Long hours on the road come with costs most drivers never think to claim: the meals when you're away overnight, the gear that keeps you safe, the licence you renew to keep working. For an employee driver a lot of it is deductible, and a lot of it goes unclaimed. The line that matters is whether a cost kept you working on the road, or belonged to life once you were home. This is written for employee drivers; run your own rig as a contractor and a different set of business rules applies to you.
The test behind every claim
Behind every deduction sit three conditions.
Fall short on one and the deduction is gone, however much it felt like part of the run. Where something is used on the job and off it, like the phone that takes your dispatch calls, you claim only the work-related share.
Meals when you're away overnight
This is the big one for long-haul drivers. If your work takes you away from home overnight and you receive a travel allowance, you can claim the cost of your meals. The ATO sets reasonable amounts you can claim without keeping every receipt, though you still need to be able to show you were away for work and actually spent the money.
Meals on a normal day trip, where you're not sleeping away from home, aren't deductible.
The reasonable-amounts rule, how the travel allowance works, and why sleeping in the cab means there's no accommodation to claim are covered in full in the overnight meals and travel chapter.
Protective gear and licences
Safety gear you buy yourself is deductible: hi-vis, steel-capped boots, gloves and load-restraint equipment. Because of the hours facing the windscreen, sun protection counts too, including sunglasses. Licences are more particular than people expect: your ordinary driver's licence is never deductible, even to renew it, but the extra cost of a special heavy-vehicle condition or permit you need for your current role can be, and a medical your employer requires you to have in your current job may be too. The licences and medicals chapter draws those lines.
Load straps, gloves, a torch or a GPS unit come off in full, at their work-use share, in the year you buy them.
A bigger piece of equipment is claimed gradually as it wears out, which the ATO calls a decline in value.
The deductions that get missed
Out on the road, the small recurring costs are the ones that get missed:
What you can't claim
A few costs ride along with the job but the ATO still counts them as private:
- Your commute. Driving your own car from home to the depot and back is private.
- Fines. Speeding, parking and other infringements are never deductible, even on a work trip.
- Everyday clothing. Ordinary clothes aren't deductible, even the ones you keep for driving.
- Getting your licence the first time. The cost of gaining your heavy-vehicle licence to enter the job isn't deductible; renewing it while employed is.
Save the dockets and your travel record
A year on the road leaves a trail of paper: the meal dockets from the roadhouse, the receipt for the boots, the licence-renewal notice, the record of the nights you spent away from home. The ATO wants written evidence of what you spent, proof you were genuinely away overnight for work, and a note of how you reached any work-use split on your phone. The trick is to capture each cost while you're still at the counter, not to piece a whole year back together the night before you lodge, which is where real deductions quietly disappear.
- Meal dockets from every night you slept away from home for work.
- Receipts for gear and clothing you bought and weren't reimbursed for.
- Licence and permit renewal notices tied to your current driving role.
- A note of the nights spent away, and how you split your phone between work and home.
The bottom line
There's plenty an employee driver can claim, but only for costs you carried yourself, put to work earning your income, and can prove. The overnight meals, the safety gear, the sun protection and the special licence conditions you renew to keep working all belong. The commute to the depot, the fines and your everyday clothes don't. Get each list right, keep the dockets, and you'll be taxed on what you actually owe, not a dollar more.
See what your overnight meals, safety gear and licence renewals are worth against your driving income and tax.
Related: deductions by occupation · income tax calculator. General information only, not tax advice. Check the ATO or a registered tax agent for your situation.