No receipt usually means no deduction, and the rules on what counts as a record are stricter than most people think. The good news: your phone is all you need.
Checked against ATO guidance, July 2026. Keep records 5 years after you lodge; $300 of work claims allowed without receipts; $1,000 instant deduction from the 2026–27 year.
Keep your records for five years from the day you lodge. Digital copies are completely fine, and have been for years. A clear photo of a paper receipt counts, as long as it shows the supplier, the amount, what you bought and the date. Which is lucky, because thermal paper receipts fade to blank in a glovebox within months.
If your total work expense claims come to $300 or less, you do not need receipts. You still need to be able to show how you worked the claims out and that you actually spent the money. On top of that, laundry claims up to $150 do not need written evidence either.
Do not treat $300 as a free allowance though. The ATO checks claims that cluster suspiciously at $299.
From the 2026–27 year, there is a new shortcut: claim a flat $1,000 work deduction with no itemising and no receipts, instead of claiming individual work expenses. The first returns that can use it are lodged from July 2027.
It is a floor, not a ceiling. If your real deductions are bigger than $1,000, and for most tradies and drivers they are, you itemise exactly as before and claim the lot. Which means the receipts still matter.
Where Nomo fits: two seconds at the counter — snap the receipt in Nomo and it reads the store, total and GST, files it under the right ATO category, and keeps it safe for the full five years.
General information only, not tax advice. Rules change and everyone’s situation is different, so check ato.gov.au or talk to a registered tax agent before you lodge. Nomo is a record keeping tool and does not lodge returns.