The Rules for Claiming on Tax Without Receipts

As a small business owner or employee, you should keep receipts for any work-related expenses you claim at tax time.

However, there may be situations where you can claim on tax without receipts, as long as you meet certain criteria.

Criteria for claiming on tax without receipts

The following applies when claiming work-related expenses in general:

• You paid the expense yourself from your own funds
• The expense is genuinely work related - which means it is a necessary expense and directly related to earning your income in your job or business
• If you are an employee, you have not been reimbursed already by your employer for the cost.

Where you do not have a receipt for an expense you are claiming:

• You must have kept another type of record, and
• You are able to clearly explain why you are claiming the expense if asked.

You should also be aware of the various rules regarding different types of expenses, as explained below.

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Situations where you can claim on tax without receipts

$300 maximum claims rule

This rule states that if the total of your work-related expenses is $300 or less (not including car, travel, and overtime meal expenses, which can be claimed separately), you can claim the total amount as a tax deduction without receipts.

While the ATO is unlikely to ask you to show receipts in this scenario, you do need to be able to show what the expenses were for and explain why they were essential to your job or business.

Maximum claim for clothing and laundry costs without receipts

The maximum you can claim for protective and workplace clothing and laundry costs without receipts is $150. For a claim that is higher than this, you will need to show written evidence, such as receipts.

The rules for this are:

• The clothing is a compulsory requirement of the job or business - e.g. it is occupation-specific, a uniform, or protective clothing that is genuinely required for safety.
• The claims are only for laundering expenses. For this you will need to keep records so you know how much to claim, such as laundromat costs. For home laundering, the ATO sets amounts of $1 per wash load that contains only compulsory work clothing items, and 50c per load where the work clothing is mixed with other items.
• Everyday clothing that you wear to work is not claimable. This includes the pieces of your workplace outfit that are not part of your uniform, even if your employer requires you to wear them.

You will need to show receipts for purchasing, dry cleaning, and repairing work-related clothing. However, if you are genuinely unable to produce all relevant receipts, another record might be acceptable—e.g., bank statements and diary entries.

The $150 amount is included in the total of $300 you can claim without receipts. So if you were to claim the full $150, you would have $150 remaining that you can claim on other costs.

Scenario: Your boss provides you with a uniform white shirt you must wear every day and requires you to wear black pants to match. Your laundering costs for work clothing total $140, $100 of which is for the shirt. In this case, you can claim only for the costs of cleaning the shirt, not the rest of the outfit. You can make the $100 claim without receipts, as it’s under the $150 limit.

Claiming fuel costs without receipts

You can claim the fuel you use for work-related purposes without receipts if you use the cents per kilometre method. With this method, you can claim for up to 5,000 km of work-related trips without receipts for the financial year (the rate for 2024-25 is 88c per km).

The other way to claim fuel for work-related trips is through the logbook method, which does require you to keep receipts. However, if you do not have all your fuel receipts, a reasonable estimate of fuel costs based on odometer readings in your logbook may suffice.

Scenario: You work in a cafe and your employer requires you to drive to the bank each day to deposit the day’s cash takings. In this case, you should keep a written record of each trip so you know how many work-related km you can claim at tax time, and you can show the ATO how you calculated your claim if asked.

Travel and overtime meal claims

As an employee, you may be able to claim for work-related travel without receipts as long as you meet certain conditions and the costs fit within the ATO’s “reasonable limits”.

The conditions are that you receive a taxable travel allowance from your employer, you pay for the expense yourself, and you have not already been reimbursed for the expense by your employer. The ATO sets reasonable limits for accommodation, different types of meals, and incidentals. These limits change from year to year and can depend on where you travel to, your annual salary, and your occupation.

If you work overtime, you may be able to claim overtime meal allowances without receipts. The conditions are that you do not already receive a meal allowance, you paid for the meal yourself and consumed it during your break, and the cost was within the ATO’s limits. Our article on overtime meal expenses has more detail on this topic.

Small expenses claims

Some expenses are for small items, and it may be difficult to always get a receipt for them.

The ATO allows you to claim small expenses under $10 without a receipt as long as the total amount claimed does not exceed $200 for the year. Examples of small expenses include small tools, stationery, and office supplies.

Scenario: you regularly pick up a 2-litre carton of milk from the corner store for the staff office of your sole trader business. The store sometimes gives out cash register printouts but does not provide official receipts. You keep a diary record of these expenditures; over the year, they add up to $152. You can claim this amount at tax time without receipts, as it’s under the $200 limit.

Claiming donations on tax without receipts

A donation of at least $2 is tax deductible, and the organisation you donate to must have DGR (Deductible Gift Recipient) status. You must also not have received anything in return for your gift or donation.

Without a receipt, you can claim up to $10 worth of ‘bucket donations’ (such as a collection by a registered charity in a shopping centre).

For all other donations, you should try to get a receipt, but if you are unable to, another record may be acceptable. This could be a bank statement, credit card record, or a letter from the charity confirming the amount.

Scenario: You donate $10 cash to a DGR disaster assistance collection but forget to get a receipt. You can claim this without a receipt, as it doesn’t exceed the $10 limit.

Claims for parking fees

You cannot directly claim parking costs without a receipt. However, if you use the cents per km method for car expenses, it includes parking fees. Since you don’t need receipts for this method, you will, in effect, be claiming parking fees without a receipt.

Scenario: You incur $50 in parking fees but haven’t kept receipts, and you are using the cents per km method for car expenses. In this case, it won’t matter that you don’t have parking receipts, as the cost will be covered by the cents per km method.

When receipts are hard to get, lost or destroyed

Sometimes, obtaining an official receipt or getting a substitute record can be difficult when you have lost a receipt.

If the claim is a reasonable one for your job or business, and you were genuinely unable to get a receipt or a substitute, a bank statement plus a written record detailing the purchase may be acceptable. However, if you paid cash and do not have a receipt, and the purchase was more than $10, you won’t be able to claim it on your tax.

Importance of keeping accurate records

It’s important not to be flippant about obtaining receipts. The ATO expects you to show receipts for your claims, so you should obtain them whenever possible as they are documentary evidence.

Receipts should include the supplier's name, the date of the document, the date you made the purchase, the amount of the expense, and a description of the goods or services purchased. If the supplier is GST-registered, their invoice or receipt must also show the business’s ABN and the amount of GST included.

If you genuinely cannot get a receipt, at least keep a diary record that includes an explanation.

Use caution when claiming on tax without receipts

If you don’t have much in the way of deductible claims to make on your tax, you should not automatically claim an amount up to the $300 limit just because you can. The same applies for the $150 limit for laundry and the small expenses limit of $200. 

The ATO is aware that some taxpayers do this, and it has been cracking down on fake work-related claims in recent years.