Tax Deductions for Lawyers

Tax Deductions for Lawyers- Lodge your tax return here.

A deduction is only allowable if an expense is:

a)      Actually incurred;

b)      Meets the deductibility tests;  and

c)       Satisfies the substantiation rules.

Most occupations have specific work-related deductions for their industry.

The most common work-related tax deductions for lawyers are summarised in a basic table below:

Deduction Allowable  Not Allowable
 Admission fees  X
 Annual Practising certificate  X
 Answering machines, beepers, mobile phones, pagers and other telecommunications equipment  X
 Briefcases  X
Calculators and electronic organisers  X
Clothing, uniforms and footwear     X *
     – Laundry and maintenance of clothing, uniforms and footwear     X *
Club membership fees  X
Computers and software    X *
Conferences, seminars and training courses    X *
Depreciation of tools & equipment X
Drivers Licence (Car) X
First aid courses paid by employee, not reimbursed X
Glasses/contact lenses X
Home office expenses  X*
Insurance of equipment X
Loss of income insurance X
Interest  X*
Meals X
    – Overtime meal expenses X*
  Medical examinations for licence renewal X
Newspapers X
Parking fees and tolls  X*
Practicing certificate X
Protective equipment X
Professional indemnity insurance X
Professional library  X*
Radios, cassette players, walkmans, etc  X
Repairs to tools and equipment X
Self education expenses  X*
Social functions  X
Stationery X
Supreme Court library fees   X*
Suspension from practice  X
Technical or professional publications X
Telephone, mobile phone, pager not supplied by employer X
Technical or professional publications  X*
Travel expenses
    – Accom, fares, meals, incidentals not reimbursed  X
    – Public transport fares or motor vehicle costs
                         – Home to work  X
                         – Home to shifting place of work X
                         – Between two places of work X
                         – Normal work to alternate place of work X
Union fees and professional association fees X
Wigs worn by lawyers for appearances in court X

*Conditions apply.

If you would like to find out more about tax deductions for lawyers, please contact us at National Tax & Accounting. We have a number of clients in the law industry and are confident we can optimise your work-related deduction claim…