Mining car, meals and the zone-offset myth

Once the flights and the camp are off the table, a mine worker's claim comes down to the smaller things you actually pay for: the driving your own vehicle does for work, the meal you buy on a long overtime shift, the phone bill, the union fee. None of it is large on its own, and together it is the part of the return people either overclaim on a hunch or miss because they never kept the record. This page sorts the ones that count from the ones that don't, and clears up the offset a lot of FIFO workers are told they can claim and can't.

Your car, and when a ute isn't a "car"

The drive from home to your regular site is a private commute, however far it is and however early the roster starts. That is covered in the FIFO chapter, and it does not change here. What this section is about is the genuine work driving that sits on top of it, and there are two ways to work out the number.

• Cents per kilometre. A set rate for each work kilometre, which the ATO resets every year, capped at 5,000 work kilometres. You don't need fuel receipts, but you do need a record of how you reached the kilometres, not a round figure written down in July.
• The logbook method. A twelve-week logbook establishes your work-use percentage, and you then claim that share of every running cost across the year: fuel, servicing, registration, insurance and the rest. More to keep, but it can be worth more if the car does real work kilometres.

The catch particular to a mine site is that plenty of the vehicles out there are not "cars" for tax at all. A ute with a payload of one tonne or more, a motorbike, or anything that seats nine or more falls outside the definition, and for those you can't use cents per kilometre or the logbook method. You claim the actual work-related expenses with receipts instead, which is the position a lot of workers running utes and light trucks are actually in, so check the payload plate before you pick a method. One more line worth knowing: if the car is on a novated or salary-sacrifice lease you get no car claim, because the employer is the one leasing it, but the parking and tolls on genuine work trips still count.

The bulky-tools exception

There is one way the home-to-site drive itself can become deductible, and it is drawn tightly. Every part has to hold at once: the gear is essential to the work, it is genuinely bulky and needs a vehicle to shift, there is no secure storage at the site, and you are not carrying it home by choice. The ATO's own contrast is the clearest way to see the line. An underground miner with heavy tools and nowhere secure on site to leave them can claim the trip, because there is no other way to do the job. A fitter with a bulky toolkit whose site provides lockers cannot, because taking the kit home is a choice, and choice fails the test.

Meals, the narrow way they count

A meal you buy while working is deductible in one situation only: you receive a genuine overtime-meal allowance under an award or agreement, it is shown separately on your payslip, and you declare it as income. Up to the ATO's reasonable amount you can claim without keeping receipts; above that amount you need them. Outside that, meals don't count. The ordinary food you buy on a normal shift is private, and so are the camp or mess meals your employer provides or subsidises. Anything the employer feeds you is never yours to claim.

The zone tax offset, and why most FIFO workers can't claim it

This is the one that gets FIFO workers wrong most often. The remote-area zone tax offset is an offset, not a deduction, and since 1 July 2015 your usual place of residence has to be in the remote zone itself. A FIFO or DIDO worker who lives in a city and flies out to a remote site is excluded. Nights at a camp do not count as living in the zone, and being on site for most of the year, which used to be enough, no longer is. Some tax-agent guides still tell FIFO workers to claim it, and for a city-based worker that advice is simply wrong. Only workers who actually live in the zone qualify.

Phone, union and the rest

The smaller costs that round out a mine worker's return:

• Phone, data and internet. The work-use share of your own device. If the total is under $50 and only incidental, you can claim it without itemised records; above that you need evidence and a work-use percentage.
• Union or association fees. Your mining union membership is deductible.
• Income protection. Premiums are deductible where the cover is held outside super.
• The tax-agent fee. What you pay to have your return prepared is deductible the following year.
• Relocation is not deductible. Moving to a new work location is a private cost, even though a relocation allowance your employer pays is assessable income you declare.

The records that hold it up

Every one of these claims rests on the record behind it. Cents per kilometre still needs a diary or a clear working of your work kilometres, the logbook method needs a genuine twelve-week logbook plus the running-cost records, and an overtime-meal claim needs the allowance shown on your payslip and, above the reasonable amount, the receipts. The reliable way to have the lot at tax time is to note each trip and cost on the day, rather than reconstructing a year from memory. The ATO's own myDeductions app will log trips and store receipts for free.

The bottom line

Leave the commute and the flights off, and claim the parts that are genuinely yours: the work driving by the method your vehicle actually allows, the bulky-tools trip only when there is nowhere secure on site to leave the gear, and an overtime meal only when a real allowance sits behind it. Treat the zone offset as closed unless you truly live in the remote zone, keep the phone, union, income-protection and tax-agent claims tidy, and record the kilometres and costs as they happen. That leaves you with a claim that is smaller than the myths promise but solid enough to stand behind.

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