A wage-paid plumber's refund is built out of a year of small outlays you carried yourself: the boots you replaced, the blades and thread tape you burned through, the waterproofs you rinsed most evenings, the Master Plumbers fee slipping off your pay before you ever notice it, the backflow revalidation you settled without a second thought. Come July, none of it reassembles on its own. Work down this list before lodging, so the genuinely yours stays in and the trouble stays out.
It left your own pocket, it was for the work, nobody paid you back, and there's a record to show it.
Income and allowances to declare
Start at the top, with what arrives before what leaves. Get the income clean and the deductions have something solid to sit on.
- Every dollar of wages, cash and all. Your income statement appears in myGov, generally by mid-July. Wait for the "Tax ready" flag before you lodge. Pay handed to you in cash is income like any other, and has to be declared.
- Allowances, right down to the last one. A tool, travel or site allowance is taxable, so it belongs on the return regardless of what you did with it. That kind of payment covers you for the conditions rather than a set expense, which means it buys you no deduction by itself. Your claim rests only on money you genuinely spent.
Tools you paid for yourself
For a plumber this tends to be the heaviest line, and the one people trip over at both ends.
Off in one go the year of purchase.
Written down as it declines in value over its effective life, so a drain camera or press kit is claimable across several years rather than one.
Consumables like blades, thread tape and flux, plus tool repairs, servicing and hire, come off no matter which side of the $300 line they fall.
Protective and wet-weather gear
Here live the small, forgettable claims, and a fair chunk of what passes for work clothing but quietly falls short.
The trap on plain clothes: everyday shirts, trousers, jeans and socks count as conventional clothing, never deductible, mandated by the boss or not, filthy off a job or not. Their wash isn't claimable either.
Travel between jobs
Hauling bulky, essential gear with no safe place to leave it at the workplace can turn that around, but only when locking it away truly isn't an option.
Licences, gas, backflow and study
What to leave off
These wear the look of work costs, but the ATO turns them away, and listing them is what draws a second glance:
- The run home to the depot. Private, whether you live well out of town, start before sunrise, draw a travel allowance, or have the van loaded with tools.
- Anything issued or refunded. Tools, gear or PPE the firm gave you or reimbursed. Nothing left your pocket, so nothing goes on the return.
- Ordinary clothing. Plain shirts, trousers and jeans, and the cost of laundering them.
- Your first licence, and your driver's licence. The plumbing or gas registration that got you going, and the licence you'd carry regardless, new or renewed.
- Fines. Off the table always, even one collected on a work trip.
- Everyday meals, the gym, personal spending. A feed on a normal day, fitness memberships and general living costs are private.
- GST, BAS and business expenses. Those ride with an ABN, not a wage-paid plumber. Invoicing off your own ABN is a separate return and accountant work, not this.
The records that hold a claim up
Each line here rides on the proof underneath it. The ATO puts it plainly: hold written evidence for what you claim, and the moment your total work-related claims go over $300, records are needed for the lot, not merely the slice above the line. It's never the big buy that's hard. It's the steady drip of little costs over the year, the fresh gloves, the thread tape, the union fee off your pay, load after load of waterproofs washing, that nobody bothers to file.
- Receipts for tools and gear you bought and weren't paid back for.
- A logbook or kilometre diary where you're claiming the job-to-job driving.
- Your final payslip, for the year-to-date trade or union fee.
- Renewal notices for the licences, gas and backflow tied to your current work.
- A tally of laundry loads per week worked, behind the washing claim.
The bottom line
One run through this list recovers the money that usually slips away: the boots and gloves, the sunscreen, the blades and thread tape, the trade fee off your pay, the kilometres between jobs, the backflow revalidation. Put down all your income and allowances, claim what you paid for and can prove, and let the commute and the everyday clothes sit where they belong. Turning up to a job properly geared and protected costs you money out of pocket all year. This is the return that gives some of it back.
Total your tools, protective gear, between-job travel and the rest against your income and tax.
General information only, not tax advice. Check the ATO or a registered tax agent for your situation.