Retail protective gear, safety footwear and sun protection

Protective gear is one of the few places retail clothing becomes deductible, but the word protective does the heavy lifting. The test is not whether the store requires the item or whether you only use it at work. It is whether the item guards you against a real and likely risk of injury or illness on the job. Understand where that line falls and you can claim the boots and the sunscreen with confidence, and leave the ordinary shoes out.

Footwear: protective, not just required

Shoes are the item retail workers most often get wrong. Non-slip shoes for a wet supermarket aisle or a spill-prone floor, and steel-capped boots for a hardware or warehouse role, are deductible where they genuinely protect you, because they guard against slips, falls and dropped stock. Plain closed shoes that the store simply requires for a tidy look are conventional clothing and are not deductible, however firmly the dress code insists on them. The question is always the protection the shoe provides, not the rule that told you to wear it. If you also wear the shoes away from work, claim only the work-related share.

Gloves, masks and other PPE

Personal protective equipment you buy yourself and use to guard against a real work risk is deductible, along with cleaning, repairing and replacing it. In a retail setting that can mean gloves for handling stock or cleaning, face masks where you work in close contact with customers, and hand sanitiser used for the job. The limit is the usual one: if the store supplies the gear or pays you back for it, there is nothing left for you to claim.

Protective glasses, and the prescription line

Protective eyewear can be deductible where it reduces a real risk at work. Anti-glare or photochromatic glasses, safety glasses and sunglasses that shield you from genuine hazards qualify for their work-related share. Prescription glasses and contact lenses are a different matter and are not deductible, even when you need them to read tickets, price labels or a screen, because correcting your eyesight is a private cost. The two can feel similar on the shelf, so keep the protective pair and the prescription pair clearly apart.

Sun protection for outdoor retail

Not all retail happens under fluorescent lights. If you work outdoors, at a garden centre, an outdoor sales yard, a nursery or a market stall as an employee, sun protection is a genuine work expense. Sunscreen, sunglasses and a broad-brimmed hat used to guard against sun exposure on the job are deductible, and they are among the most commonly forgotten claims for anyone working in the open. The gate is real outdoor work: a role spent inside an air-conditioned store does not support a sunscreen claim.

Keeping the records

Protective items tend to be small, cash purchases that vanish from memory, so the receipt is what turns a fair claim into an accepted one. Hold the docket for the boots, the box of gloves, the safety glasses or the bottle of sunscreen, and note the work-use share for anything you also use at home. The ATO's free myDeductions app will store these as you buy them, which beats reconstructing a year of small purchases the night you lodge.

The bottom line

Claim the gear that genuinely protects you: non-slip or steel-capped shoes where the risk is real, gloves and masks and other PPE you funded, protective glasses, and sun protection if your work is outdoors. Leave out the plain shoes the dress code wants and the prescription glasses that fix your eyesight. Keep the receipts, apportion anything used off the clock, and the protective side of a retail return holds up.

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