You’ve spent so much money building your content creation business, buying everything from lighting rings to editing software – even a blonde wig for your corgi. But what expenses can you actually claim as a tax deduction? Great question!
If you’re struggling to stay on top of it all, you’re definitely not alone. Australia’s tax system is designed to be fair across all industries and work types – which is great in theory, but can get confusing when you’re trying to figure out if that new camera lens is tax deductible. The reality is that many content creators either claim expenses they’re not entitled to, or miss valid claims and leave money on the table.
To help with the nuts and bolts of it all, the ATO has put together three golden rules that determine whether a business expense is tax deductible. If your expense meets all three criteria, it may qualify as a deductible expense:
- You must have spent the money yourself, and weren’t reimbursed.
- The expenses must directly relate to earning your income.
- You must have a record to prove it (usually a receipt).
A few extra things to keep in mind:
- If a client reimburses you for an expense, it generally won’t be treated as a deductible cost.
- The exception is allowances. If you receive a taxable allowance for an expense (eg. travel), and you spend money on travel, the amount you spend may still be treated as a deductible expense.
- If an expense is for business and personal use, generally only the business-use portion may be deductible.
Still a bit lost? No worries! This guide breaks down the most common tax deductions claimed by content creators. We’ve also included a few guidelines explaining why an expense will/may/won’t be accepted by the ATO.
Basically, we’re here to cut through the noise and help you save as much as possible on your final tax bill – whether you’re filming YouTube videos, creating social posts, managing influencer campaigns, or growing an audience on behalf of your corgi Dolly Pawton.
Let’s go!
Key:
- ✅ - straightforward and claimable
- ⚠️ - claimable if certain conditions are met
- ❌ - not claimable at all. Sorry folks.
Can claim:
- Working from home costs ✅
- Office set up costs ✅
- Renting an office/studio space ✅
- Equipment ✅
- Insurance ✅
- Phone and internet expenses ✅
- Software subscriptions ✅
- Travel expenses ✅
- Seminars, conferences, and training courses ✅
Might be able to claim
Can’t claim
Expenses content creators can claim
1. Working from home costs
If you run your content creation business from home, you may be able to claim some of your working-from-home expenses – but only the extra running costs that are directly work-related.
For example, the ATO’s home-based business rules allow content creators with a dedicated workspace that operates as a legitimate “place of business” to claim a portion of their occupancy costs (eg. your rent or mortgage interest). Wow that’s a mouthful!
To do this, you’ll need to work out what percentage of your home is used exclusively for business purposes. If eligible, that percentage of your rent or mortgage interest may be treated as a deductible expense under ATO guidance.
Here’s the catch though: your home office needs to be used solely for work. If the space does double duty – say, it’s your film studio by day and guest bedroom by night – you won’t be able to claim occupancy expenses.
These rules have quite a bit of detail to them, so it’s worth checking out the ATO guidelines to make sure you’re claiming correctly!
2. Office set up costs
If you’ve decided to stop filming in your garage and set up a home studio instead, great news! The equipment you buy specifically for work is generally tax deductible.
This includes things like:
- Desks and workstations
- Ergonomic office chairs
- Laptop stands and monitor mounts
- Desk accessories like keyboard trays or cable management systems
- Storage solutions such as filing cabinets or shelving units
The catch is that the equipment needs to be used exclusively for work purposes in order for you to claim the full cost. If that new office chair gets used for both client meetings and marathon gaming sessions, generally only the business-use portion may be deductible.
💡 Higher-value items may need to be depreciated over multiple years instead of claimed in full straight away. For more on this, check out our ultimate guide to depreciation.
Bottom line: investing in a functional, comfortable workspace isn’t just good for your productivity and wellbeing – it’s also a legitimate business expense that can help reduce your tax bill. Too easy!
3. Office rent ✅
If you’re renting a dedicated office space (or studio space!) that’s used exclusively for business, great news! In many cases, that rent may count as a business expense.
4. Equipment ✅
The gear you use to create content is often treated as a business expense when it’s genuinely used for work.
Whether you’re investing in a new camera, upgrading your microphone setup, buying lighting equipment, or stocking up on props for shoots, the tools you use to do your job are often treated as business expenses.
Think things like:
- Film cameras, microphones, and sound and lighting rigs
- Stationery and office supplies
- External hard drives or cloud storage subscriptions
Just remember: when something gets used for both work and personal reasons, generally only the business portion may be treated as a deductible expense. So if that polaroid is 80% shots for pinterest and 20% pics of you on holiday, you can only claim 80% of the cost.
5. Insurance premiums ✅
As a content creator, it may be a good idea to take out insurance against potential claims from clients or collaborators. A solid insurance policy can help protect you financially, should the worst come to the worst (*touchwood* it never does).
One silver lining is that your insurance premiums are often treated as business expenses. So don’t hesitate to protect yourself and your business!
6. Phone and internet expenses ✅
The work-related portion of your phone and internet bills may be deductible under ATO guidelines. This includes:
- The phone itself
- Monthly plans and data costs
- Your home internet connection
Super useful for those long calls with clients who never hang up!
7. Software subscriptions ✅
Adobe Creative Cloud for editing? Canva Pro for graphic design work? Final Cut Pro for creating videos? All eligible business expenses! Software subscriptions used to create content are often treated as business expenses.
Just remember (say it with us now) – generally, only the portion used for work may be deductible. Editing your mate’s birthday video unfortunately doesn’t count for the ATO’s purposes.
8. Travel expenses ✅
Expenses from overnight work trips are often treated as business expenses. – think client meetings in other cities, must-attend industry events, or shoots that require you to travel.
These costs may be deductible if you can show:
- You were away overnight
- You actually spent the money while travelling
- The trip directly related to earning your income
- How you calculated your claim
9. Seminars, conferences, and training courses ✅
Conference tickets, online courses, workshops, industry seminars – if an education event is going to improve your skills for what you currently do, it may qualify as a deductible expense.
Like we said earlier, travel costs may also be deductible, including accommodation and meals if you’re away from home for more than a day attending these events. Bonus!
Just one catch: the whole trip needs to be genuinely work-related. You can’t tack a weekend getaway onto a one-day workshop and claim the lot (trust us, we’ve thought about it). For mixed trips like that, only the direct costs – like course fees – may be tax deductible.
Expenses content creators might be able to claim
1. Training, self-education, and study ⚠️
Training, self-education, and study expenses may be deductible if they relate directly to your work as a content creator.
For these expenses to be eligible, they need to:
- Maintain or improve the specific skills and knowledge you use in your current work, or
- Be likely to result in an increase in income for your business
Because of this, a course that’s designed to help you break into a new field, or only vaguely related to what you do, generally wouldn’t be treated as deductible.
Similarly, although we are here for growth, personal development courses don’t cut the mustard with the ATO either.
2. Clothing and laundry ⚠️
This one’s a bit tricky. The ATO only allows deductions for:
- Occupation-specific clothing (like costumes for on-camera work)
- Protective clothing (like non-slip footwear)
- Compulsory uniforms
Even if you only wear certain clothes while working, if they could reasonably be worn in everyday life, they generally wouldn’t be treated as business expenses.
If your work clothes are tax deductible though, related laundry expenses may also be deductible in some cases.. This includes:
- Dry cleaning and repairs
- $1 for every load containing only your work clothes
- $0.50 for every load containing a mix of work and personal items
If your laundry expenses (minus dry cleaning) come to less than $150, you don’t need to keep records to prove your costs. You will however need to be able to show how you calculated and worked out your claim.
3. Grooming costs ⚠️
So in general, grooming costs are considered a personal expense, and therefore aren’t tax deductible.
But there is a limited exception to this rule – if you’re on camera or performing in some way, and need a specific makeup look or hairstyle for the shoot, your grooming costs might be treated as tax deductible.
For example, if you’re playing a character that’s 20 years older than your actual age, and you buy makeup to age yourself, the makeup used might be tax deductible.
You’ll have to be careful, though. Like with clothing, if it’s feasible for you to have a makeup look or hairstyle in everyday life, it’s likely that these costs aren’t claimable.
4. Meals ⚠️
This is a slightly hard one to swallow (mind the pun).
- ❌ Food and drinks consumed during normal work hours are generally treated as private expenses, even if you receive an allowance.
- ✅ Meals bought when working overtime may be deductible if you receive an overtime meal allowance, and this allowance is included in your assessable income.
- 📖 Your assessable income is the income you pay taxes on. For more information, check out our article on how taxes are calculated.
- ✅ Similarly, meals purchased while travelling overnight for work may also be deductible
Otherwise, meals are generally treated as private expenses. Sorry!
5. Car expenses ⚠️
Car expenses may be deductible in certain circumstances:
- ❌ Regular trips between home and work are generally treated as private travel, even if you work outside of standard business hours. This includes any taxi or public transport fares – the ATO considers your usual commute a private expense.
- There are limited exceptions to this rule. For example, if you don’t have a fixed workplace and you regularly travel from one location to another, these costs may be deductible in some cases..
- ❌ Tolls paid while driving between home and your regular workplace are generally treated as private travel costs.
- ❌ Parking at or near your regular workplace is also generally treated as a private expense.
- ✅ Driving from one job to another during the work day may be deductible.
- ✅ Driving between different work locations for the same client, like travelling to different filming locations for the same project, may also be deductible.
- ✅ Tolls and parking incurred on work-related trips may also be deductible.
Claiming car expenses
To claim the cost of car expenses, there are two methods you can use:
- The logbook method
- The cents per kilometre method
The logbook method
The logbook method is used to calculate the work-related portion of your running expenses. Expenses can include things like fuel, maintenance, and registration.
To work out your business-use percentage, you’ll need to keep a logbook for a minimum of 12 continuous weeks. Note down the financial year you create the logbook (eg. FY 2026/27), and then for each trip you take, record:
- The date the journey began and ended
- The car’s odometer reading at the start and end of the journey
- How many kilometres the car travelled on the journey
- Why the journey was made (for business or personal reasons)
Once your logbook is complete, you can work out the percentage you use your car for work, and claim your work percentage of all running expenses. Unless your circumstances change significantly (like switching industries, or overhauling how much you travel for work), your logbook will remain valid for five years.
Fuel and oil costs can be calculated using actual receipts, or you can estimate costs based on your odometer readings. For all other expenses, you’ll need written proof (like rego, maintenance receipts etc).
💡 If the cost of fuel spikes unexpectedly, using the logbook method means your fuel claims will keep pace with the pump price. It might be worth the admin if you rack up a lot of kilometres for work.
Cents per kilometre method
The cents-per-kilometre method currently uses a rate of $0.88 per kilometre for every tax-deductible trip you take, up to a maximum of 5,000km (or $4,400). You won’t need to keep a logbook, but the ATO might ask you to show them how you calculated your business kilometres.
It’s far easier, but less accurate than using a logbook.
| Logbook method | Cents per kilometre method | |
|---|---|---|
| Pros: | Potentially a bigger deduction, if your vehicle expenses are high | Low admin |
| Cons: | More admin | Potentially a lower deduction, if your vehicle expenses are high |
Expenses content creators can’t claim
1. Child care ❌
Even if you need childcare in order to work, it’s generally treated as a personal expense.
2. Entertainment and social functions ❌
Bad luck, gang. Even if the event is work-related, entertainment costs are usually treated as personal expenses.
It’s not tax deductible to:
- Take a client or collaborator out for coffee or any other social activity
- Attend a networking event (even if it’s considered essential for your industry – ouch!)
3. Glasses ❌
The ATO doesn’t care if you’re as blind as a bat without them – even if you need glasses for work (or you know, to see), they’re considered a personal expense.
Claim tax deductions with Hnry
We may be biased, but we reckon the best way for content creators to maximise their tax deductions (cost-effectively and legally!) is to use Hnry.
Hnry is an award-winning app that’s helping sole traders in every industry spend less time on financial admin, and more time doing what they love.
(Unless what they love is financial admin).
For just 1% +GST of your self-employed income, capped at $1,500 +GST a year, Hnry will calculate and pay all your taxes, levies and whatnot for you, including:
We also complete and lodge your tax return for you, including claiming any tax relief you might be entitled to. It’s all part of the service!
More importantly, we free up thousands of hours for you to focus more on what you do best – your job. Hnry is on a mission to make being a freelancer simple, affordable, and accessible for anyone.
Get your tax ducks (and deductions) in a row by joining Hnry today!