Occupation guide · Reviewed 17 August 2026
Tax deductions for nurses & midwives
What nurses and midwives can legitimately claim, what the ATO routinely disallows, and the records that make the difference at review time.
What can nurses and midwives claim on tax?
Nurses can claim AHPRA registration, professional association and union fees, continuing professional development, compulsory uniforms and their laundry, protective footwear and stockings, agency-related travel between separate workplaces in a day, work-related phone use, and self-education connected to your current role. What's not claimable: ordinary travel from home to a single hospital, plain clothes worn to work, childcare, and the cost of getting your first qualification before you were employed in the field.
- Occupation-specific checklist below
- Written evidence needed above $300 total
- We ask from the right list, not “anything else?”
- Returns prepared within 48 hours
Claimable
What you can claim.
- AHPRA registration and renewal fees
- Nursing union and professional association fees
- CPD courses, conferences and professional journals
- Compulsory uniforms with a logo, plus laundry at ATO rates
- Non-slip shoes and compression stockings where required
- Fob watch, stethoscope and clinical equipment
- Travel between two workplaces in the same shift
- Agency shift travel to alternative workplaces
- Work-related phone and internet percentage
- Self-education for your current role (e.g. post-grad specialty)
- Overtime meal allowance claims where paid under an award
- Income protection premiums held personally
What the ATO disallows
- Home to work travel to a single regular hospital
- Plain shoes, plain clothes or non-compulsory uniform items
- Grooming, haircuts and cosmetics
- Childcare while on shift
- Meals on ordinary shifts without an award allowance
- Your initial nursing qualification before employment
- Vaccinations and police checks required before employment
Claiming these is the fastest route to an amended assessment and a shortfall penalty. If you’ve claimed them before, we can review prior years.
Records
What to keep.
Written evidence is required once your total work-related claims exceed $300 — and for vehicles, home office and laundry there are specific record rules regardless of amount.
- Receipts or invoices for every claim once the $300 total is passed
- A vehicle log book — 12 consecutive weeks, valid five years
- Home-office hours recorded for the full year at the 70c rate
- A diary basis for phone and internet work-use percentages
- Your income statement and any allowance details
FAQ
Questions from nurses and midwives.
Can I claim laundry for my scrubs?
Yes, where the uniform is compulsory or occupation-specific. You can claim laundry at ATO-accepted rates — commonly $1 per load for work-only washing and 50c where mixed with other items — without receipts up to $150 total, but you still need a reasonable basis for the number of loads.
Can I claim travel between hospitals?
Yes, when you travel between two workplaces in the same day. Travel from home to your first workplace and home from your last is generally private, even on night shift or when public transport isn't running.
Is my post-graduate study deductible?
If it maintains or improves the skills you use in your current role, generally yes — fees, textbooks, travel to campus and a portion of home-study costs. If it's designed to move you into a different field, no. FEE-HELP repayments themselves aren't deductible.
What about shift meals and coffee?
Not deductible on ordinary shifts. The exception is a genuine overtime meal allowance paid under your award — then the reasonable-amount rules apply, and you claim what you spent up to the ATO's published reasonable amount.
Related
Related pages.
Personal tax returns from $150
Occupation-specific deduction checklists, prepared in 48 hours.
Learn more →Work from home deductions
The 70c fixed rate against actual cost, with worked examples.
Learn more →Vehicle claim calculator
Log book versus cents per kilometre on your own numbers.
Learn more →Other occupation guides
Ready when you are
Get every deduction you’re entitled to.
Returns from $150, prepared within 48 hours, by accountants who work from an occupation checklist rather than guesswork.