Who we help
Teachers' tax, marked against the evidence.
Classroom costs out of your own pocket, working-from-home hours, study that never stops — teaching generates real claims. We substantiate them so they hold.
Teachers spend their own money on other people's education: classroom supplies, resources and subscriptions, excursion costs, a home desk where the marking actually happens. Much of it is claimable — but the ATO looks at teacher returns knowing exactly what the common claims are, and a figure without a record is just a figure. We prepare teacher returns from the receipts and the diary, not from what the staffroom says everyone claims.
Working from home is where teacher claims most often fail review — hours estimated after the fact, methods chosen without the records they require. We settle the method on the records you actually keep and document the basis, so the claim is decided by evidence rather than optimism. Self-education gets the same treatment: the connection between the course and your current teaching role is written down before the claim is made.
Tutoring on the side changes the shape of the return: ABN income, expenses to allocate, and obligations that did not exist when everything came through payroll. We report it properly and keep the records simple. Appointments run by phone and video — school holidays or term time — and documents move through a client portal.
What we see on teachers' returns
- Classroom spending all year, receipts for almost none of it by lodgment.
- Working-from-home claims with no diary, no hours record and no chosen method.
- Self-education claimed for study that leads away from the current role, not deeper into it.
- Tutoring income earned in cash or by transfer, missing from the return the ATO cross-checks.
What goes on file
Classroom and resource costs
Supplies, resources and subscriptions substantiated purchase by purchase, with employer reimbursements excluded rather than double-claimed.
Working-from-home records
The claim method settled on the records you keep, the hours evidenced, and the basis documented so it withstands review.
Self-education and professional learning
Courses, conferences and study claimed where the link to your current teaching role is documented — invoices and enrolment records filed.
Tutoring and ABN side income
Tutoring reported on a business schedule, expenses allocated between employment and the ABN, and the registrations that may follow confirmed before lodgment.
Union, registration and memberships
Accreditation, union fees and professional memberships claimed against the records, allocated to the year they belong to.
Amendments for past years
Where an earlier return claimed what the records never supported — or missed what they did — we amend it properly, with the workings kept.
A teacher's return prepared here can be handed straight to a reviewer: the receipts, the diary and the reasoning are already attached. See our method →
Common questions
Can I claim what I spend on my classroom?
Out-of-pocket classroom spending is generally claimable when you were not reimbursed and the record exists — receipts, bank entries, a note of what it was for. Where your school reimburses you, that spending drops out. The pattern we set up is simple: keep the receipt at purchase, photograph it into the portal, and lodgment becomes a sorting exercise instead of a reconstruction.
How do working-from-home claims actually work?
There is more than one way to calculate the claim, and each demands particular records — hours actually worked, costs actually incurred. The method is chosen by what your records can support, not by which produces the larger figure. We document the choice and the basis at lodgment, which is precisely what the ATO asks to see when it asks at all.
Is my master's degree deductible?
It depends on where the study points. Study that maintains or deepens the skills of your current teaching role sits differently from study aimed at a different career, and the distinction is one of documented fact. We examine the enrolment against the role you hold now, write down the connection where it exists, and tell you plainly where it does not.
I tutor a few students privately. Do I really need to declare it?
Yes. Tutoring income is assessable however it arrives — cash, transfer or through a platform — and platforms report their side to the ATO. Declaring it also opens the matching deductions: materials, a documented portion of home costs, travel between students where the records support it. We report the income properly and make sure the expenses that belong against it are claimed.
What records should I keep during the year?
Four habits cover almost everything: receipts photographed when you buy, a working-from-home record kept as you go, a simple log of tutoring income, and enrolment papers filed for any study. We set clients up with the portal so records land in one place all year — by the time lodgment comes, the evidence is already assembled.
General information only — not tax, legal or financial advice. Advice specific to your circumstances is provided within a signed engagement.
Related reading
Speak to the person who signs the return.
Consultations are with a registered tax agent — by phone or video, wherever you are in Australia.