The first thing to remember when claiming work related deductions is that to be deductible, they must relate to the job you are being paid to do. In addition to this, you need to be able to substantiate your claim by way of invoice, receipt or bank statement proving you have incurred the expense.
This year the ATO is targeting:
- Work related clothing and laundry click here
- Home office use – please see attached fact sheet click here
- Car expenses – please see attached fact click here
- Overtime meal claims – to claim a deduction you must satisfy the following criteria
- You are paid overtime meal allowance under an industry award
- You have incurred expenses to pay for food and drinks and
- You limit your claim to the reasonable allowance expense set annually by the ATO
- Mobile phone and internet costs – if you use your phone or internet for both work and private use, you will need to work out the percentage that reasonably relates to your work use.
- Rental properties – ATO target areas:
- Over claiming deductions for interest
- Capital works claimed as repairs
- Incorrect apportionment of expenses for holiday homes
- Omitting income from share platforms (eg Airbnb)
The ATO is continuing to get more tech savvy in tracking our income and expense activity especially with the introduction of reporting requirements such as single touch payroll and an expanding range of information the ATO can data match to.
Good record keeping, claiming only the expenses which relate to your income and claiming only costs you incur is a good start to staying off the ATO’s radar.
Please do not hesitate to contact us to maximise your claims and gain guidance on what records you will need to keep.
Source: August 2019 newsletter Author: Renee Larsen
