Why tradies can be the big winners at tax time

Chippies, plumbers, and sparkies take note - new research shows tradies are the big winners at tax time.

Analysts at Etax.com.au have found that tradies on average claim $4871 worth of deductions on their tax return, beating out teachers ($3164) and nurses ($2622) among other popular occupations.

Etax senior tax agent Simone Gielis said there were simple steps a tradie could take to see if they were qualified to claim an expense.

1. Is it directly related to your work or required for your work?

2. Do you have a proper receipt for the item?

3. Did you pay for it yourself?

4. Was it not part of an allowance?

5. Were you not reimbursed for the cost by a company or anyone else?

Answering "yes" to all the above questions means a tradie can "generally" claim the deduction, Ms Gielis said.

Tradies benefited from being able to make claims on the number of tools, technical equipment, and certifications required.

“There are important tax deductions that certain tradies may not even realise are available to them," Ms Gielis said.

"For example, while travel costs between home and the place of work aren’t usually claimable as a tax deduction, there’s an exception that applies to certain tradies who’re required to transport heavy goods and tools to work and who don’t have a safe place on site to leave them."

There were also clear differences between what different tradies could claim.

Chippies claimed the most, followed by plumbers and plasterers.

However, Ms Gielis cautioned that there was no guaranteed minimum return for anybody.

"Tradies who still think their tax return has space for 'creative' claims are on a fast track for an ATO examination, which can go back years and is very painful for tradies who didn’t keep good records," she said.