Police uniform, gear and equipment deductions

The uniform is compulsory, and a lot of the kit that hangs off your belt is not issued at all. That split is the whole story at tax time. What the service makes you wear, and what you buy yourself because the standard-issue version does not cut it on the job, are where a police claim is won. This chapter walks the lot: the uniform and keeping it clean, the gear you fund out of your own pocket, the firearm rules, and two claims most officers never make because nobody tells them they can. The test underneath all of it is the same. You paid for it, it was for the job, and you can show a record.

The compulsory uniform

Your uniform is strictly compulsory and clearly identifies you, which is exactly the clothing the ATO treats as deductible. That covers more than buying it. If you repair or replace an item at your own cost, that comes off too.

• Buying, repairing and replacing it. Any part of the compulsory uniform you pay for yourself and are not reimbursed for.
• Cleaning it. Laundry runs at a rate the ATO accepts: $1 a load for a wash of work-only clothing, or 50c a load if you throw personal washing in with it.
• The $150 line. You can claim laundry up to $150 without written evidence, but you still have to show how you worked the figure out, so a note of your loads a week times the weeks you worked is what backs it.
• Dry-cleaning. Claimed at what it actually cost you, on the receipts.

Gear you fund yourself

Plenty of officers buy their own kit rather than run the standard issue, whether it is additional gear or a more capable version of what the service hands out. Where you buy it yourself and are not reimbursed, you can claim the decline in value of that equipment.

• Body armour or a ballistic vest you bought yourself on top of, or instead of, the issued one.
• A holster, handcuffs, a duty belt and pouches you paid for out of your own pocket.
• A torch you bought for the job rather than waited on the store to supply.

Firearms, ammunition and cleaning

The line here is who owns the weapon. The service issues your firearm, so the firearm itself is not yours to claim. What you add to it, and the cost of keeping it working, is a different question.

• Self-bought firearm equipment. A speed loader, a sighting device, a sling or a grip you paid for yourself is deductible.
• Cleaning the issued firearm and gear. The cost of keeping your issued weapon and equipment clean counts, even though the weapon does not.
• Extra ammunition. Rounds you buy for work-related range training, beyond what the service supplies, are deductible.
• The catch. The issued firearm is not deductible. You are claiming what you added and what you spent maintaining it, not the weapon.

Protective items

Anything you buy to protect yourself from a real risk of the job sits squarely in the deductible column.

• Gloves, including the cut and puncture-proof kind for crime-scene work.
• Goggles, safety glasses and face masks.
• Quality or safety-specific duty boots. The purpose-built boot the job needs is deductible. An ordinary pair of running shoes is not, even if you only ever wear them at work.
• Bags and cases you use to carry your work items.

The $300 rule

How you claim an item depends on what it cost, and this is the mechanic that catches people out.

• $300 or less. You claim it in full in the year you buy it.
• Over $300. You claim it gradually as it declines in value, over its effective life.
• Apportion private use. If a piece of gear is not solely for work, you claim only the work-use share.
• Net off any allowance. If you received an equipment allowance towards it, reduce your claim by that amount.

Sunglasses and sun protection

This is the one that surprises officers, because the answer used to be the opposite. If you work outdoors for extended periods, on traffic, highway patrol, marine or beat duty, your sun protection is deductible.

• Sunglasses, including prescription and anti-glare pairs.
• Sunscreen and sun hats for the hours you spend in the sun on duty.
• The reversal worth knowing. An older ATO position treated these as private. The current position allows them for outdoor officers, so it is genuinely worth claiming rather than assuming the old answer still holds. Apportion any private use.

Payments to informants

This one almost never makes a list, and for officers who run informants it can add up across a year. Where your service's policy permits it, authorised out-of-pocket payments to informants that you were not reimbursed for are deductible.

• What counts. Cash you paid, and light food such as a sandwich or a coffee.
• Where the line sits. Not an elaborate meal, and not alcohol.
• What makes it stand. Your service's policy has to allow it, the payment has to be authorised, and you have to keep written evidence of it.

What you cannot claim

Some costs feel like part of the job but do not survive a closer look, and claiming them is where a return draws attention:

• Conventional or plain clothes. Ordinary clothing is not deductible even if you are required to wear it and only ever wear it at work. The one narrow exception is clothing bought for a specific undercover operation.
• Thermal underwear for cold shifts.
• Anything supplied or reimbursed. If the service issued it or paid you back for it, it is not yours to claim.

The records behind a police claim

Every item above rests on the paperwork you kept, and that is where gear-heavy claims tend to leak. The dry-cleaning docket, the receipt for the holster you bought two stations ago, the note of how you split private and work use on your sunglasses, the informant payment logged against policy: each one has to be there, and piecing them back together after the fact is how good deductions slip through unclaimed. The ATO's free myDeductions app will hold receipts and a work-use note if you are disciplined about it.

The bottom line

Split your spending into what the service makes you wear, what you fund yourself, and what you keep clean and maintain, and most of a police kit bill lands on your return where it belongs. Claim the compulsory uniform and its laundry, the self-funded gear at the right method for its cost, the firearm extras and the range ammunition, and the two claims officers routinely miss: sun protection for outdoor duty and authorised informant payments. Leave off the plain clothes and the thermals, net off anything you were reimbursed, and your tax settles on what you actually owe.

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