Teachers’ Tax Deductions

Tax time is right around the corner and, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have shared a range of helpful tips and resources to help make tax time easier.

If you’ve worked from home this financial year, there are two ways to calculate your deduction this tax time – the revised fixed rate method, or the actual cost method. From 1 July 2022, the revised fixed rate method has increased from 52 cents to 67 cents per hour worked from home, and no longer requires you to have a dedicated home office space. The expenses covered in the rate, and the records you’ll need to keep, have changed too.

Keeping the right records is essential. The myDeductions tool in the ATO app provides a fast and easy way to store your receipts and keep track of your records.

Cars are a good source of deductions but you can’t claim the cost of normal trips between home and work, even if you live a long way from your usual workplace or have to work outside normal business hours - for example, attending parent-teacher interviews.

You can claim the cost of using a car you own when you drive directly between separate jobs on the same day - for example, travelling from your first job as a teacher to your second job as a tutor or to and from an alternate workplace for the same employer on the same day - for example, driving from your regular school to another school to moderate exam results.

In limited circumstances, you can claim the cost of trips between home and work, where you carry bulky tools or equipment for work. You can claim a deduction for the cost of these trips if the tools or equipment are essential to perform your employment duties and you don’t carry them merely as a matter of choice, all of these must apply.

The ATO says best time to lodge is from late July, when most of your information from employers, banks and health funds has been automatically included in your tax return.

You should be able to check the pre-filled information is correct, add any income that’s missing, and claim your deductions. Most tax returns lodged online take about two weeks to be processed.

Information around deductions for self-education, union fees, school supplies and working from home costs can be found on the ATO’s tailored occupation guide. It also covers information on the income you’ll need to declare, and the records you need to keep.

Visit www.ato.gov.au/teacher

Image by Tara Winstead