Long-haul work has its own rules, and two of them cost drivers money every year: what counts as an overnight stay, and which licence costs you can actually claim.
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By the Nomo team · Last reviewed 24 September 2026
You can claim travel expenses when you're away from home overnight for work: driving interstate, taking your mandatory rest break, then heading back to the depot. What counts as overnight is broader than it sounds. A mandatory rest break long enough to actually sleep, around seven hours or more, qualifies.
The catch is accommodation. If you sleep in the truck there's no accommodation expense to claim, and the same applies if your employer puts you up. Getting a travel allowance doesn't automatically give you a deduction either. You still have to show you were away overnight, that you spent the money, and that the travel related to earning your income.
Meals on an overnight trip are claimable, for the amount you actually spent. The ATO sets separate reasonable amounts for employee truck drivers for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and each meal is counted on its own, not as a daily total. If you got a travel allowance and spent no more than the reasonable amount, you don't need receipts for meals, but you still need to be able to show how you worked out the claim.
Accommodation and incidentals, like a shower, need written evidence. Food and drink during a normal working day, when you're not away overnight, isn't claimable. The 2026–27 amounts are in TD 2026/4.
Your ordinary driver's licence is never deductible, even though you can't do the job without it. The ATO treats it as a private expense.
Special licences are different. The initial cost of getting a special licence or a condition added, the thing that qualified you for the job, isn't deductible. But the extra cost of renewing that special licence or condition so you can keep doing your job is. A heavy vehicle permit renewal is the classic example.
This is about your car, not the truck. The normal run from home to your usual depot is private, even for a weekend or pre-dawn start. What you can claim:
Carrying bulky equipment can make a home trip claimable, but all three conditions must hold: the gear is essential, it's genuinely awkward to move without a vehicle, and there's nowhere secure to leave it at work. See driving between job sites.
From 2026–27, you can take a standard deduction of up to $1,000 with no receipts. Overnight travel costs, gear and licence renewals count toward it. Union fees are claimed on top.
| Example (illustrative amounts) | Covered work expenses | Better option |
|---|---|---|
| Linehaul driver: $1,050 of meals on overnight rest breaks, $150 permit renewal, $120 of sunglasses and sunscreen | $1,320 | Claiming actual expenses |
| Local driver home each night: $150 permit renewal, $120 of sunglasses and sunscreen | $270 | The $1,000 standard deduction |
Run your own numbers in the standard deduction calculator.
| Keep | For |
|---|---|
| Dates and places of each overnight rest break | Showing you were away overnight |
| Meal receipts, or how you worked out the claim if within the reasonable amount | Meals on the road |
| Accommodation and incidental receipts | Always need written evidence |
| Licence and permit renewal receipts | Licence claims |
| Date, km and purpose of trips in your own car | Car expenses |
Nomo logs the trips you make in your own car, keeps the permit renewal and the rest break receipts together, and has the lot ready when July comes around. Nomo is an Australian tax deduction and mileage/work kilometre tracking app for PAYG employees and sole traders.
Snap meal and gear receipts on the road.
Work trips in your own car, with the year's km.
One running total for the year.
See the tax deduction tracker.
Owner-drivers claim the truck's running costs, and everything else for the business, as business expenses. The standard deduction doesn't cover business income, so every cost needs a record. See sole trader tax deductions.
Yes, on overnight trips, for what you actually spent. Food and drink on a normal working day isn't claimable.
No. There's no accommodation expense if you sleep in the truck.
The renewal of a special licence or condition, yes. The initial cost of getting it, and your ordinary driver's licence, no.
A mandatory rest break long enough to sleep, around seven hours or more, away from home.
Not automatically. Declare the allowance, then claim what you actually spent on work travel.
Not the normal trip from home. Between depots, or between two jobs on the same day, yes.
Every rest break receipt, kept.
Receipts and your own car's work trips, all year. 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.