Support worker uniforms, PPE and laundry: what you can claim

Start with the shoes, because they are the item most support workers get wrong in their own favour and against it at the same time. A pair of non-slip or protective shoes you buy to stay on your feet safely, on wet bathroom floors, on transfers, on a run of homes where you never know the footing, is deductible. That is true even when they are not part of any uniform your employer hands you, because the reason you can claim them is protection against a genuine risk in the work, not a dress code. The catch sits right beside it: a plain, everyday pair is not deductible, no matter that you keep them only for shifts. This chapter walks the line between the gear you can claim and the ordinary clothing you cannot, so what you spend to do the job safely comes back to you.

Protective footwear: the one worth getting right

The test for shoes is not comfort and it is not whether you wear them anywhere else. It is protection. Where a shoe is genuinely there to guard you against a real hazard in the work, it counts as protective clothing and it is deductible, uniform or no uniform.

• Non-slip and protective shoes. A grippy, closed-in pair bought to protect you from slips, spills and the physical demands of care work is claimable, including when your employer has no uniform policy at all.
• Plain everyday shoes are not. An ordinary pair of runners or flats, however sturdy or supportive, stays off your return even if you only ever wear them on the run. The shoe has to be protective, not just work-worn.

PPE and protective items you buy yourself

Support work runs on gear that keeps you and your clients safe, and a fair amount of it comes out of your own pocket between provider top-ups. Where you paid for it yourself and were not reimbursed, the protective items you use for care are deductible:

• Gloves, masks and face shields you buy for personal care and infection control.
• Aprons and gowns worn to protect you and the client during care.
• Hand sanitiser and anti-bacterial spray you keep in the car and the bag for the run.
• Safety glasses where the work calls for them.
• Repairing, replacing and cleaning any of these protective items, which counts the same as buying them.

If a provider reimbursed you for a box of gloves, that box is not yours to claim. It is the gear you funded yourself that lands on the return.

Uniforms: when the clothing itself counts

Clothing is the part that trips people up, because most support-work outfits are not a uniform in the eyes of the ATO even when a manager tells you what to wear. A uniform is deductible in only two cases:

• A compulsory uniform your employer strictly enforces and that is distinctive to the provider, such as a polo carrying an embroidered logo. Buying it, repairing it and replacing it are all claimable.
• A non-compulsory uniform registered with AusIndustry on the Register of Approved Occupational Clothing. If the design is not registered, it does not qualify by this route, even where you are expected to wear it.

The catch: conventional clothing is not deductible

This is the line that costs support workers the most, so it is worth saying plainly. Ordinary clothing is not deductible even when your employer requires it and you only ever wear it at work. The plain black pants a provider tells everyone to wear, ordinary closed-in shoes, a generic polo with no logo: none of it counts, because the test is whether the item is protective or a distinctive compulsory uniform, not whether the work requires it. It can feel unfair when you bought those pants purely for the job. The rule looks at the item, not your reason for owning it.

Laundry: the rate the ATO accepts

Once an item is deductible, washing it is too, and you do not need a drawer full of receipts to claim it. The ATO accepts a reasonable rate for laundering the clothing that qualifies:

• $1 a load where the wash is only your work clothing.
• 50c a load where you mix work clothing in with your everyday washing.
• Up to $150 claimed this way without written evidence, though you still need to show how you arrived at the figure, so keep a note of your typical loads a week.
• Dry-cleaning and repairs at what they actually cost, with the receipt.

One limit follows straight from the section above. You cannot claim laundry for plain clothes that were never deductible in the first place. If the garment did not qualify, neither does washing it.

The records that hold it up

A claim is only as good as what sits behind it, and this category is built from small buys that are easy to lose. Keep the receipts for your shoes, your PPE and any uniform, and a short note of your weekly laundry loads so the figure has something to stand on. The surest way is to capture each one the day it happens rather than reassembling a year of chemist dockets and shoe receipts in July. The ATO's own myDeductions app will hold the basics for free.

The bottom line

The whole category comes down to one question: is the item protecting you or marking you as staff, or is it just clothing you happen to wear to work? Protective shoes, the gloves and masks and sanitiser you buy yourself, a genuine logo uniform and the washing of what qualifies all come back to you. Plain pants, everyday shoes and a generic polo do not. Get that line right, keep the receipts, and you claim the gear the work quietly 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.