Cleaner uniform, protective gear, shoes and laundry

Cleaning is hard on what you wear, and a fair bit of what protects you comes out of your own pocket. The gloves that stop the bleach reaching your skin, the mask against the dust, the shoes that grip a wet floor: those are the items that come back to you at tax time. What does not is the plain black outfit a lot of cleaners assume they can claim because the boss told them to wear it. This chapter draws that line clearly, because it is the line the ATO cares about most. The rule underneath all of it stays the same. You paid for it yourself, you were not reimbursed, it protects you or marks you as staff, and you kept a record.

Protective gear you buy yourself

Anything you buy to guard against a real and likely risk of injury or illness on the job is deductible, and here is the part cleaners miss: it counts even if you have no uniform at all. The ATO files this gear under protective items, not clothing, so it stands on its own. The one condition is that you funded it yourself and were not paid back for it.

• Gloves. Disposable, reusable and heavy-duty, including the thick rubber kind that keep chemicals off your hands.
• Face masks and respirators, with their filters, for dust, fumes and germs.
• Safety glasses and goggles where splashes or spray are part of the work.
• Aprons, smocks and hair nets worn to keep harmful substances off you.
• Knee pads for the floors and the scrubbing that goes with them.

If the site supplied the gloves or the client paid you back for the masks, that box is not your expense. Only the gear you covered yourself lands on the return.

Non-slip and protective shoes

This is the one most cleaners never realise counts. A wet floor is a genuine hazard, so a non-slip or rubber-soled shoe bought to keep you upright on it is protective footwear, and it is deductible. The same goes for steel-caps where the work needs them. Because the reason you can claim is protection, a uniform policy is not required for the shoes to qualify.

• Non-slip or rubber-soled shoes bought to stop you slipping on wet or greasy floors are claimable.
• Steel-capped shoes where the site or the task calls for them count the same way.
• Ordinary closed shoes and sneakers do not. A plain sturdy pair is conventional clothing and never deductible, even if you keep it only for cleaning shifts. The shoe has to be protective, not simply the pair you happen to work in.

The uniform, and the catch that trips most cleaners

Clothing is where good claims quietly go wrong, because being told what to wear is not the same as wearing a deductible uniform. A compulsory uniform, or one carrying the company logo, is deductible: you can claim buying it, repairing it and replacing it. Plain clothes are a different story, no matter how firm the instruction to wear them.

• The logo uniform is in. A shirt or polo with the company's embroidered logo, or a strictly enforced compulsory uniform, is deductible to buy, mend and replace.
• Plain black pants and a logo-less polo are out. They are conventional clothing and not deductible, even where the employer sets the colour or you only ever put them on for work.
• The ATO's own line on it. A logoed company shirt is deductible. The employer-required plain black pants and closed shoes are not, because the test looks at the item, not at the fact the job asked for it.

Laundry

Once a piece of clothing is deductible, washing it is too, and you do not need a shoebox of receipts to claim it. The ATO accepts a set rate for laundering the uniform and protective clothing that qualifies.

• $1 a load where the wash is only your work clothing.
• 50c a load where you throw work clothing in with the family washing.
• The $150 line. If your laundry claim, not counting dry-cleaning, comes to $150 or less, you do not need written evidence, but you still have to show how you worked the figure out. Loads a week times the weeks you worked is what backs it.
• Dry-cleaning and repairs at what they actually cost you, on the receipts.

The limit follows straight from the section above. You cannot claim laundry for plain or conventional clothing, even when it comes home grimy from a shift. If the garment was never deductible, washing it is not either.

Sun protection for outdoor cleaners

If your duties keep you outdoors for prolonged periods, on window, high-rise, external or car-park work, your sun protection is deductible for the hours the job puts you in the sun. This is the easily missed one for cleaners who spend the day outside a building rather than inside it.

• Sunscreen, sun hats and sunglasses for prolonged outdoor duties are claimable, and you apportion out any private use.
• Genuine products only. Sunscreen should be a real TGA-listed product, not a cosmetic with a bit of protection in it.
• Sunglasses over $300 are claimed gradually as they decline in value, rather than all at once.
• Indoor-only cleaners miss out. If your work keeps you inside, you do not meet the outdoor test, and prescription glasses stay private whatever the setting.

The records behind it

Every item here stands on the record behind it, and this category is built from small, frequent buys that are the first to go missing: the chemist receipt for the gloves, the docket for the non-slip shoes, the note of how you split private and work use on your sunglasses. Reassembling a year of those in July is how solid deductions quietly get left off. Keep the receipts for the gear and the uniform, and a running note of your weekly laundry loads so the figure has something to stand on. The ATO's free myDeductions app will hold the basics if you are diligent with it.

The bottom line

Sort what you wear into two piles: what protects you or carries the logo, and what is just ordinary clothing you happen to work in. The gloves, masks, goggles and knee pads, the non-slip shoes, the genuine logo uniform and the washing of what qualifies all come back to you, and so does sun protection if the job keeps you outdoors. Plain black pants, everyday closed shoes and a logo-less polo do not, however you were told to wear them. Get that split right, net off anything you were reimbursed, keep the receipts and the laundry count, and you claim what the work honestly costs you without straying into what it does not.

General information only, not tax advice. Check the ATO or a registered tax agent for your situation.