You spend the year on your feet, through doubles and late finishes, and a fair bit of what you buy to do the job comes out of your own pocket. At tax time some of that is yours to claim back, and a lot of it quietly goes unclaimed because piecing together a whole year of shifts the night before you lodge is hard. This checklist is the fix. Run through it before you lodge, tick what you paid for, and you will catch the deductions that are honestly yours. The test behind every one of them is the same: you paid for it yourself, it was for the work, and you kept a record.
1. The income to declare first
Deductions come off your income, so start with the income being right. Two things matter here.
If you want the full picture on tips, and on whether you are a PAYG employee or working under an ABN, our guide on tips, income and your work status walks through it.
2. Knives and tools you paid for
The set trap catches people, so if you bought a roll or a few pieces together our guide on chef knives, tools and the $300 rule has the detail.
3. Chef's whites, uniforms and non-slip shoes
The catch: plain black clothing the venue tells you to wear is not deductible, and neither is washing it, and neither is your haircut. That is where most hospitality claims get knocked back, so our guide on uniforms, whites and the black-clothing myth spells out where the line sits.
4. RSA, RSG and food-safety renewals
The initial-versus-renewal line and the course rules trip a lot of people up, so our guide on RSA, certificates and training goes through them.
5. Travel, phone and overtime meals
For how the methods work and where the meal claim stops, see our guide on travel, phone and overtime meals.
6. What to leave off
A few things feel work-related but are not, and claiming them is where returns get flagged:
- The trip to and from work. Home to the venue and back is private, even on a 2am finish, even carrying your knives.
- Plain black clothing, the black shirt, pants and plain shoes the venue makes you wear, and washing them.
- Grooming. Haircuts, makeup and skincare, even where the venue expects a certain look.
- Your first RSA or food-safety card, the one that got you the job.
- Meals and coffee on a normal shift, and food eaten after an overtime shift has ended. You cannot claim a feed just because you work with food.
- Study to change careers, fines, and your driver's licence.
- Anything the venue supplied or paid back to you. If it was reimbursed, you cannot claim it again.
7. Keep the records, or the claim falls over
Here is the part that quietly costs hospitality workers the most: a deduction is only as good as the record behind it.
A year rebuilt from memory the night before you lodge is a year of quiet losses.
- The receipt for every purchase, plus a quick note of any work-and-home split.
- Written evidence for all your claims once your total work-related claims come to more than $300, not just the part over $300.
- Costs banked the moment they land, rather than rebuilt from memory the night before you lodge.
The ATO's free myDeductions tool covers the basics.
The bottom line
Run this checklist once before you lodge and the deductions that usually slip through, the knives, the whites, the RSA renewal, the laundry, the drive to your second venue, land back where they belong, on your return. Declare all your income including the cash and the tips, claim what you paid for and can show, and leave the plain black shirt and the haircut off. Your bill settles on your real income once the genuine work costs are stripped out, and you keep your share.
Tally the knives, whites, certificates and travel on your checklist and see what they come to.
General information only, not tax advice. Check the ATO or a registered tax agent for your situation.