The best deductions are the ones you set up before 30 June — not the ones you remember in July.
Pick one to filter the checklist to your line of work. The 8 common deductions below apply to every PAYG employee.
Multiple jobs? Print one checklist per role. The 8 common deductions apply across all PAYG employment in Australia.
Eight items every PAYG employee should check. Items 1–6: bulk of missed claims. Items 7–8: under-the-radar.
ATO fixed rate covers power, internet, phone, stationery — 70¢/hr for 2025–26 (2026–27 rate not yet confirmed by the ATO).
Fees to your union, industry body, or association tied to your current role.
Courses, CPD, conferences, textbooks for your CURRENT role — not opening a new career.
Donations ≥ $2 to Deductible Gift Recipients are claimed at your marginal rate. Verify at abr.business.gov.au.
Cents-per-km: up to 5,000 km at 88¢/km (2025–26 rate; 2026–27 rate not yet confirmed), no log needed. Log-book method unlocks higher claims via 12-wk diary.
Under $300 each: full deduction this year. Over $300: depreciate under Division 40.
Personal contributions claimed as a deduction. s290-170 Notice must reach your fund BEFORE you lodge. Counts toward the $32,500 concessional cap (2026–27).
Income protection held OUTSIDE super is deductible. Life, trauma, TPD are not.
Pick a profession above to filter. Without a pick, all six show.
Print or save as PDF, then hand it over. A structured checklist beats trying to remember every item.
ATO data and tax-agent surveys consistently rank work-from-home as the most under-claimed deduction. The 2026 average WFH claim missed: about $1,322 per year. The fix is a contemporaneous hours diary (NOT an end-of-year estimate) at the ATO 70¢/hr fixed rate. At 16 hrs/wk over 48 weeks, that is roughly $537 — most PAYG employees who WFH any portion of the week leave this on the table by failing to keep the diary.
No. From the 2025–26 financial year onwards, the ATO requires a contemporaneous record of every hour worked from home. End-of-year estimates ("I work from home most Tuesdays") are no longer accepted. The diary can be a simple spreadsheet, a calendar app, or even handwritten — but it must be created at the time you work, not reconstructed afterwards. The 70¢/hr fixed-rate method covers electricity, gas, internet, phone, stationery, and computer consumables.
The Australian financial year ends at midnight on 30 June 2027. Any deductible expense must be PAID by 30 June 2027 to count for the 2026–27 return — the date you incurred the expense, not the date you submit it for reimbursement. Personal deductible super contributions need to arrive in your fund's account by 30 June, which typically means lodging the contribution by Friday 25 June at most major funds to allow BPAY processing time. Once 30 June passes, the only EOFY deductions you can still capture are ones you already paid.
Items under $300 each are immediately deductible in the year of purchase. A $250 monitor or a $180 ergonomic chair component is fully claimable on your 2026–27 return. Items over $300 each must be depreciated under Division 40 — typically over 3 years for electronics, 10 years for furniture. The $300 threshold applies per item, not in total: you can claim 10 different $250 items in the same year, but a single $600 chair must be depreciated.
Substantiation rules differ by claim type. Work-related expenses under $300 in total: written record acceptable but receipts recommended. Laundry of compulsory uniforms: up to $150/year without receipts at $1/load (mixed) or 50¢/load (uniforms only). Vehicle: cents-per-km method up to 5,000 km without log book; over that, full log book diary required. Anything else over $300: original receipts (paper or digital), invoices, or annual statements. The ATO can audit returns for up to 5 years — keep records for that long.
The checklist tells you what to claim. The Velofy Tax Calculator tells you what each claim returns at your bracket (16/30/37/45% + Medicare).
Open Tax Calculator Read the 5 EOFY mistakes