Tax Deductions for Doctors Australia 2026-27: What You Can Claim

Doctors pay more to stay registered than almost any other profession in Australia — and most of it is deductible. AHPRA registration alone is $1,102 this year, a specialist college membership and indemnity insurance add thousands more, and the Medical Board’s 50-hour annual CPD requirement means conference fees, courses and travel are a permanent line in a doctor’s budget. The ATO’s dedicated guide for doctors and medical professionals (updated 11 May 2026) is generous on paper — but the real money is in the traps nobody lists: the new $1,000 standard deduction, public-hospital salary packaging, and the PSI rules that quietly disallow a locum’s biggest claim.

Quick answer: In 2026-27, doctors can claim AHPRA registration ($1,102), college and AMA memberships, professional indemnity insurance, CPD and fellowship exam fees, medical equipment, scrubs and protective clothing, work-related car travel at 91c per kilometre, phone and internet, and working-from-home costs at 70c per hour. Public-hospital doctors can also salary package about $9,010 of living expenses plus $2,650 of meal entertainment tax-free. The new $1,000 standard deduction is automatic — but for a GP who pays her own indemnity and CPD, itemising wins by thousands: our worked example totals $14,940 of deductions and beats the standard-deduction path by $4,969. If you are a hospital doctor whose employer pays your indemnity and most of your CPD, check the maths before you assume itemising wins.

The three tests every claim must pass

A work-related expense is deductible only if it meets all three tests: you spent the money yourself and were not reimbursed; it directly relates to earning your income as a doctor; and you have a record to prove it. Keep records for five years from the date you lodge. The ATO app’s myDeductions tool stores photos of receipts as you spend — for a doctor juggling three workplaces and a conference in Cairns, photographing receipts on the day beats reconstructing them in July.

First, the income side: declare everything, including allowances

Before deductions, get the income side right. Include all salary and wages, overtime, penalty rates, on-call allowances, and any uniform or meal allowance on your income statement. An allowance is income in full — it buys you no deduction by itself; only money you actually spend is deductible, and only with a record. Locum doctors with an ABN must also declare every invoice, including work paid through an agency — the ATO’s data-matching program receives agency and hospital payment data, and undeclared locum income is one of the easiest things for it to find.

Registration, memberships and indemnity: the fixed costs

Every practising doctor pays three fixed annual costs, and all three are deductible when you pay them yourself.

AHPRA registration — $1,102 in 2026. The Medical Board of Australia raised its annual registration fee from $1,058 to $1,102 for renewals due 30 September 2026, a 4.1% rise that sits above both CPI and this year’s 2.6% Medicare indexation. Doctors whose principal place of practice is in New South Wales pay $925. New graduates pay less — a $332 application fee plus a $543 registration fee in 2026-27 — and doctors returning from parental, disability or carer’s leave can apply for a 30% rebate on the annual fee. The initial cost of obtaining registration is not deductible, but every renewal is.

College and AMA memberships. Membership of the Australian Medical Association, your specialist college (RACGP, RACP, RANZCP and the rest) and any state medical association is fully deductible. These fees matter more than usual this year — see the $1,000 standard deduction section below, because professional association memberships sit outside the standard deduction and can be claimed on top of it.

Professional indemnity insurance. Indemnity premiums are deductible — with one big distinction competitors never make. If you are a GP, a private specialist or a locum who buys your own cover, the premium is yours to claim. If you are a hospital doctor, your employer almost certainly pays it, and you cannot claim what you did not pay. Check who actually paid before you claim it; the ATO sees the policyholder.

CPD, courses and fellowship exams

The Medical Board requires 50 hours of continuing professional development every year. That requirement is why CPD is the largest deduction for most doctors — and the ATO allows it, provided the course maintains or improves the skills you need for your current duties, or is likely to increase your income from your current employment.

Claimable CPD costs include course and conference registration fees, travel and accommodation to attend them, textbooks and online subscriptions, and fellowship exam fees for your current specialty — which run into the thousands. Keep the conference program with the invoice: apportionment claims fail on evidence, not on principle, and a conference that mixes professional sessions with a family holiday needs the private days stripped out. A course that only relates in a general way, or that is designed to help you get a new job — a GP claiming a dentistry course, for example — is not deductible.

Equipment, clothing and protective items

Medical equipment. Stethoscopes, otoscopes, blood pressure monitors, surgical instruments, medical bags and diagnostic tools are all deductible. Items costing $300 or less are claimed in full in the year you buy them; more expensive items are depreciated over their effective life. A $420 stethoscope is an immediate deduction; a $2,500 portable ultrasound is depreciated.

Clothing and laundry. Scrubs, surgical gowns, lab coats and surgical caps are deductible as protective or occupation-specific clothing, along with laundry costs. Ordinary clothing is not — a business suit worn to your private practice is not deductible, however smart it looks. And a warning worth its own sentence: several US-based guides circulating in Australia tell doctors they can deduct their shoes. They cannot. Shoes are conventional clothing under Australian law. American advice about DEA registrations and malpractice insurance does not apply here either.

Protective items and PPE. Gloves, face masks, sanitiser, antibacterial spray and safety glasses you buy yourself are deductible — but only if your hospital or agency does not reimburse you. One thing you cannot claim, even though your employer may require it: flu shots and other vaccinations. The ATO’s toolkit says so explicitly.

Journals and books. Subscriptions to medical journals and publications in your specialty are deductible, as are textbooks you buy for work.

Car, phone and working from home

Car expenses — 91c per kilometre in 2026-27. Travel between workplaces is deductible: hospital to clinic, clinic to a patient’s home, one hospital to another. Travel from home to your usual workplace is not, however many sites you visit afterwards. The 91c rate is the 89c base rate plus a temporary 2c one-off uplift, and it applies up to 5,000 work kilometres a year — a maximum claim of $4,550. If you drive more than that between sites, the logbook method usually wins: 12 weeks of records covers you for five years. Our car expenses guide runs the crossover maths.

Phone and internet. Claim the work-related portion of your mobile and home internet — on-call calls, rostering apps, telehealth, CPD done online. Keep a four-week diary of work use to justify the percentage.

Working from home — 70c per hour. If you do admin, write reports or complete CPD from home, claim 70c for each hour under the fixed-rate method — but keep an actual diary of the hours. A reconstructed estimate is not accepted. The fixed rate covers energy, internet, phone and depreciation of office equipment; you cannot add those on top. Our work-from-home guide covers the 2026-27 rate and the diary rules.

The $1,000 standard deduction: when to itemise and when not to

From the 2026-27 income year, Australian residents earning salary or wages get a standard deduction of up to $1,000 for work-related expenses. It became law in June 2026, it applies automatically, and you need no receipts for it. It is not a bonus on top of your normal claims — every work-related expense you claim reduces it dollar for dollar. Claim $600 of expenses and your standard deduction drops to $400, so you land on $1,000 either way, with more paperwork.

But two categories sit outside it and can be claimed on top of the full $1,000: union fees and professional association memberships, and deductions that are not work expenses, such as donations, income protection premiums and your tax agent’s fee. For doctors, that means AMA and college memberships go on top. AHPRA registration, indemnity, CPD, equipment and car costs all sit inside the $1,000 — so the question is whether your inside-the-$1,000 spending beats $1,000. For most doctors it does, by a wide margin. The worked examples below run the numbers for three doctor types.

Salary packaging: the public-hospital advantage

If you work in a public hospital, you have access to one of the most valuable concessions in Australian employment — and it is not a deduction at all. Public hospitals are FBT-exempt employers, which means you can salary package up to $17,000 of grossed-up benefits a year without the hospital paying fringe benefits tax. In spending terms that is about $9,010 a year for rent, mortgage payments or everyday living expenses, paid with pre-tax dollars. There is a separate $5,000 grossed-up cap for meal entertainment — about $2,650 a year on a dining card. The FBT year runs 1 April to 31 March, per employee per employer, and any unused cap does not carry forward.

Worked in dollars, the packaging is worth real money. A registrar on $140,000 who packages the full $9,010 of living expenses plus $2,650 of meal entertainment saves 39% (37% marginal rate plus the 2% Medicare levy) on $11,660 — $4,547 a year — before admin fees of a few hundred dollars. But there is a trap that catches doctors every year: the packaged amount shows up on your income statement as a reportable fringe benefits amount, and that amount is added back when the ATO works out your HELP repayment income, your Medicare levy surcharge income, your private health insurance rebate and your family payments. Salary packaging cuts your income tax. It does not cut your HECS repayments, and it can push you over the Medicare levy surcharge threshold even though your payslip looks smaller. Our fringe benefits tax guide explains the mechanics. The other high-income trap is Division 293: once your income passes $250,000, you pay an extra 15% on your concessional super contributions — a doctor on $280,000 with $30,000 of concessional contributions pays an extra $4,500 (see our Division 293 guide).

Locums and the PSI rules: the $6,000 trap

Locum doctors working through an ABN face the personal services income rules, and they change what you can claim. The general rule is that you can claim a deduction against PSI only if you could claim it as an employee — and the ATO’s list of what is allowed is narrow. Indemnity insurance, AHPRA registration, CPD, agency fees, car travel between assignments and equipment are all claimable. What is not claimable will surprise most locums: rent, mortgage interest, rates and land taxes for a home office are explicitly excluded, even though the running expenses for that same room — heating, lighting, the 70c fixed rate — are allowed. A locum who claims $6,000 of home-office rent against PSI loses the whole $6,000. The ATO’s PSI deductions page (Taxation Ruling TR 2003/10) is the authority here.

Two more locum traps. First, you cannot split PSI through a company or trust to a non-working spouse — the PSI rules attribute the income to the person who did the work, and the deductions follow it. Second, super: you can claim personal deductible contributions, but check your carry-forward concessional cap in June, not October — the contribution and the notice of intent must both be lodged before you lodge your return. Our carry-forward super guide has the five-year expiry calendar.

Worked example 1: Dr Sarah, salaried GP on $185,000

Sarah is a salaried GP. Her tax on $185,000 is $49,520 plus the 2% Medicare levy of $3,700 — $53,220 in total. Her work expenses for the year:

• AHPRA registration: $1,102
• College membership (RACGP): $1,200
• Professional indemnity insurance: $3,200
• CPD — conference $1,850, flights and accommodation $1,400, courses $1,600: $4,850
• Medical equipment (stethoscope $420, otoscope $380): $800
• Phone and internet, work portion: $620
• Car between clinics, 2,800 km × 91c: $2,548
• Scrubs and laundry: $340
• Journal subscriptions: $280

Total itemised deductions: $14,940. Her taxable income falls to $170,060, and her tax bill falls to $47,393.40 — a saving of $5,826.60. On the standard-deduction path she gets $1,000 plus her $1,200 college membership on top, a $2,200 deduction worth $858. Itemising wins by $4,969. For a GP who pays her own indemnity and CPD, there is no contest.

Worked example 2: Dr James, hospital registrar on $140,000

James works in a public hospital. His employer pays his indemnity insurance and most of his CPD, so his itemised deductions are modest: AHPRA $1,102, phone $300, CPD $900, scrubs and laundry $250 — $2,552 in total. That still beats the $1,000 standard deduction, because his AHPRA fee alone is $1,102.

But James’s real saving is salary packaging. He packages the full $9,010 of living expenses and $2,650 of meal entertainment — $11,660 of pre-tax spending that saves him 39% (37% plus the 2% Medicare levy), or $4,547 a year. The one thing packaging does not do is reduce his HELP repayments: his $11,660 of reportable fringe benefits is added back to his repayment income, so his HECS bill stays exactly where it was.

Worked example 3: Dr Priya, locum GP on $95,000 of ABN income

Priya works as a locum through her ABN. Her deductions:

• Professional indemnity insurance: $2,800
• AHPRA registration: $1,102
• CPD and conferences: $3,600
• Agency fees: $1,500
• Car between assignments, 4,000 km × 91c: $3,640
• Phone, work portion: $480
• Medical equipment: $650
• Working from home, 70c × 150 hours: $105

Total: $13,877. At her 30% marginal rate plus the 2% Medicare levy, that saves her $4,441. The claim she did not make matters just as much: $6,000 of home-office rent, which the PSI rules disallow outright. She also keeps a separate bank account for her ABN income, a 12-week logbook for her car, and her conference programs with the invoices — the three records the ATO asks locums for first.

Worked example 4: Dr Tom, junior doctor on $88,000

Tom is a second-year resident. His indemnity is employer-paid, so he cannot claim it. His itemised deductions are AHPRA $1,102, phone $240, scrubs and laundry $180, and CPD $400 — $1,922. Against the $1,000 standard deduction, itemising wins by $922, worth $295 at his 32% marginal rate (30% plus Medicare). It is a small win, but it is a win — and the receipts he keeps this year are the habit that saves him thousands once he is a GP paying his own indemnity.

Common mistakes doctors make

• Claiming indemnity the hospital paid. If your employer pays it, it is not your deduction.
• Claiming the commute. Home to your usual hospital is private travel, even if you are on call. Only travel between workplaces counts.
• Claiming home-office rent against PSI. Locums: running expenses only. Rent, mortgage interest, rates and land tax are disallowed.
• Claiming flu shots. Not deductible, even when your employer requires them.
• Claiming shoes, grooming or a watch. Conventional clothing, grooming and an ordinary watch are private. A fob watch is the narrow exception — and only if it is required for the job.
• Claiming the initial registration. The cost of first obtaining registration is not deductible; renewals are.
• Forgetting the RFBA add-back. Salary packaging saves income tax but not HELP repayments, and it counts toward the Medicare levy surcharge.
• Using stale rates. Several guides still quote 67c an hour for working from home and 85c a kilometre for car travel. The 2026-27 figures are 70c and 91c.
• Trusting American advice. DEA registrations, malpractice write-offs and shoe deductions belong to another country’s tax system.

Tips to keep more of what you earn

• Photograph every receipt on the day. myDeductions in the ATO app does this in seconds; a July reconstruction never survives an audit.
• Run the $1,000 comparison every year. Your answer changes as your career changes — a hospital registrar and a private GP are different taxpayers.
• Set up salary packaging before 1 April. The FBT year starts 1 April, and unused cap does not carry forward.
• Check your carry-forward super cap in June. A personal deductible contribution must be made — and the notice of intent lodged — before you lodge your return.
• Keep a 12-week logbook if you work across sites. It covers five years and usually beats the 5,000 km cap.
• Get on your tax agent’s client list before 31 October. Self-lodgers are due 31 October 2026, which falls on a Saturday, so the effective date is Monday 2 November 2026. Clients of a registered tax agent generally have until 15 May.

Frequently asked questions

Can doctors claim indemnity insurance?

Yes, if you pay it yourself. GPs, private specialists and locums who buy their own professional indemnity insurance can claim the full premium. Hospital doctors whose employer pays the premium cannot claim it.

Can doctors claim salary packaging?

Public-hospital doctors can salary package about $9,010 a year of living expenses plus about $2,650 of meal entertainment, paid with pre-tax dollars under the hospital’s $17,000 FBT exemption cap. The packaged amount is reported as a fringe benefits amount and added back for HELP repayments and the Medicare levy surcharge.

Can locum doctors claim home-office rent?

No. The PSI rules allow only the running expenses of a home office — heating, lighting and the 70c fixed rate — against personal services income. Rent, mortgage interest, rates and land taxes are disallowed.

What can doctors not claim?

Flu shots and vaccinations, ordinary clothing and shoes, grooming, an ordinary watch, home-to-work travel, childcare, the cost of first obtaining registration, and anything your employer paid for or reimbursed. Several American guides also wrongly suggest claiming shoes and DEA registration — neither exists in Australian tax law.

Is the $1,000 standard deduction worth it for doctors?

Usually not on its own. A GP itemising $14,940 beats the standard path by $4,969, and even a junior doctor itemising $1,922 beats it by $295. But remember that AMA and college memberships sit on top of the $1,000 — so the standard path is $1,000 plus your memberships, not $1,000 flat. Run both numbers every year.

The bottom line

Doctors have some of the largest legitimate deductions of any occupation in Australia, and some of the sharpest traps. The fixed costs — AHPRA, college memberships, indemnity, CPD — add up to five figures for a GP, and itemising beats the new $1,000 standard deduction by thousands. Public-hospital doctors get the extra prize of salary packaging, worth more than $4,500 a year at a registrar’s tax rate, as long as they remember the fringe benefits amount follows them into their HELP repayments. And locums need to know the PSI rules before they claim, not after: home-office rent is disallowed and income cannot be split through a company. Keep the receipts, run the comparison, and claim everything the ATO actually allows — nothing it does not.

Figures in this article are for the 2026-27 income year and are based on ATO guidance current at October 2026. Tax law changes — check the ATO website or speak to a registered tax agent before you lodge.