Work Deductions And FBT: Three Lessons Before You Lodge
About $10,000 claimed. Around $300 allowed. That is the headline of Hui and Commissioner of Taxation [2026] ARTA 570 (March), an Administrative Review Tribunal decision involving a pharmacist working across two regional Queensland pharmacies. He claimed his car, mobile phone, weekend accommodation and meals. One partial win on the phone, everything else disallowed. The dollar amounts are modest, the lessons are not. Worth a read before you lodge, and worth a second read if you are an employer eyeing the 21 May FBT return deadline.
Lesson 1: Travel between two regular workplaces is rarely deductible
The pharmacist worked Monday to Friday at one pharmacy, then drove 236 km every weekend to a second pharmacy, treating himself as a locum. The Tribunal disagreed: he was a regular part-time employee at both, and the commute was private travel. Per the High Court (2001), travel between two unrelated places of income is private even when the motivation is work. If you work two jobs, the drive between them is not automatically deductible.
Lesson 2: A logbook only works if it is contemporaneous and accurate
The pharmacist kept a logbook, but his entries did not hold up: a 919 km drive to a course he could not name, 905 km to a Gold Coast conference actually closer to 500, and over 340 km of business travel during a residential conference while staying just 15 km from the venue. Under cross-examination he admitted he had not filled in the logbook at the time. The Tribunal disallowed his entire $8,888 car expense claim. A logbook must be contemporaneous, with real odometer readings and the actual purpose of each trip.
Lesson 3: Mobile phone claims need real evidence of the work split
The pharmacist claimed 50% of his Telstra bills as work-related. His work nexus was real (hearing impairment, Bluetooth-linked hearing aid, calls to doctors, electronic prescriptions during early Covid), but he could not show how he reached 50%. The Tribunal allowed 36%, the same percentage already accepted for his iPad and internet. A reasonable claim still needs reasonable evidence.
An angle worth flagging: Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT)
Some of these items, the work phone especially, are cleaner when arranged through the employer side rather than fought over on a personal return.
FBT is the tax employers pay on non-cash benefits (cars, phones, laptops, novated leases, work travel, entertainment). Different year (1 April to 31 March) and a separate annual return (due 21 May, or 25 June via a registered tax agent).
Two rules connect directly to a case like this one:
Work-related items exemption. One employer-provided phone, laptop or tablet primarily used for work is FBT-exempt per FBT year per employee. No 36% versus 50% apportionment fight required.
Otherwise deductible rule. Where an employee would have been entitled to a deduction had they paid the cost themselves, the FBT taxable value can often be reduced to nil.
Lodging an FBT return matters even when no FBT is payable:
FBT paid is itself deductible for income tax (s 8-1 ITAA 1997).
Lodging starts the ATO amendment period running. Without a return, that window stays open.
Reportable Fringe Benefits Amounts on staff payment summaries flow through the return, affecting Medicare Levy Surcharge, HELP repayments and family assistance entitlements.
Exemptions and concessions (including the minor benefits exemption, currently $300 per benefit, infrequent and irregular) only apply through a return.
We can prepare your FBT return, claim the exemptions that fit, and structure your benefits package tax-effectively. Saves you money, saves the open-ended amendment headache.
If you claim work-related expenses, three habits save you audit-time pain:
Log it the day it happens, not at tax time
Keep written evidence (receipts, invoices, plan details)
Have a defensible basis for any percentage you claim
For a second set of eyes on your work-related deductions before lodging, or help with an FBT return due 21 May, get in touch. Claim with confidence. Reviews, logbooks, apportionment, FBT support. We sort it before you lodge.
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