Tax deductions for tradies: tools, utes, gear and tickets

Trades spend real money to earn — tools, boots, tickets, the ute — which makes tradies both the biggest claimers and the most audited occupation group. The line between a strong claim and a knocked-back one is almost always the same thing: records, and knowing which rules actually apply.

Tools and equipment

Bought it yourself for work? Under $300 per item, claim it immediately. Over $300, depreciate it over its effective life. Insurance on tools, repairs and sharpening all count, and interest on a loan to buy equipment can too. If the boss supplied or reimbursed it, there's no claim — and "cash from the boss for boots" counts as reimbursement.

Protective gear — not clothes

Hi-vis, steel-caps, hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, heavy-duty pants designed as protective wear: deductible, plus the laundry. Ordinary jeans, shorts and tees are never deductible, no matter how work-ruined. Outdoors, sun protection is claimable — sunscreen, sunglasses, wide-brim hats — one of the most forgotten claims on any site.

The vehicle rules (where most money moves)

The home-to-site commute is private — unless you're required to transport bulky tools and equipment and there's no secure storage at the site. That exception is genuine but audited: "bulky" means genuinely heavy or awkward (ladders, toolboxes, compressors), and a site container that could store them kills the claim. Travel between sites, to suppliers, and to TAFE for work training is deductible regardless — cents-per-km up to 5,000 km with a reasonable basis, logbook beyond that.

Tickets, licences and phones

Renewing tickets you already hold — white card refreshers, high-risk work licences, EWP, first aid required for your role — is deductible. Getting a licence for the first time isn't, and a standard driver's licence never is. The work share of your phone is claimable (site calls, plans, photos — for many tradies that's most of the bill), with a four-week diary to justify the split.

Employee vs ABN changes everything

Everything above assumes you're an employee tradie. On an ABN, the picture widens — vehicle running costs under a logbook, insurance, super you pay yourself — and so do the obligations. If you're weighing a wage against sub-contracting, our contractor vs employee calculator prices the whole trade-off, break-even day rate included.

A tradie on $95,800 sits at a 32% marginal rate: a $2,500 sweep of tools, gear, sun protection and phone share returns about $800. Records make it bulletproof — receipts, the hours or km basis, and the work-use split. General information only.