Tax Deductions You Can Claim for Work Related Travel Expenses

You can claim a Tax deduction for the cost of travel expenses incurred while you are working or travelling between different places of work. Travel expenses include air, bus and train fares as well as car hire expenses. You may also be able to claim meal expenses in your Tax Return if your work travel included an overnight stay.

If you receive a travel allowance from your employer, and it is shown on your payment summary, then you need to declare it in your taxable income. You then need to follow the deduction rules in order to offset the allowance and avoid a Tax bill on the amount paid.

Generally, you will need to keep receipts of all expenses incurred while you are away from work including transport expenses, accommodation expenses and meal expenses. The exception to this rule is if the allowance paid does not exceed the reasonable benefit limit set by the Australian Taxation Office. If the allowance paid does not exceed the reasonable benefit limits, then you can claim up to the reasonable benefit limits to the extent that the expenses were incurred.

If you extend a trip for personal reasons such as a holiday, then you will need to attribute part of the trip as a private expense which will not be Tax deductible. You will need to separate meal and travel expenses attributable to the private portion of your trip.

If you’re not traveling overnight, you can still claim travel expenses if you are required in the course of your employment duties to travel for work. This may be a trip across town on a bus to deliver documents, or hiring a car to drive to client meetings.

You cannot generally claim overtime meal expenses when if it doesn’t include an overnight stay away from your home.

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