Tax Deductions for Professional Sportspeople (2025–26)

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

Professional athletes in team and individual sports are one of the few groups who can usually claim fitness costs, because fitness is essential to the job. Other claims are tightly limited.

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

What you can claim

Sport-specific costs

• Gym and fitness costs: these are an essential part of earning your income.
• Income protection insurance (outside super).
• Fines imposed on-field under the rules of your sport, and related legal costs.
• Luggage (work-use portion) and meals during overnight travel.
• Player association fees.
• Player manager or agent fees for existing contracts.
• Training and research material that is part of an official training plan.
• Sporting equipment you buy (work-use portion).

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.

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.

What you can't claim

• Off-field fines (for example, for conduct breaches).
• Medical expenses and private health insurance.
• Travel insurance.
• Your driver's licence.

Income averaging

Sportspeople are "special professionals" for tax purposes, so income averaging may reduce tax in a year when your income jumps. It is calculated in your return, so tell your tax agent about your previous years' income.

Worked example

Example (illustrative figures only – not real client data): Josie is a contracted professional footballer. She pays a personal trainer as part of her club's official program, manager fees on her existing contract, player association fees and income protection.

2026–27 comparison: $5,950 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 $2,200 of association fees and income protection can be claimed either way.

Checklist before you lodge

• Keep your official training plan and manager contract.
• Separate on-field fines from off-field fines.
• 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 off-field fines.
• Claiming private health insurance.

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:

• your income varies a lot between years (averaging);
• you receive sponsorship or appearance fees outside your contract;
• 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

• Fitness and sporting industry employees
• all occupation and industry guides

ATO sources for this guide

• ATO: Professional sportsperson – income and work-related deductions
• 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: Self-education expenses
• ATO: Seminars, conferences and training courses
• 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.