Hairdresser self-education, travel, phone and fees

The chair is only half the job. You sit through a colour masterclass on your day off, drive across town to a client's place with your kit in the boot, take booking messages on your own phone between appointments, and pay your association fees without really noticing. A lot of that is claimable, and a slice of it is not, and the difference nearly always comes down to one question: does the cost help you do the job you have right now, or does it help you move into a different one? Get that straight and the rest of this page falls into place.

Courses that build on the job you already do

Self-education is deductible when it maintains or improves the skills your current role already needs, or is likely to increase the income you earn in it. For a working stylist or beauty therapist that covers a lot of ground: advanced cutting and colour courses, balayage, extensions and keratin certifications, lash, brow and nail courses, product training run by a brand, and industry expos where you are sharpening what you already do.

• What you can claim. Course, tuition and student fees, textbooks and journals, stationery, and the travel to get to a course, seminar or expo. A cheaper piece of study equipment is written off the year you buy it, and a dearer one declines in value over time.
• The ATO's own examples. An apprentice studying a Certificate III in Hairdressing is deductible because the study directly relates to the job they are employed in. Dan does a specialty cutting course that leads to a senior-stylist promotion, so it improves his skills and lifts his income in the role he already holds. Nina, a nail tech, attends a beauty expo to keep her techniques current, and that connects to her current work too.
• The link is to now, not later. The test is whether the study ties to the role you are in today, so keep a short note of how each course does that. Wanting to open your own salon one day does not make a business course deductible against your wages.

The study that does not count

Study you take to move into a different occupation is not deductible, however much it interests you. The ATO's Maddison example makes the point: a hairdresser who does a makeup course is training for a different occupation, so the course is not deductible against her hairdressing income. Building on your trade qualifies; switching trades does not.

• Your study loan stays out. Repayments on a study loan are never deductible, even when the study itself is. That covers HELP, HECS-HELP, VET Student Loan and the rest. HECS-HELP fees do not count either.
• You can only claim what you paid. Anything the employer paid for, or reimbursed you for, is not yours to claim. Only the money that genuinely came out of your own pocket belongs on your return.

Apprentices, in plain terms

Apprentices sit in the good spot here. Because you are employed in the trade at the same time as you study it, your TAFE course directly relates to the job you already do, so the study is generally deductible. That is different from someone doing a course before they have work in the field.

• What you can claim. Self-funded course fees, textbooks and stationery, and the travel from work to TAFE and back.
• The catch is the same one. You can only claim what you paid yourself, so where the employer covers the course, only your own out-of-pocket bits count.
• Be realistic about the refund. On low apprentice pay, a deduction reduces your taxable income rather than handing money back, so it may not turn into much of a refund. Keep the receipts anyway, because it still counts and the habit carries into higher-earning years.

The travel that actually counts

The drive from home to the salon and back is not deductible, no matter how far it is or how early the shift starts. That one trips people up because it feels like a work cost, but the ATO treats the ordinary commute as private for everyone. What does count is travel that is part of the working day itself.

• Mobile hairdressers between clients. If you go house to house, the driving between clients through the day is deductible work travel.
• Two workplaces, same day. Travel between two salons on the same day, or out to a client's home for a booking, is claimable.
• Courses and supplies. Driving straight to a training venue, or out to pick up work supplies, counts too.
• How to work it out. Use cents per kilometre, a set rate the ATO resets each year and caps at 5,000 work kilometres, or keep a logbook. Whichever you pick, you need a record of the kilometres.
• Bulky kit, rarely. Carting gear between home and work is only deductible where the kit is genuinely bulky and there is no secure place to store it at the salon. If it fits in a normal bag and the salon has storage, this one does not apply.

Phone, fees and what you read

Plenty of the job runs through your own phone: confirming bookings, messaging clients, keeping a work social account ticking over. The work-use share of your phone and internet is deductible. If your work use is under $50 for the year and only incidental, you can claim it without keeping detailed records, and above that you work out a genuine work-use percentage from a representative period.

• Fees. Union fees and professional association memberships are deductible in full.
• Trade reading. Hair and beauty trade magazines and journals with a genuine connection to your work are deductible. General fashion magazines and newspapers are private, which is the line the ATO draws in its Morton example: the trade titles come in, the general ones stay out.

A few more worth knowing

Some smaller costs are easy to walk past because they are cheap or arrive once a year:

• Appointment books and work stationery. The diary you run your bookings through and the everyday stationery for the job are deductible.
• The tax-agent fee. What you pay a registered agent to prepare your return is deductible the following year.
• Income protection premiums. Premiums on an income protection policy are deductible, where the policy is held outside super.
• Overtime meals. A meal on an overtime shift is only deductible where you receive a genuine overtime-meal allowance under your award, shown separately on your income statement and declared as income. No allowance, no claim.

The records that hold it together

These claims spread themselves across the year, which is exactly why they slip: a course invoice one month, a stack of small association debits, a tank of fuel driving to a client. Keep the receipts, and for each course keep a short note of how it ties to the job you do now, because that link is the thing the ATO actually tests. For any car claim, keep a logbook or a running record of the kilometres. The ATO's free myDeductions app will hold the basics.

The bottom line

Run every course, trip and fee through the one question: are you paying it to do the job you have now, or to do it better? If yes, and the money came out of your own pocket and you can show the record, it belongs on your return. Claim the courses that build on your trade, the travel between clients and salons, the work share of your phone, your association fees and your trade reading. Leave off the study that switches you into a new occupation, the loan repayments, the home-to-salon commute and anything the salon paid for. Keep the note that ties each course to your current role, and what you are owed for staying sharp will be there when you file.

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