Tax deductions for plumbers
As a plumber you can generally claim the tools and machines you buy yourself, the revalidations that keep your endorsements current, tool insurance, and the running costs of the van.
Plumbing is the trade where a single item of gear most often costs four figures — a jetter, a drain camera, a press tool — which changes how it’s claimed. Endorsements add a second timing question, because several of them expire on their own schedule.
The three rules for any claim
- You paid for it yourself and weren’t reimbursed.
- It directly relates to earning your income.
- You have a record — a receipt, invoice or bank statement.
Checked against ATO guidance: September 2026
What you can usually claim
Machines, cameras and press tools
Drain machines, jetters, inspection cameras, press tools, pipe threaders and the hand tools around them. How you claim depends on how you work. On wages, an item costing $300 or less can generally be claimed in full that year, provided it is not part of a set, or one of several near-identical items, costing more than $300 together. On an ABN that rule does not apply: business assets are claimed over their effective life, or under a small-business write-off in the years one is available. Where no write-off is available a drain machine returns its cost gradually rather than all at once — but an eligible small business can instead deduct a qualifying asset in full in the year it is first used, so check the current threshold before assuming the slow route.
Licences, endorsements and revalidation
Renewing your plumbing and drainage licence, and revalidating endorsements you already hold — backflow prevention endorsements, for instance, generally need requalifying every five years — is deductible where it maintains the work you currently do. The first licence and the qualification behind it are not.
Tool insurance, repairs and servicing
Premiums for insuring tools against theft or damage, and the cost of repairing or servicing them, are claimed in the year you pay them. For gear that lives in a van overnight this is often the more valuable claim, and it sits separately from the depreciation on the tool itself.
Protective and confined-space gear
Waterproofs, knee pads, gloves, eye protection, steel-capped boots, hi-vis and respiratory protection for confined or contaminated work, plus laundering protective items. Gear that is protective by design qualifies; ordinary clothing does not, however wet it gets.
Van running costs and travel between jobs
Fuel, servicing, repairs, registration and insurance for a work vehicle, apportioned to business use. How you calculate it depends on the vehicle. The logbook and cents-per-kilometre methods apply only to a car — built to carry under one tonne and fewer than nine passengers — with cents-per-kilometre capped at 5,000 work-related kilometres a year. Many utes and larger vans carry a tonne or more, are not cars for this purpose, and have their running costs claimed at actual cost apportioned to work use, with records to support the split. Check the payload on the compliance plate rather than assuming. A one-tonne trade van usually sits on the actual-cost side of that line. Travel between jobs during the day counts; the ordinary commute generally doesn’t.
Buying bigger gear: what happens at tax time
A $1,200 drain machine is the clearest illustration of how this works in Australia. On an ABN with GST registration the GST credit lands on the activity statement for the period you bought it, while the cost is spread across the machine’s effective life. Assume for illustration an effective life of ten years and the cost comes back across a decade rather than in year one — effective life is asset-specific, so the real figure is the one the ATO publishes for that machine. How much lands in any given year also depends on the method, prime cost spreading it evenly and diminishing value front-loading it, and on how much of the year you held it. An eligible small business may be able to write the asset off in full instead, which changes the picture entirely. Private use reduces that yearly figure rather than the value carried on the register.
General information, not personal tax advice. What you can claim depends on your circumstances — check the ATO's own occupation guides or a registered tax agent, and keep records for every claim.
Keep in mind
- The apprenticeship and the first plumbing licence that let you start in the trade.
- Everyday clothing worn on the job, including footwear that isn’t protective by design.
- Private use of the van — the school run and the weekend come out of the claim.
- Tools, gear or fees your employer paid for or reimbursed.
Where mistakes happen
The claims most likely to get adjusted — not because they're disallowed outright, but because the split or the timing was off.
- Claiming a jetter or drain camera in full in the year it was bought. Above $300 these are depreciating assets claimed across their effective life, unless a small-business write-off is available for that year — and the write-off threshold has moved between years, so confirm the current figure before relying on it.
- Claiming a van at full business use with no logbook. A vehicle that also does the school run has a private share, and a 12-week logbook is what makes the percentage defensible rather than an estimate.
- Claiming the course that first qualified you for backflow or gas work as though it were a revalidation. Keeping a current qualification alive and obtaining a new one are treated differently.
Take it further
Your income tax, Medicare levy and take-home pay on any salary.
AI2Fin for tradies →The glovebox receipts, already sorted
Track it: the asset register →Log the machine once and AI2Fin carries the effective life, the yearly deduction and the private-use share for you.
Depreciation (decline in value) →Claiming the cost of a big asset gradually over its life.
Effective life →How many years an asset is expected to be used — the base of every depreciation rate.
Diminishing value method →Front-loaded depreciation — a bigger claim early, shrinking each year.
Logbook method (car expenses) →Claim your car’s real business-use share of running costs.
Instant asset write-off →Immediately deduct an eligible asset instead of depreciating it.
Plumbers — common questions
Can I claim my backflow revalidation?
Revalidating an endorsement you already hold, to keep doing work you already do, generally follows the licence-renewal rule and is deductible. Backflow prevention endorsements typically need requalifying every five years, so the cost lands in a single year rather than annually — worth expecting rather than being surprised by. This is general information, not personal tax advice — what you can claim depends on your circumstances, so check with the ATO or a registered tax agent, and keep records to back up every claim.
Can I claim a drain camera in one go?
Usually not in full. Above $300 an item is a depreciating asset claimed over its effective life, so a camera returns a portion of its cost each year. A small-business instant asset write-off can change that in years it applies, and the threshold moves — check the current figure with the ATO before assuming. This is general information, not personal tax advice — what you can claim depends on your circumstances, so check with the ATO or a registered tax agent, and keep records to back up every claim.
Is tool insurance deductible?
Premiums for insuring work tools are generally claimable in the year you pay them, as are repairs and servicing. For tools stored in a van overnight this is often the more useful claim, and it is separate from any depreciation you are already claiming on the tools themselves. This is general information, not personal tax advice — what you can claim depends on your circumstances, so check with the ATO or a registered tax agent, and keep records to back up every claim.
Can I claim the van?
You can claim the work-related share of running costs — fuel, servicing, repairs, registration and insurance. Check the payload first: a van rated under one tonne is a car, so logbook or cents-per-kilometre apply, while a van at a tonne or more is not, and its costs are claimed at actual cost instead. The split is what matters, and each route has its own evidence: a valid 12-week logbook for the logbook method, or your work-related kilometres and how you arrived at them for cents-per-kilometre. This is general information, not personal tax advice — what you can claim depends on your circumstances, so check with the ATO or a registered tax agent, and keep records to back up every claim.
Deductions for other occupations
See all occupations.
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