Lost a few receipts this year? You are not alone, and it does not automatically mean you miss out. The ATO has a handful of specific exceptions that let you claim certain work-related expenses without written evidence – but each one has conditions, and none of them is a free deduction.
This guide sets out exactly how much you can claim without receipts for the 2025-26 return you are lodging now and for 2026-27: the $300 work-expenses threshold and what it does and does not cover, the $150 laundry rule, the cents per kilometre method and its 5,000 km cap, the small-expenses and hard-to-get-receipt rules, and the travel and overtime meal allowance exceptions. Every figure is taken from the ATO’s records you need to keep guidance and its current determinations.
If you want the full picture of what employees can claim, read this with our guide to work-related tax deductions. This article is only about the evidence you need.
Key takeaways
- $300 total work-related expenses: no receipts needed, but you must have spent the money and be able to show how you worked it out. Go over $300 and you need written evidence for the lot.
- $150 laundry for eligible uniforms, protective or occupation-specific clothing (not dry-cleaning) without receipts; the ATO accepts $1 per load of work clothes only, 50 cents per mixed load.
- Cents per kilometre: up to 5,000 work km per car at 88 cents (2024-25 and 2025-26) or 91 cents (2026-27), with a record of how you calculated the kilometres.
- Small expenses of $10 or less, up to $200 a year, and expenses where a receipt is hard to get, can be recorded in a diary instead.
- Travel and overtime meal allowances have their own exception: claim up to the ATO’s reasonable amounts without receipts if you received a bona fide allowance.
- There is no standard deduction. Claiming money you did not spend is an overclaim, whatever the threshold.
What you can claim without receipts at a glance
| Expense | Limit without written evidence | What you still need |
|---|---|---|
| Total work-related expenses | $300 or less in total (excluding car, travel allowance and overtime meal claims) | Proof you spent the money and how you calculated the claim |
| Laundry of eligible work clothing | $150 or less (dry-cleaning excluded) | A reasonable basis: $1 per load of only work clothes, 50c per mixed load |
| Car expenses – cents per km method | Up to 5,000 work km per car: 88c/km in 2025-26, 91c/km in 2026-27 | A record of how you worked out the kilometres; proof you own or lease the car |
| Small expenses | $10 or less each, up to $200 a year | Your own written record of each expense |
| Expenses where a receipt is hard to get | No dollar limit stated | A record you make yourself (diary note or note in your phone) with the same details a receipt would show |
| Travel allowance expenses | Up to the ATO reasonable amounts (TD 2025/4, TD 2026/4) | A bona fide allowance, an overnight work trip, proof of travel and proof you incurred the costs |
| Overtime meal allowance | $38.65 per meal (2025-26), $40 (2026-27) | An overtime meal allowance paid under an award or agreement, and you bought the meal |
Source: ATO, Records you need to keep; Cents per kilometre method; Taxation Determination TD 2026/4. Checked 6 October 2026.
The general rule: substantiation
For most work-related deductions the ATO requires written evidence – a document from the supplier showing the supplier’s name, the amount, what was bought, the date you paid and the date of the document. Receipts, tax invoices, bank and credit card statements and digital copies all qualify, and you must keep them for five years from the date you lodge your return. The ATO’s guidance puts it directly: “If your total claim for work-related expenses is more than $300, you must have written evidence for all of your claims.”
Everything below is an exception to that rule. Each exception removes the need for a supplier document; none of them removes the need for the expense to be real, work-related and not reimbursed. If you are reviewed, the ATO will ask you to show that you spent the money and how you calculated the claim, even where no receipt is required.
The $300 rule for work-related expenses
If your total claim for work-related expenses is $300 or less, you can claim without full written evidence, as long as you can show that you spent the money and how you calculated the amount. This covers things like stationery, a work bag, small tools, union or professional fees, or the work portion of your phone bill, where the total across all of them is $300 or less.
Three points about this rule are regularly misunderstood:
- It is a threshold, not a deduction. There is no standard $300 deduction in Australia. If you spent $120, you claim $120.
- It is all or nothing. If your total is $350, you need written evidence for the whole $350, not for the $50 over the limit.
- It excludes several categories. Car expenses, travel allowance expenses and overtime meal allowance expenses are not counted towards the $300 and have their own rules, described below. Decline in value on assets over $300 also requires records of the purchase.
A related rule applies to equipment: a work-related asset costing $300 or less can be deducted in full in the year you buy it if you use it mainly for work and it is not part of a set, under the ATO’s assets costing $300 or less rules. That is about when you claim, not about receipts, so keep the purchase record even for small items – see our guide to claiming a laptop on tax.
The $150 laundry rule
If your total claim for work-related laundry expenses is $150 or less, excluding dry-cleaning, you can claim without receipts. The clothing must be eligible: a compulsory uniform, a registered non-compulsory uniform, protective clothing such as high-vis or steel-capped boots, or occupation-specific clothing such as chef’s whites or nurses’ scrubs. Ordinary clothes, even if your employer requires them (a plain black shirt or business suit), are not deductible and neither is washing them.
The ATO accepts a reasonable basis of $1 per load where the load contains only work clothing, and 50 cents per load where work clothing is washed with other items. Dry-cleaning and repairs need receipts. You can claim laundry above $150, but then you need written evidence of the costs. Note how the two thresholds interact: laundry counts towards your total work-related expenses, but laundry of $150 or less never needs receipts even when your total goes over $300. Once your total (including laundry) exceeds $300, it is the other items that need written evidence. For example, $140 of laundry plus $250 of stationery and tools is $390 in total, so the stationery and tools need receipts while the laundry does not.
Car expenses: the cents per kilometre method
The cents per kilometre method lets you claim a set rate for each work-related kilometre you drive in your own car, up to 5,000 kilometres per car per year, without receipts for fuel, servicing or insurance. The rate covers all running costs including decline in value, so nothing can be added on top. The rates are 88 cents for 2024-25 and 2025-26, and 91 cents for 2026-27, so the maximum claim is $4,400 (2025-26) or $4,550 (2026-27).
No logbook is required, but the ATO does require a record showing how you calculated your work kilometres – a diary of trips, a calendar entry for each client visit, or the myDeductions tool in the ATO app – and you must be able to show that you own or lease the car. A reasonable estimate is acceptable: the ATO’s own example is a 20 km round trip once a week for 48 weeks, giving 960 km. Travel between home and your regular workplace is private and does not count. If you drive more than 5,000 work kilometres you need the logbook method; see our ATO car logbook guide.
Small expenses and hard-to-get receipts
Two further exceptions cover the everyday gaps in your paperwork. Small expenses of $10 or less can be recorded in your own written record instead of keeping a receipt, provided the total of small expenses recorded this way is $200 or less for the year. And where it is hard to get a receipt – a parking meter, a toll, a coin-operated locker – the ATO says you can make a record yourself, such as a diary note or a note in your phone, instead of getting a document from the supplier. Your record should show the same details a receipt would: what you bought, who from, how much, and when.
Travel and overtime meal allowances
If your employer pays you a bona fide travel allowance for overnight work travel, or an overtime meal allowance under an award or agreement, you can claim your expenses up to the ATO’s published reasonable amounts without receipts. For 2026-27 (TD 2026/4) the overtime meal amount is $40, and for an employee earning $153,210 or less the domestic travel amounts are breakfast $36.00, lunch $40.45, dinner $69.00, incidentals $25.40 and accommodation from $141 to $230 a night depending on the city. The 2025-26 overtime meal amount was $38.65.
The conditions matter: you must have received the allowance, actually incurred the expense, and claim no more than the reasonable amount – otherwise you need written evidence for the whole claim. You also still need to be able to show that you travelled or worked the overtime. The detail is in our guides to the ATO meal allowance rules and the overnight travel allowance.
Rule of thumb
“No receipt required” never means “no record required”. For every claim without a receipt, write down what you bought, when, how much and why it was for work. A one-line diary entry at the time is worth more than any explanation a year later.
Worked examples
Emma, office administrator. Emma buys stationery, a mouse pad and an industry journal subscription during 2025-26 for a total of $295, keeping a note of each purchase in her phone. Her total work-related expenses are under $300, so she claims $295 without receipts. Had she also bought a $90 work bag, her total of $385 would need written evidence for every item.
Josh, sales representative. Josh drives his own car to clients and his calendar shows 3,800 work kilometres in 2025-26. He claims 3,800 x 88 cents = $3,344 under the cents per kilometre method with no fuel receipts or logbook, keeping the calendar as his record. In 2026-27 the same kilometres would be worth 3,800 x 91 cents = $3,458.
Priya, nurse. Priya washes her scrubs in a work-only load three times a week for 46 weeks: 138 loads at $1 each is $138. She claims $138 of laundry without receipts. She also buys a $45 stethoscope and $60 of nursing shoes and claims those with receipts, because she keeps them anyway.
Common mistakes
- Treating $300 as a standard deduction. The ATO’s data matching compares your claims with others in your occupation and income band; a round $300 with nothing behind it is easy to spot.
- Claiming $299 “to be safe” when you spent more. If you have receipts for $600 of genuine expenses, claim $600.
- Claiming laundry on ordinary clothes. A suit, black trousers or a plain shirt are not eligible clothing.
- Counting home-to-work travel as work kilometres. Only travel in the course of your work counts.
- Using the wrong year’s rate. 88 cents for 2025-26, 91 cents for 2026-27.
- Claiming expenses your employer reimbursed. A reimbursed expense is not deductible, receipt or no receipt.
- Discarding records too early. Five years from the date you lodge.
How to keep records the easy way
- Use the myDeductions tool in the ATO app to photograph receipts, log trips and record small expenses as they happen; at tax time you can upload the data to your return or send it to your tax agent.
- Keep a work diary or calendar that records client visits, overtime and travel, so your kilometres and allowances are supported.
- Use a separate card or payment method for work purchases so your bank statement becomes a ready-made record.
- Set a four-week usage diary for any asset you share between work and private use, such as a laptop or phone.
- If you have lost receipts for a larger claim, do not guess – ask us to help you reconstruct the evidence from statements and supplier records. Our earlier article on whether you can claim tax without receipts and our guide to how to claim work-related expenses cover the process in more detail.
FAQ about claiming without receipts
How much can I claim without receipts in Australia?
If your total work-related expenses are $300 or less you do not need receipts, but you must have spent the money and be able to show how you worked out the claim. Separately, you can claim up to $150 of laundry for eligible work clothing without receipts, up to 5,000 work kilometres a year under the cents per kilometre method (88 cents for 2025-26, 91 cents for 2026-27) with a record of how you calculated the kilometres, and small expenses of $10 or less (up to $200 a year) with a diary note instead of a receipt. The $300 limit does not include car, travel allowance or overtime meal claims, which have their own rules.
Is the $300 an automatic deduction?
No. There is no standard deduction in Australia. The $300 figure is only a record-keeping threshold: below it the ATO does not require written evidence, but it still requires that you actually incurred the expense for work and can explain how you calculated it. Claiming $299 you did not spend is an overclaim and can attract penalties.
If I claim $350, do I only need receipts for $50?
No. Once your total work-related expenses exceed $300 you need written evidence for all of them, not just the amount over $300. This is the most common misunderstanding of the rule.
Can I claim car expenses without a logbook?
Yes, under the cents per kilometre method, for up to 5,000 work-related kilometres per car per year. You do not need fuel receipts or a logbook, but you must be able to show how you worked out the kilometres – a diary of trips, a calendar, or the myDeductions tool in the ATO app – and that you own or lease the car. Travel between home and your regular workplace does not count.
What can I use if I have lost a receipt?
A bank or credit card statement that shows the supplier, date and amount, together with a diary note explaining what the item was and how it relates to your work. For expenses where it is hard to get a receipt, the ATO accepts a record you make yourself. If you have lost receipts for a large claim, a tax agent can help you reconstruct evidence from statements, emails and supplier records.
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Missing receipts are a problem we solve every tax season. Nanak Accountants can tell you which of your expenses fall under an exception, what evidence will satisfy the ATO for the rest, and how to set up records so next year is simpler. Call 1300 626 258 or book a consultation. See also our overview of work-related tax deductions and the original release of this guide.
This article is general information only and is not personal tax advice. Thresholds, rates and record-keeping exceptions were checked against the ATO’s records you need to keep guidance, the cents per kilometre method page and Taxation Determination TD 2026/4 on 6 October 2026.
