Deductibility: Laundry Expenses (Conventional Clothing Worn At Work)

Whether a taxpayer is entitled to a deduction under subsection 51(1) ( Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936)) for laundry expenses for conventional clothing worn at work.

No. Expenses incurred in relation to conventional clothing and laundry are private in nature and therefore are not deductible.

The taxpayer is a residential care officer. The taxpayer's employer instructs the taxpayer not to wear a nursing uniform but requires that the taxpayer wear smart casual clothes in accordance with the philosophies of the employer. In working with disabled and mentally ill patients, the taxpayer's work clothes often become soiled. . The taxpayer's employer demands that work clothes be laundered on a regular basis and in recognition of this the employer pays an allowance which is included in the taxpayer's assessable income.

Taxation Ruling TR 97/12 (Income tax and fringe benefits tax: work related expenses: deductibility of expenses on clothing, uniform and footwear) provides that conventional clothing is usually not considered to be an allowable deduction under subsection 51(1) (ITAA 1936) as there is insufficient connection between the expenditure and the income earning activities of a taxpayer. The expense is normally characterised as private.

Taxation Ruling TR 97/12 also provides that the costs of buying, renting, laundering, dry cleaning, repairing and replacing clothing are private in nature except where the expense is directly attributable to the income earning activities of the taxpayer.

There are no peculiarities in the clothing purchased by the taxpayer that make it other than conventional clothing. The fact that the taxpayer's employer requires the taxpayer to wear conventional clothing does not make the cost of that clothing deductible ( FC of T v Cooper 91 ATC 4396; 21 ATR 1616 and Mansfield v FC of T 96 ATC 4001; 31 ATR 367).

As the clothing of the taxpayer is conventional, the essential character of the expense incurred by the taxpayer on laundering the clothing is private in nature. Furthermore, the character of the expenditure is not changed by the fact that the clothing becomes soiled at work. The laundry expenses incurred by the taxpayer are not deductible under subsection 51(1) (ITAA 1936).

The non-deductibility of the laundry expenses incurred by the taxpayer is not changed by the fact that the taxpayer has received a laundry allowance. The allowance is nonetheless fully assessable under subsection 25(1) or paragraph 26(e) (ITAA 1936); Mansfield v FC of T 96 ATC 4001; (1996) 31 ATR 367.