Get your clothing and laundry expenses right this tax-time

By O'MEARA AND ASSOCIATES AS tax time comes around once again, remember the following general rules to follow in order to claim a deduction are: • You must have spent the money yourself and not have been reimbursed. • The deduction must be directly related to your income. • You must be able to substantiate the deduction. Now, let's focus specifically on clothing and laundry expenses. Generally you cannot claim the cost of buying, repairing or cleaning conventional clothing you wear to work. This is even if your employer says it is compulsory to wear certain clothing. Conventional clothing is everyday clothing such as; business attire worn by office workers, or regular jeans, regular shorts and shirts worn by tradies. The categories you can claim the cost and laundry expenses of work clothing are the following; • Occupation specific clothing – this is clothing that distinctly identifies you as belonging to a particular occupation. For example, chef’s chequered pants. • Protective clothing – this is clothing that protects against the real or likely risk of illness or injury during a person’s work activities or environment. Examples include: safety vests or shirts (HiViz); protective boots (steel capped); non-slip nurses shoes; fire resistant clothing; and clothing with UPF sun protection rating. • Compulsory uniform – this is clothing where your employer makes it compulsory to wear a particular uniform and strictly enforces this through a workplace agreement. It also needs to be sufficiently distinctive to identify you as working for a particular employer. • Non-compulsory uniform – this type of uniform needs to be registered with AusIndustry in order for a deduction to be claimed. For example, office staff wearing a suit of a particular colour with a company logo. This is not compulsory but encouraged and also registered on the AusIndustry register. You can claim the costs to clean work clothes form one of the above categories. If your laundry claim is $150 or less, you won’t need receipts but do need to show how the claim was calculated.