Police tax deductions
what the ATO lets you claim

The ATO publishes a dedicated occupation guide for police officers, last updated on 11 May 2026. It sits on top of three rules that apply to every employee. If a claim fails any one of them, it isn't deductible, however reasonable it feels.

1. 1

   You spent the money and weren't reimbursed

   Rule 1

   If the force issued the item, replaced it, or paid you back for it, there's nothing to claim. A reimbursement isn't income and isn't deductible.

2. 2

   It directly relates to earning your police income

   Rule 2

   The cost must be incurred in doing your job, not in getting it, keeping fit for it, or getting to it. Private and domestic costs fail here even if the job makes them necessary.

3. 3

   You have a record to prove it

   Rule 3

   Usually a receipt. From the 2026-27 income year the ATO has removed the old $300 and $150 laundry exceptions, so if you itemise, you need written evidence for everything you claim.

Where something is used for work and privately, such as a phone or a pair of sunglasses, you claim only the work-related share. Items that cost more than $300 are claimed over their effective life rather than all at once.

The ATO's police guide works through common expenses alphabetically. This table pulls out the items police most often ask about and the condition attached to each one. The condition is the part people forget.

Specialist roles open up more claims. The ATO's own examples include a wetsuit for a police diver, equestrian gear for the Mounted Unit, a diving watch for the Diving Squad and cut-resistant gloves for a crime scene examiner. If your unit needs something that general duties officers don't, and the force doesn't supply it, read the specific entry in the ATO guide before you buy.

The uniform and laundry rules have more traps than any other category, so they have their own guide: police uniform and laundry deductions.

Some of the most common police claims are specifically ruled out in the ATO's police guide. The ATO wrote police examples for each of these, which tells you how often they come up.

A few more appear in the guide and catch people out. Child care while you're on shift is private. So are fines, including a speeding fine incurred on the way to court. Union social breakfasts and other functions are entertainment, even when work is discussed. A home security system or guard dog to protect your family isn't deductible, and neither is a smart watch used to read messages on patrol when the force already supplies the GPS you need.

Being required to do something by the force doesn't make it deductible. The test is whether the cost is incurred in doing the work itself.

Thermals and fleece bought for winter night shifts are another ATO example: they're conventional clothing unless you work in an extreme environment, such as an alpine area. Comfortable cargo pants that look like uniform trousers fail too, because you chose them over the uniform the force provides.

From the 2026-27 income year (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027), eligible taxpayers get a standard deduction of up to $1,000 for work-related expenses without having to spend the money or keep records. You're eligible if you're an Australian resident for tax purposes earning salary or wages, which covers every sworn officer, PSO and recruit on a wage.

The ATO applies it automatically. It is reduced dollar for dollar by any work-related expenses you itemise that it covers, so you choose the bigger of the two: the flat $1,000, or your itemised total with receipts. It doesn't apply to the 2025-26 return you may be lodging now.

For many general duties officers, the new rule will mean less paperwork: a small laundry claim, some sunscreen and a bit of phone use is often under $1,000. Officers with study fees, a lot of work car travel, or specialist equipment will usually still be better off itemising. The worked example below shows both.

An allowance is not a deduction, and receiving one doesn't mean you can claim anything. The ATO's police guide splits allowances into those that help pay for a work expense and those that compensate you for the conditions of the job.

Everything on your income statement goes in your return, including shift allowances, loadings and composites. If your force pays a car allowance per kilometre, you declare it, then work out your deduction separately from your own records. The ATO's police example is an officer paid 50c a km for 320 work km: she declares $160 and claims 320 km at the full cents per km rate, not the allowance.

Some allowances, such as travel and overtime meal allowances, may be on your payslip but not your income statement. If you spend them on deductible costs and don't claim a deduction, you can leave them out. If you want to claim the deduction, you must declare the allowance. A reimbursement of the exact cost is different again: it isn't income, and you can't claim it.

Food during a normal shift is private, even if your shift runs through the night and a callout means you buy a meal. The ATO allows a deduction only for a meal you buy and eat while working overtime, and only when all three conditions are met.

If you spend up to the reasonable amount per meal, you don't need receipts, but you must be able to show you spent the money and how you worked out the claim. Spend more and you need receipts for the whole amount. Your claim is what you actually spent, not the allowance: the ATO's police example is an officer paid $20 a time who spends $15, so he claims $15 per overtime meal.

Allowance rates differ a lot between forces. In Tasmania the award's meal expense allowance is up to $15.57 after 2 hours; up to $29.77 for dinner (over 6-7.30pm); up to $15.56 for each further 5 hours. The NT figure we hold is $23.00 per meal (as at CA 2022 certification), which is indexed each year, so check your current payslip. The overtime and penalty rates guide compares the forces.

Home to your regular station is private travel. The ATO's guide is explicit that this stays true even if you live a long way out, work early or weekend shifts, or carry an item you can't take on public transport. What you can claim is travel in the course of the job.

The cents per kilometre rate is 88c for 2025-26 and 91c for 2026-27, for up to 5,000 work kilometres a year. A car on a novated lease can't use either method. The full rules, including the bulky equipment exception, are in police car and travel deductions.

Self-education is deductible if it maintains or improves the skills you need in your current police duties, or is likely to increase your income from your current job. The ATO's example is a detective studying a criminology degree majoring in forensics: it improves her current skills and helps her promotion prospects, so it's deductible. A course to leave the police and start a business isn't.

Where study qualifies, you can claim course fees, textbooks, stationery and travel between work or home and the place of study. You can't claim HELP repayments, and fees paid through HECS-HELP aren't deductible. Many officers studying toward promotion qualify; see the sergeant exam guide for what each force requires.

Serving officers attending a course at the academy are treated as on duty, so trips between home and the academy, or between your station and the academy, are claimable. If your employer pays or reimburses the costs, there's nothing to claim. The recruit pay guide shows what each force pays during training.

A deduction doesn't come back dollar for dollar. It reduces your taxable income, so it saves tax at your marginal rate. Take a NSW Constable Level 3 on $99,561 including the 11.5% loading, from the current award table. Their marginal rate is 32%: 30% income tax plus the 2% Medicare levy.

In 2026-27, Scenario A is under $1,000, so this officer is better off taking the standard deduction and keeping no receipts at all. Add a $2,400 criminology unit that qualifies as self-education, and itemising wins by $689. Association fees sit outside both and would be claimed on top in either case.

For most expenses, the ATO wants written evidence from the supplier showing the supplier's name, the amount, what you bought, the date of purchase and the date of the document. For 2025-26 returns, the old exceptions still apply: no receipts if your total work claims are $300 or less, and laundry up to $150 without written evidence. The police guide also describes not keeping records for incidental phone use up to $50.

From 2026-27, the ATO says that if you itemise more than your standard deduction, you need written evidence for every work-related expense you claim.

The ATO's free myDeductions tool, inside the ATO app, lets you record work expenses and car trips and upload photos of receipts. You can upload the records when you prepare your return in myTax, or share them with a tax agent.

The ATO doesn't publish a list of police audit triggers, so we won't invent one. What we can do is point to the claims its own police guide goes out of its way to rule out, and the mechanical mistakes that follow from the rules above. These are the places a claim is most likely to be questioned or reduced.

If you lodge your own 2025-26 return, the usual deadline is 31 October. If you use a registered tax agent, you generally need to be on the agent's client list by then to get their later lodgement dates; the ATO notes that in 2026, 31 October falls on a weekend, and agents still need to add new clients by that date.

1. 1

   Check your income statement in myGov

   Before lodging

   Make sure it's marked 'tax ready'. Back pay from a pay deal, especially anything more than 12 months old, may appear as Lump sum E: see back pay and tax.

2. 2

   Declare allowances you'll claim against

   Income

   Overtime meal, travel and car allowances must be declared if you claim the expense.

3. 3

   Itemise with the 2025-26 rules

   2025-26 return

   Car at 88c a km, overtime meals up to $38.65 without receipts, laundry up to $150 without written evidence.

4. 4

   Set up records for 2026-27 now

   This year

   From 1 July 2026 the receipt exceptions are gone. Decide early whether you'll beat the $1,000 standard deduction, and keep records if you will.

5. 5

   Check insurance and super

   Other deductions

   Income protection premiums you pay outside super are claimable on top of the standard deduction. See police income protection.

Variable shift income makes the rest of the year harder to plan than the return itself. Our budgeting on shift work guide shows how to set a base budget from your guaranteed pay and treat penalties and overtime as a bonus.