Teachers spend their own money all the time, and a surprising amount of it is deductible. The line is whether the expense is for your work, not for the students.
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By the Nomo team · Last reviewed 24 September 2026
Teaching aids, technical and professional publications, union and professional association fees, and the work share of your phone and internet are all deductible. Excursions, school trips and camps count. So does a first aid course, if you're the designated first aid officer.
The line the ATO draws is about who the money is for. Resources you buy to do your job are claimable. Money spent on a student personally isn't: gifts for students, paying for their lunch, covering their excursion or buying their school books.
The hours you spend marking, planning and preparing at home are working from home hours, and they add up fast across a school year. As an illustration, two hours a night, four nights a week, over 40 teaching weeks is 320 hours. At the 70c fixed rate, that's $224.
The catch is the record. For the fixed rate method, the ATO wants a record of the actual hours you worked from home, kept as you go, not an estimate made in July. You also need a bill or receipt for each type of running cost the rate covers, like electricity and internet.
The full rules, including the actual cost method: work from home tax deductions.
Coming back to school at night for parent-teacher interviews is still home to work travel, so it's not deductible. You can claim:
Carrying genuinely bulky equipment can also make a home trip claimable, but only if it's essential, awkward to transport without a car, and there's no secure storage at school.
Relief teachers: moving between schools on the same day counts. Whether home to the first school counts depends on whether your work is itinerant under the ATO's indicators, like having no fixed workplace and often not knowing where you'll be sent. See driving between job sites.
A compulsory uniform explicitly required by a workplace agreement or policy is claimable. Sports clothing and business attire are conventional clothing, so they're not.
Conferences, seminars and training courses are deductible when they maintain or improve the skills you use now, or are likely to increase your income in your current role. See self-education expenses.
From 2026–27, you can take a standard deduction of up to $1,000 for work expenses with no receipts. Home hours, resources and courses count toward it. Union fees are claimed on top. For a lot of teachers it's a close call, which is exactly why the records matter.
| Example (illustrative amounts) | Covered work expenses | Better option |
|---|---|---|
| 320 hours of marking at home ($224) and $300 of classroom resources | $524 | The $1,000 standard deduction |
| The same, plus a $500 conference you paid for yourself | $1,024 | Claiming actual expenses, just |
Run your own numbers in the standard deduction calculator.
| Keep | For |
|---|---|
| A record of the actual hours you work from home | The 70c fixed rate method |
| One bill for each running cost (electricity, internet, phone) | The 70c fixed rate method |
| Receipts for resources, excursions and publications | Anything you claim above the standard deduction |
| Course and conference invoices | Self-education |
Clock on when you sit down to mark and clock off when you're done. Nomo keeps the hours at 70c, and the resource and excursion receipts sit alongside them. Nomo is an Australian tax deduction and mileage/work kilometre tracking app for PAYG employees and sole traders.
A timer for marking and planning at home.
Hours and days from home, session by session.
Receipts for resources, read and kept.
Yes. Hours spent marking and planning at home are working from home hours. At the 70c fixed rate you need a record of the actual hours.
No. Gifts, lunches, excursion costs or books for a student are private, even though they're kind.
No. Coming back to your regular school at night is still home to work travel.
Yes, if you're the designated first aid officer.
Travel between schools on the same day, yes. Home to the first school only if your work is itinerant under the ATO's indicators.
No. Based on the ATO's draft ruling, union fees are claimed on top of it.
Every hour of marking, counted.
Home hours and receipts, kept as you go. 14 days free, no card needed.
Start 14-day free trialBy the Nomo team · Last reviewed 24 September 2026. We check these pages against current ATO guidance and update them when the rules change.
General information only, not tax advice. Rules change and everyone’s situation is different, so check ato.gov.au or talk to a registered tax agent about your situation. Nomo is a record keeping app, not a registered tax agent.