
• ATO: Cents per kilometre method
• ATO: Trips you can and can't claim
• 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.