Tax Deductions for Construction Workers
Tax Deductions for Construction Workers-Lodge your tax return here.
As a starting point, a deduction is only allowable if an expense is:
a) Actually incurred;
b) Meets the deductibility tests; and
c) Satisfies the substantiation rules.
Most occupations have specific work-related deductions for their industry.
The most common work-related tax deductions for construction workers are summarised in a basic table below:
| Deduction | Allowable | Not Allowable |
| Clothing, uniforms and footwear | X* | |
| – Laundry and maintenance of clothing, uniforms and footwear | X | |
| Computers and software | X* | |
| Conferences, seminars and training courses | X* | |
| Depreciation of tools & equipment | X | |
| Drivers Licence (Car) | X | |
| First aid courses paid by employee, not reimbursed | X | |
| Glasses/contact lenses | X | |
| Insurance of equipment | X | |
| Licence and certificates e.g. Licences for the operation of plant and equipment | X | |
| Meals | X | |
| – Overtime meal expenses | X* | |
| Medical examinations for licence renewal | X | |
| Newspapers | X | |
| Parking fees and tolls | X* | |
| Protective equipment | X | |
| Radios, cassette players, walkmans, etc | X | |
| Repairs to tools and equipment | X | |
| Self education expenses | X* | |
| Stationery | X | |
| Technical or professional publications | X | |
| Telephone, mobile phone, pager not supplied by employer | X | |
| Travel expenses | ||
| – Accom, fares, meals, incidentals not reimbursed | X | |
| – Public transport fares or motor vehicle costs | ||
| – Home to work | X | |
| – Home to shifting place of work | X | |
| – Between two places of work | X | |
| – Normal work to alternate place of work | X | |
| Union fees and professional association fees | X | |
| Vaccinations | X | |
| Wet weather gear | X* |
*Conditions apply.
If you would like to find out more about tax deductions for construction workers, please contact us at Ask Us Tax. We have a number of clients in the construction industry and are confident we can maximise your work-related deduction claims…
