In Australia for the 2025 income year, you can claim up to $150 AUD for work-related laundry expenses without providing written receipts, provided your total work-related expenses are $300 or less. This covers washing, drying, and ironing uniforms or protective clothing, but requires you to keep a record (e.g., a diary/spreadsheet) of how you calculated the cost.
If you exceed the $300 limit, you must have written evidence of all your expenses (such as receipts or invoices), except the laundry expenses (excluding dry-cleaning) if they are $150 or less. If your total claim for work-related laundry expenses is $150 or less, you can claim a deduction without written evidence.
Yes, you can write off the cost of specialized clothing and uniforms for work if you're self-employed, but only under specific circumstances. If you are required to purchase a garment for work and it is not suitable for everyday wear, then you can deduct the expense from your taxable income.
For the 2025 tax year, you can claim:
The annual tax-free laundry allowance remains at $150 per annum. The cents per km threshold for FY 2026 has not yet been changed. At this stage, the rate is still $0.88 per km. The Overtime Meal Allowance threshold for FY 2026 has increased to $38.65 per meal.
It's important to keep in mind that if your laundry claim is over $150 total, or your total claim for work-related expenses is greater than $300, then you'll need to provide written evidence, like diary entries or receipts.
VA's posted clothing allowance for the 2025 cycle (effective December 1, 2024) is $1,024.50 per allowance. With the 2026 COLA of +2.8%, the new amount is $1,053.19 per allowance.
Use caution when claiming on tax without receipts
If you don't have much in the way of deductible claims to make on your tax, you should not automatically claim an amount up to the $300 limit just because you can. The same applies for the $150 limit for laundry and the small expenses limit of $200.
Temporary increase of the instant asset write-off limit from $1,000 to $20,000 for the 2025–26 income year. On 4 April 2025, the government announced it will continue to provide support for small businesses by extending the $20,000 instant asset write-off limit for a further 12 months until 30 June 2026.
Laundry and repairs
You can claim a deduction for the actual costs you incur to dry-clean and repair work clothing in these categories. If your laundry claim is $150 or less (not including dry-cleaning expenses), you can claim the expense and don't need receipts.
The answer is simple. If you might spend more than $1000, in a whole year, on work-related expenses, you need to: Save your receipts (a photo on your phone is fine).
The biggest tax mistakes people make include filing late, math errors, incorrect personal info (like Social Security numbers), forgetting deductions/credits (like EITC), misreporting income, not signing forms, and making errors with bank details for direct deposit, all leading to delays, penalties, or missed savings, with using tax software or professionals helping avoid these common pitfalls.
Non-cash charitable donations:
Under $250: You'll need a receipt for non-cash donations under $250 in value unless the items were dropped off at an unmanned location, such as a drop-off bin. $250 to $500: Non-cash donations of $250 to $500 in value require a contemporaneous written acknowledgment of your donation.
Wages, dividends, bank interest, and other income received and that was reported on an information return should be entered carefully. This includes any information needed to calculated credits and deductions.
Who Is Audited More Often? Oddly, people who make less than $25,000 have a higher audit rate. This higher rate is because many of these taxpayers claim the earned income tax credit, and the IRS conducts many audits to ensure that the credit isn't being claimed fraudulently.
Here's what that could look like:
The reckoning period of service is 6 months. If your appointment states January to June 30, 2025, it follows that you still render service until the end of business day on 30 June. It can be safely interpreted as completing the 6 months required to be entitled to Clothing Allowance.
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