A lot of hospitality workers think none of what they wear counts at tax time, so they claim nothing and lose money they were owed. Others go the other way and claim the whole outfit, including the plain black shirt and shoes, which is exactly what the ATO looks for. The truth sits between the two. Some of what you put on for a shift is genuinely deductible, and some of it, however strict the dress code, simply is not. This page walks the wardrobe from the kitchen to the floor and shows you which side of the line each piece falls on. The test underneath it never changes: you paid for it yourself, you were not paid back, and the clothing is either special to the trade, a proper logo uniform, or gear that protects you.
Chef's clothing you can claim
Here is the good news if you work in a kitchen, and it is the bit most people miss. A chef's clothing is what the ATO calls occupation-specific: the chequered pants, the white jacket and the toque are so tied to the trade that anyone walking past knows what you do for a living. That makes them deductible to buy, to repair and to replace.
Joe, a chef, can claim his chequered pants, white jacket and toque, but not the jeans and t-shirt he throws on to work a food truck, because those are just ordinary clothes.
So if you have been leaving your whites off your return because you assumed no clothing was claimable, you have been giving away a real deduction.
The logo uniform, and the plain-black catch
The next piece that counts is a proper uniform. A shirt, apron or cap carrying the venue's embroidered logo or name, worn because the venue compels it and enforces it, is deductible to buy and to keep going. That much is straightforward. The catch is what a lot of hospitality workers get wrong, and it is the single most common over-claim in the whole industry.
If the item would look at home outside of work, it does not count, and being told to wear it changes nothing.
Non-slip shoes, aprons and protective gear
Some of what you wear is there to keep you safe rather than to look the part, and that gear is deductible on its own terms, uniform or no uniform.
The line to hold is between protection and habit: a shoe with genuine non-slip or safety features answers a real hazard, but an ordinary black leather shoe the venue simply asks you to wear does nothing to protect you, so it stays conventional clothing and off your return.
Laundry
Once a piece of clothing earns its place on your return, keeping it clean earns one too, and you do not need a drawer full of receipts to claim it. The ATO lets you use a set rate for washing your deductible work clothing, meaning your whites, your logo uniform and your protective gear, and never the plain black.
A laundry claim of $150 or less needs no written evidence, but you still have to show how you arrived at it, so loads a week across the weeks you worked is the sum that stands behind the number.
Above $150 the self-assessment stops: you need written evidence for the laundry claim. Dry-cleaning and repairs are separate, always at their actual cost with receipts.
$1 a load where the wash holds only your work clothing, or 50c a load where your work clothing goes in together with the rest of the household washing. The limit comes straight out of the sections above: you cannot claim the washing of plain conventional clothing, not even the black shirt you scrub the sauce out of yourself every week, because a garment that was never deductible does not become one at the laundry.
Grooming is not deductible
Looking the part is part of the job in a lot of venues, but the ATO treats the cost of it as private:
- Haircuts and hairdressing. Personal spending, even when the venue expects a certain look.
- Makeup and skincare, including cosmetics you use to cover a mark.
- A grooming allowance. It is income you declare, and it does not turn a private cost into a deductible one.
- Prescription glasses, which stay private even worn on shift.
Records
Each claim on this page lives or dies on the record behind it, and clothing and laundry are built from the small, everyday costs that slip away first.
- The receipt for the whites and every piece of protective gear.
- The docket for the non-slip shoes.
- The working you used to reach the laundry figure, backed by a simple running note of your weekly laundry loads.
Trying to rebuild a year of that from memory in July is how honest deductions quietly fall off a return. The ATO's free myDeductions app will keep the basics in one place if you stay on top of it.
The bottom line
Sort your work wardrobe into two piles. In one go the whites, the chequered pants and toque, the genuine logo uniform, and the protective gear like non-slip shoes, aprons, cut gloves and oven mitts: those come back to you when you buy them, mend them and wash them. In the other go the plain black shirt, the black pants and the ordinary closed shoes, however firmly the venue insists on them, along with your haircuts and makeup: none of that counts, and neither does laundering the black. Get the split right, take off anything the venue supplied or paid back, keep the receipts and the laundry count, and your claim lands on what the work really costs you and nothing more.
See what your uniform, work clothing and laundry claims come to at tax time.
General information only, not tax advice. Check the ATO or a registered tax agent for your situation.