Employed optometrist, 2026-27: you can claim the work costs you paid for yourself and were not reimbursed for — car travel between practices and outreach visits, CPD and conferences, your AHPRA renewal, self-paid professional indemnity, uniforms and laundry, instruments and consumables, and the work portion of phone and home office. You cannot claim home-to-work travel, your first registration, ordinary clothes, or — the irony of the profession — your own prescription glasses, even though you need them to examine patients. This year the maths changed: from 1 July 2026 eligible employees get a standard deduction of up to $1,000 automatically, so itemising only pays when covered work expenses pass $1,000. Below, an employed optometrist on $105,000 saves an extra $1,495 by itemising — and a second case shows where itemising loses.
Figures are for 2026-27 (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027) unless stated. General information only, not personal tax advice. This guide is for AHPRA-registered optometrists; optical dispensers are a different occupation with different rules.
What optometrists can claim
Every claim must pass the ATO’s three tests: you spent the money yourself, it directly relates to earning your income, and you have a record to prove it. If your employer reimbursed you, there is no deduction. The ATO’s medical professionals guide expressly covers optometrists, and it is more restrictive than most people expect.
Car and travel between practices and outreach visits
This is usually an optometrist’s biggest claim, because so many split their week across two practices, cover a second location, or do domiciliary visits to aged-care homes. You can claim driving between two separate workplaces on the same day, from your usual practice to an alternative practice, and between patient homes or outreach locations during the day.
For 2026-27 the cents-per-kilometre rate is 91 cents per kilometre, up to 5,000 work kilometres per car. You need a record of how you worked out the kilometres (a diary or the ATO app’s myDeductions tool) but not fuel receipts. The logbook method suits higher-mileage drivers: a 12-week logbook sets your business-use percentage, applied to actual running costs. Overnight work travel away from your usual practice can include accommodation and meals for the work portion; a travel allowance alone does not create a deduction.
The legs that fail are the first and last of the day. Driving from home to your first practice, or from your last patient back home, is private travel even if you are carrying instruments. On a domiciliary day, only the legs between patients count — not home to the first home, and not the last home back to yours. Claiming all kilometres for the day overstates the claim by two home legs every working day, exactly the pattern data matching picks up.
CPD, self-education and conferences
Continuing professional development that maintains or improves the skills you use in your current optometry role is deductible: course and conference fees, workshops, textbooks and journals, and travel to attend them. The test is your current role — a course qualifying you for a new occupation, or study with only a general connection to optometry, is not deductible. HELP debt repayments are never deductible, even if the study itself was.
Optometrists must complete CPD to maintain registration. Under the Optometry Board standard, that means at least 20 hours of CPD in each registration period (1 December to 30 November), including at least 5 interactive hours, with no more than 5 hours of non-clinical or non-scientific content — a cap that includes CPD about optical goods and equipment. Therapeutically endorsed optometrists must complete 30 hours, including at least 10 hours relating to their scheduled medicines endorsement, and CPR training every 3 years. Check the current Board standard for your registration: a 2026 Ahpra consultation proposes aligning CPD standards across professions and removing the mandatory CPR and first-aid requirement, but that is proposed only, not current law.
AHPRA registration and professional memberships
Renewing your AHPRA registration is deductible: it is a cost of continuing in your current role. Your first registration is not, because it enabled you to start earning income rather than being incurred in the course of earning it. Membership of a professional association connected to your current role, such as Optometry Australia, is deductible. Detail that matters in 2026-27: association memberships and union fees do not reduce your standard deduction (see below), so they sit on top of the $1,000.
Professional indemnity insurance
If you pay your own professional indemnity premium, it is deductible. If your employer or practice pays or reimburses it, you cannot claim it. Corporate-practice optometrists should check who actually bears the premium — “the practice requires it” and “you paid for it” are different things.
Uniforms, protective clothing and laundry
You can claim clothing unique and distinctive to your job, such as a compulsory practice uniform, and protective clothing your employer requires, plus laundering. Ordinary clothes fail even if your employer tells you to wear them and you only wear them for work — plain black pants or a business shirt do not qualify. For laundry, the ATO accepts $1 per work-only load and 50 cents per mixed load.
Eyewear has its own rule, and it cuts both ways. You cannot claim your own prescription glasses or contact lenses, even though you need them to do your job — the ATO guide is explicit that these are private expenses. You can claim genuinely protective eyewear you buy yourself: safety goggles or protective sunglasses, but only where wearing them protects you from a real and likely risk of illness or injury at work, and only for the work-related portion. Safety goggles for a lab or workshop task qualify; the glasses you wear at the consulting desk do not.
Instruments, equipment and consumables
Here is the trap for corporate-practice optometrists: the big equipment is almost always supplied by the practice. A phoropter, slit lamp or OCT unit your employer provides is not deductible to you, however much you use it. What you can claim is what you bought yourself for work: a retinoscope, ophthalmoscope, trial lens set, diagnostic lenses, and consumables such as tonometer tips and trial-frame accessories, for their work-related portion.
Items costing $300 or less that you use mainly to earn non-business assessable income can generally be claimed in full in the year you buy them; pricier items are claimed over their effective life as decline in value, apportioned for private use. The ATO’s own medical-professionals example depreciates a $4,259 diagnostic instrument over a 5-year effective life — so a self-purchased instrument in the low thousands is a multi-year claim, not a single-year write-off. Repairs to work instruments are deductible. Note the $300 here is about depreciation, not receipts — the old “$300 without receipts” exception no longer applies in 2026-27 (see below).
Phone, internet and working from home
Only the work-related portion of your phone and internet is deductible, on a reasonable basis such as a four-week usage record. If you work from home — telehealth, patient notes, referrals, admin, CPD study — you can use the ATO fixed rate of 70 cents per hour for additional running costs. That rate already covers energy, phone, internet, stationery and consumables, so you cannot claim those bills separately on top, though decline in value on equipment over $300 can still be claimed separately. Keep a full-year record of actual hours worked from home. Our full guide is Working From Home Tax Deduction Australia.
The $300 rule is gone: meet the $1,000 standard deduction
Two things changed on 1 July 2026, and most older guides have not caught up. First, the record-keeping exceptions are removed: the $300 work-expenses exception, the $150 laundry exception and the award transport exception no longer apply. If you claim more than your maximum standard deduction in 2026-27, you must have written evidence, such as a receipt, for all the work-related expenses you claim — not just the amount above $1,000.
Second, the standard deduction itself. From the 2026-27 income year, eligible taxpayers — individuals who are Australian residents for tax purposes and earn assessable labour income such as salary and wages — get a standard deduction of up to $1,000 for work-related expenses, without needing to have spent the money or kept records. It applies automatically, reduces taxable income, and is not a rebate or $1,000 cash back: at 32% it is worth about $320.
The mechanics matter. The standard deduction is reduced dollar for dollar by the covered work-related expenses you claim — car, travel, uniform, laundry, working-from-home and similar costs. So if your covered expenses are $550, claiming them leaves you a $450 standard deduction, and your total is still $1,000. Itemising only beats the standard route once your covered expenses pass $1,000. Association memberships and union fees do not reduce it, and neither do donations, personal super contributions, income protection premiums or tax-agent fees — claim those as usual. The ATO’s page is the authority: ATO: Standard deduction for work-related expenses. See also Tax Deductions Australia 2026-27: The Complete Checklist.
2026-27 tax rates used in this guide
For Australian residents, 2026-27 rates are: 0% to $18,200; 15% from $18,201 to $45,000 (down from 16%); 30% from $45,001 to $135,000; 37% from $135,001 to $190,000; 45% above $190,000. The Medicare levy adds 2% of taxable income for most residents. An optometrist on $105,000 therefore faces a 30% marginal rate plus the 2% levy, so each deduction dollar is worth 32 cents. See Income Tax Rates Australia 2026-27 and the income tax calculator.
Worked example: employed optometrist on $105,000
Meet Emma, a hypothetical employed optometrist in Melbourne on $105,000 salary, working across two practices plus some aged-care outreach visits, who pays all of the following herself with no reimbursement. Her expense figures are illustrative for this persona (AHPRA fee and indemnity premium vary by practitioner and are labelled illustrative); the rates — 91c per kilometre, 70c per home-office hour, 30% marginal rate, 2% Medicare levy — are the published 2026-27 figures.
| Expense | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Car travel between practices and outreach visits | 2,200 km × 91c | $2,002 |
| CPD courses and one conference registration | Paid, unreimbursed | $1,650 |
| AHPRA renewal (illustrative) | Paid by Emma | $550 |
| Professional indemnity premium, self-paid (illustrative) | Paid by Emma | $750 |
| Working from home, fixed rate | 400 hours × 70c | $280 |
| Uniform laundry | Work-only loads | $150 |
| Instruments under $300 (diagnostic lenses, consumables) | Work portion | $290 |
| Covered work expenses subtotal | $5,672 | |
| Professional association membership (does not reduce the standard deduction) | Paid by Emma | $480 |
| Total itemised deduction | $5,672 + $480 | $6,152 |
At Emma’s 32% combined marginal rate (30% tax + 2% Medicare levy), the itemised route saves $6,152 × 32% = $1,968.64, about $1,969. Her taxable income falls from $105,000 to $98,848, staying inside the 30% bracket throughout, so the 32% rate holds for every deduction dollar (ignoring offsets such as LITO).
Now the standard route. If Emma claimed nothing, she would automatically receive $1,000 plus her $480 membership on top: $1,480, worth $1,480 × 32% = $473.60, about $474. Itemising beats the standard route by $6,152 − $1,480 = $4,672 of deductions, worth $4,672 × 32% = $1,495.04, about $1,495 extra. For a multi-practice optometrist, keeping receipts is clearly worth it.
The crossover case: where itemising loses
Now meet Liam, a hypothetical part-time optometrist working one practice day a week with occasional outreach, whose covered expenses total $920. If he itemises, he gains nothing over the standard route: the ATO tops his position back up to $1,000 in total. He has done the record-keeping for zero extra dollars.
It gets worse if he double-counts. Suppose Liam’s $1,240 itemised claim includes $300 of phone and internet bills already covered inside his 70c-per-hour fixed-rate claim. That $300 is not deductible twice. If disallowed, his allowable claim falls to $1,240 − $300 = $940 — $60 less than the $1,000 standard deduction he could have taken untouched. The loss is $60 × 32% = $19.20 in tax, plus effort that made his return worse. The lesson: itemising wins only above $1,000 of genuine, non-duplicated covered expenses, and the fixed-rate method already contains your phone and internet.
For the car-method comparison in detail, see Car Expenses Tax Deduction Australia 2026-27: Logbook vs 91c/km.
Employee vs contractor: the split that changes everything
Employed optometrists claim work-related deductions as above and are eligible for the $1,000 standard deduction, because salary and wages are assessable labour income. Contractor and sole-trader optometrists are in a different system — and contracting is common in corporate optometry, where many practitioners work on ABN arrangements inside someone else’s practice. If your only income is business income, the standard deduction does not apply at all. Instead you claim business deductions — room hire, consumables, equipment depreciation, insurance, accounting, and the business portion of car and phone — under business rules, not employee work-related rules.
Contractors also carry obligations employees never see: GST registration once turnover reaches $75,000 in a 12-month period, quarterly BAS, their own super, and personal services income (PSI) rules that can limit deductions when you effectively work as an employee of one practice. A contractor who assumes the $1,000 standard deduction applies, or keeps no records because “the standard deduction covers it”, has the worst of both systems.
Common mistakes and traps
1. CPD year vs tax year
Your CPD counts towards a registration year ending at renewal on 30 November, but your deduction falls in the tax year you paid. A $900 course paid in November 2026 belongs in your 2026-27 return even though it counts towards CPD for the registration year ending 30 November 2027 — and a course paid in July 2027 belongs in 2027-28 even if you took it to finish last year’s CPD hours. Budget by payment date, not by CPD year.
2. Home-to-work vs between workplaces
Driving from home to practice A in the morning is private, even if you then drive to practice B, then to aged-care visits, then home. Only the practice A to practice B leg and the between-visit legs are claimable; the first and last legs are not. Claiming all kilometres for the day overstates the claim by two home legs every working day — exactly the pattern data matching picks up.
3. Claiming your own glasses
Your prescription glasses and contact lenses are private expenses, even though you need them to examine patients. This is the claim optometrists most want to make and the one the ATO guide most clearly denies. Only genuinely protective eyewear bought for a real workplace risk qualifies, and only for the work-related portion.
4. Claiming what your employer already supplied or paid for
Instruments, conference fees, CPD, indemnity or association fees paid, supplied or reimbursed by your employer or practice are not deductible to you. Partial reimbursement means a partial claim: if the practice paid $600 of a $1,000 conference fee, only your $400 counts. Keep the reimbursement email with the receipt. In a corporate practice this is the most common overclaim — the slit lamp on your desk is not yours to depreciate.
5. Double-claiming inside the home-office fixed rate
The 70c hourly rate already includes phone, internet, energy and stationery. Claiming your phone bill separately on top claims the same expense twice, as Liam’s case shows. To claim actual phone and internet costs, use the actual-cost home-office method instead — do not mix the two methods for the same costs.
6. First registration, ordinary clothes, and “everyone claims it”
First AHPRA registration, a new graduate’s initial qualification costs, ordinary work clothes and everyday shoes are not deductible, however universal they feel in the profession. The ATO guide is explicit on first certificates, and “my colleagues all claim it” is not a defence.
Tips to get it right
- Photograph every receipt into the ATO app’s myDeductions tool on the day you pay; end-of-year receipt hunts are where claims die.
- Keep a kilometre diary: date, from, to, purpose, kilometres — each leg separately, so home legs are visibly excluded.
- Pay CPD before 30 June if you want it in this year’s return.
- If covered expenses are under $1,000, take the standard deduction and focus on claims that sit on top of it: association fees, donations, income protection premiums, tax-agent fees.
- If you split time between employment and contracting, keep separate records; the standard deduction only touches the employment side.
- Before claiming an instrument, ask who paid for it — if the practice supplied it, it is not your deduction.
Frequently asked questions
Can optometrists claim their own prescription glasses?
No. Prescription glasses and contact lenses are private expenses under the ATO guide, even if you need them to work. Only genuinely protective eyewear — safety goggles or protective sunglasses for a real workplace risk — can be claimed, and only for the work-related portion.
Can I claim travel between two practices?
Yes, between two separate workplaces on the same day, or from your usual practice to an alternative practice, and between outreach patients during the day. Home-to-work legs are not claimable. At 91c per kilometre, a regular 18 km between-practice leg four days a week for 46 weeks is 3,312 km, worth $3,013.92 as a deduction.
Is the $1,000 standard deduction $1,000 back in my pocket?
No — a $1,000 cut to taxable income, not a payment. At 32% it is worth about $320; at 17% about $170.
Do I still need receipts in 2026-27?
If you take the standard deduction and claim nothing else that reduces it, no — that is the point of it. If you claim more than $1,000 of covered expenses, you need written evidence for all of them. Association memberships claimed on top still need their own records. When in doubt, keep the receipt.
Can I claim CPD I did for next year’s registration?
You claim CPD in the tax year you paid for it, regardless of which registration year the hours count towards. A November payment falls in the current tax year even though it serves the registration year ending the following November.
I am a contractor optometrist — do I get the $1,000 standard deduction?
No, if your income is business income rather than salary and wages — the standard deduction applies to assessable labour income only. As a contractor you claim business deductions instead, with records for all of them. If you also hold a part-time employed role, the standard deduction can apply to that employment income.
Short conclusion
For most employed optometrists the 2026-27 question is not “what can I claim” but “is my total over $1,000”. Multi-practice drivers and regular CPD spenders almost always clear it — the example above shows $1,495 of extra tax saved by itemising properly. Smaller totals should take the automatic $1,000, claim association fees on top, and keep records until expenses pass the line. And whatever you do, do not claim your own glasses.
Sources: ATO standard deduction; ATO cents per kilometre method; ATO medical professional expenses; ATO glasses and protective glasses; Optometry Australia CPD requirements.
