Nurse & Midwife Tax Deductions 2025: ATO Guide

Sarah Nguyen is 31, a registered nurse based in Sydney earning $82,000 a year. She pays her AHPRA fee every year and dutifully claims it on her return. But until she ran her full deduction list through a calculator, she had no idea she was missing ANMF membership, laundry without receipts, CPD seminars, and her stethoscope — deductions that together total more than $3,200 and produce a tax saving of ~$962 at her 30% Stage 3 marginal rate.

This guide covers every deduction available to nurses and midwives in 2025–26, with the ATO's exact rules on what qualifies and the errors that trigger audits. All figures are sourced directly from the ATO and verified for the current financial year.

What Nurses and Midwives Can Claim in 2025–26

The ATO's occupation guide for nurses and midwives recognises eight primary deduction categories. To claim any of them, the expense must be directly connected to your income-earning activities, paid by you (not reimbursed by your employer), and substantiated with a receipt if your total work-related expenses exceed $300.

Source: ATO nurses and midwives occupation guide (ato.gov.au), verified May 2026.

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AHPRA and ANMF Fees: Two Deductions Almost Every Nurse Misses One Of

The AHPRA annual registration fee is fully tax deductible as a professional registration required to practise. The ATO classifies it as a work-related expense under D5 'Other work-related expenses.' The fee for 2024–25 was $185; for 2025–26 it rises to $193 — a 4.25% increase announced by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia via AHPRA in September 2025, effective 1 June 2026.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) annual membership is also fully deductible under D5. Fees vary by state branch and FTE status: $350–$900 depending on your state. VIC has been frozen for a sixth consecutive year; NSW is the highest at approximately $899; WA approximately $350; ACT approximately $838. Check your state branch's website for the exact figure. Both fees are claimed in full with no private-use apportionment required.

Scrubs and Laundry: The ATO's Uniform Test for Nurses

Scrubs are deductible — but only when they pass the ATO's occupation-specific clothing test. Three conditions make scrubs deductible:

1. They carry your employer's logo or branding, or
2. They are distinctly clinical in nature (e.g. theatre scrubs that could not be worn as ordinary clothing), or
3. Your employer requires them as a condition of employment and they are not conventional clothing.

Plain-coloured scrubs with no logo and no written employer requirement are the grey area the ATO has flagged. If you are uncertain, ask your employer to confirm the uniform requirement in writing — this converts a questionable claim into a solid one.

Once scrubs qualify, you can claim purchase cost, repairs, and laundering. The ATO's laundry rate is $1 per load for work-only loads and $0.50 per load for mixed loads (scrubs washed with personal clothing). You can claim up to $150 in laundry without any receipts — but this $150 cap is part of the overall $300 total work-related expenses no-receipt limit, not additional to it. A simple tally of loads per week is sufficient documentation.

Source: ATO clothing, laundry and dry-cleaning expenses (ato.gov.au).

CPD and Self-Education: Every Relevant Course Is Deductible

Continuing professional development is fully deductible when it directly relates to your current nursing or midwifery role. This includes:

• Mandatory CPD hours required for your AHPRA registration renewal
• Clinical skill updates — medication management, IV therapy, wound care, triage
• Specialty conferences and nursing seminars (ICU, oncology, midwifery, mental health)
• Professional journals, medical reference books, and subscriptions relevant to your role
• Online study modules and e-learning platforms for clinical practice

A CPD seminar averages around $629. Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary — the standard nursing reference — is approximately $89. An online CPD module typically costs $50–$200. All are deductible when receipts are held (CPD costs commonly push total work-related expenses above the $300 no-receipt threshold, so receipts are required).

What Nurses Cannot Claim: ATO Audit Targets for Healthcare

The ATO's guidance for nurses lists these expenses as non-deductible, regardless of whether they feel work-related:

1. Home-to-work commute. Driving or using public transport from home to your hospital or clinic is private travel. Not deductible, even if you carry medical equipment. Travel between campuses or to home patients during your shift is deductible.
2. Childcare. Even when shift work forces you to use childcare, the cost is a private expense. Not deductible under any circumstances.
3. Meals during overtime. Meal costs during a shift or overtime are not deductible unless you are required to travel away from home overnight. Ordinary shift meals are private.
4. Vaccinations and health checks. COVID, flu, and hepatitis vaccinations — even if required by your employer — are not deductible. The ATO classifies these as private medical expenses.
5. Gym and fitness. Gym memberships, personal training, or fitness equipment are not deductible, even if physical fitness supports your nursing work.
6. HECS repayments. Repaying your nursing degree debt is not a work-related deduction.
7. Courses for a different career. Studying to become a doctor, physiotherapist, or to enter a different profession is not deductible against your nursing income.

Sarah's Numbers: A Sydney RN's Deduction Breakdown

Sarah earns $82,000 as a registered nurse in Sydney. Here is her optimised deduction claim for 2025–26, using the ATO's verified rates and amounts:

Illustrative. Sarah's taxable income: $82,000 − $3,206 = $78,794. At 30% Stage 3 marginal rate, estimated tax saving: ~$962. Use the Velofy calculator to model your own figures.

Agency nurses and travel nurses working across multiple facilities typically claim $5,000–$8,000+ in deductions due to higher travel costs, portable equipment, and agency-specific registration fees. ATO sample deduction data shows nurses with $4,744 in total deductions receiving over $1,500 in additional refund.

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Complete Nursing Deduction Reference: 28 Items Ranked by Dollar Value

Beyond Sarah's $3,206 example above, here are 28 deductions nurses and midwives can legitimately claim — ranked by typical dollar value at a representative $82,000 RN income (Stage 3 marginal rate 30% + 2% Medicare = 32%, in force since 1 July 2024). ATO labels map to the categories on your individual tax return.

Dollar values are typical 2025-26 figures based on retailer and association published prices. Tax savings assume 30% Stage 3 marginal rate + 2% Medicare. Verified against ATO Nurses & Midwives guide and ATO Tax Time Toolkit (2026-05-24).