Tax Deductions for Teachers & Education Professionals (2025–26)

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

Teachers often spend their own money on classroom resources, technology and professional development. This guide covers what teachers and education professionals (including early childhood educators, teacher aides and lecturers) can claim for 2025–26.

What you can claim

Teaching resources and equipment

• Classroom resources, stationery, books and teaching aids you buy for your students and aren't reimbursed for.
• A laptop, tablet or software used for work – claim the work-use percentage. Items $300 or less can be claimed in full; others are depreciated (a laptop's effective life is 2 years).
• Subscriptions to professional journals or education websites relevant to your teaching.

Working from home

Lesson planning, marking and reporting at home can give rise to a claim. Under the fixed rate method you can claim 70c for each hour you work from home in 2025–26, if you keep a record of the actual hours worked for the whole year. See our working from home guide.

Registration, checks and memberships

• Renewing your teacher registration if you need it to keep teaching.
• A Working with Children Check if you already work as a teacher and need the check (including renewals) to keep doing your current job – but not if you get it to obtain a new job.
• Union and professional association fees.
• A first aid course if you're a designated first aid person at your school.

Self-education

Courses, conferences and seminars that maintain or improve skills for your current teaching role. See our self-education guide.

Travel and excursions

• Driving between schools or campuses during the day, or to a conference or excursion venue away from your usual school (88c per km for 2025–26 or logbook).
• Your own unreimbursed costs of school excursions, camps and trips that have an educational benefit related to the curriculum or extracurricular activities (for example, when you supervise students on a camp).

Clothing and sun protection

• A compulsory school uniform with a logo, or protective items such as aprons for art or science classes.
• Sunscreen, hats and sunglasses for outdoor duties like yard duty and sport (apportioned for private use).

What you can't claim

• Normal travel between home and school.
• Your first teacher registration, or a Working with Children Check to get a new job.
• Gifts for students, food for class parties, or paying for students' lunches or other student expenses.
• Social functions such as a school formal ticket.
• Everyday clothing, including “smart casual” workwear or plain sports clothing.
• Childcare, or private study unrelated to your current role.
• Items your school provides or reimburses.

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.
• For working from home, record your actual hours for the whole year (a diary, timesheet or roster) – estimates aren’t accepted.
• 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.

Worked example

All figures below are example figures only, for a hypothetical person.

Jordan is an employed primary school teacher in 2025–26 who:

• works from home for 4 hours a week for 40 weeks (example figure) and records it: 160 hours × 70c = $112;
• buys classroom resources for $350 (example figure), not reimbursed: claim $350 (each item under $300);
• buys a $1,600 laptop (example figure) used 60% for work – depreciated over 2 years, so the 2025–26 claim is part of the work-use portion (ask us to calculate);
• pays union fees of $650 (example figure);
• renews a Working with Children Check for $130 (example figure).

Excluding the laptop, Jordan's example claims total $1,242.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Claiming gifts or food for students.
• Claiming a first registration or new-job WWCC.
• Estimating working from home hours.

Checklist before you lodge

• 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.

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.

ATO sources for this guide

• ATO: Teachers and education professionals income and work related deductions
• ATO: Working with children check
• ATO: Working from home expenses
• ATO: Self-education expenses
• ATO: Cents per kilometre method
• ATO: Tools and equipment
• ATO: Assets costing more than $300
• 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.