Source:- www.ato.gov.au

Nurses, midwives and direct carers – claiming work-related expenses

If you are employed in the nursing industry, you may be entitled to claim a tax deduction for certain work-related expenses, including:

• car
• travel
• uniform, occupation specific or protective clothing, laundry and dry-cleaning
• self-education
• other – such as phone, tools and equipment and overtime meals.

Income

Individual tax return instructions questions 1–12 and Individual tax return instructions supplement questions 13–24 deal with income. You may need to include allowances, reimbursements, reportable fringe benefits and reportable employer superannuation contributions on your tax return.

Allowances

Nurses commonly get the following allowances:

• motor vehicle (based on a cents-per-kilometre basis)
• stocking
• telephone
• district
• travelling
• shift
• uniform and maintenance
• living out
• on-call.

If any allowance is shown as a separate amount on your payment summary, include it as income on your tax return.

You cannot automatically claim a deduction just because you received an allowance.

Work-related deductions

You can claim deductions for the work-related expenses you incurred while doing your job. Remember:

• If you are claiming a deduction for a work-related expense for which you received an allowance, then include the amount of the allowance on your return.
• If you incur an expense for both work and private purposes, you can claim a deduction only for the work-related portion of your expense.
• If your work-related expense includes an amount of goods and services tax (GST), the GST is part of the total expense and is therefore part of your deduction.
• You cannot claim a deduction for the cost of purchasing or cleaning a plain uniform or conventional clothing worn at work, even if your employer tells you to wear them, as it is a private expense.
• A compulsory uniform is a set of clothing that, worn together, identifies you as an employee of an organisation having a strictly enforced policy that makes it compulsory for you to wear the uniform while at work.
• You can claim a deduction for the cost of occupation-specific clothing. This is clothing that is specific to your occupation, is not everyday in nature and would allow the public to easily recognise you as a nurse.
• You can claim a deduction for the cost of buying, hiring, replacing or maintaining protective clothing. Protective clothing is clothing that you wear to protect yourself from the risk of illness or injury posed by your income-earning activities or the environment in which you are required to carry them out, for example, non-slip nursing shoes.
• Self-education expenses are expenses related to a prescribed course of education provided by a school, college, university or other place of education. The course must be undertaken to gain a formal qualification for use in carrying on a profession, business or trade or in the course of employment.

For more deductions you can claim, please contact the office.