Claiming Tolls on Your Tax Return

Tolls you can claim on tax

Whether you’re self-employed or an employee, if you incur tolls while driving for work, you can claim them as a tax deduction.

The only rule is that your travel must be related to your work, as the ATO defines it as “work-related” travel.

For example, Michelle is a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company. As part of her job, she travels from the office to various on-site locations. When she leaves the office, she must cross a toll bridge. Because she is travelling from her workplace to another location for work purposes, she can claim these tolls as a tax deduction.

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Tolls you can’t claim on tax

You cannot claim tolls incurred travelling between your home and workplace.

The only exception to this rule is if your home is also your office. In that case, you would be eligible to claim costs if you travelled from home to a job site or business meeting during work time.

If you are an employee, you cannot claim any tolls paid for by your employer.

How much you can claim for tolls on tax

There is no set dollar limit to the amount of tolls you can claim on tax, just so long as they meet the criteria for work-related travel. You will simply need to keep records of your travel and how much you’ve accrued in toll fees. These can be presented to your tax agent, or you’ll be able to add them to the vehicle expenses section if you complete your own returns.

It does not matter whether you use the cents per kilometre method or the logbook record; you can still claim tolls as a tax deduction.

For a more in-depth look, go to our article on claiming work-related car expenses.

Record keeping

As with most vehicle-related expenses, you should keep records and receipts handy for when you’re ready to submit your tax return at the end of the financial year.

As most toll fees are automated in Australia, you should be able to download your statements directly from the toll provider.

To back up these records, you should also keep a log of any work-related travel you perform as a part of your job. The best way to do this is with a logbook.