5 GST-claimable receipts every tradie misses
Easy money you're leaving on the table. Phone bills, vehicle costs, accountant fees, professional development, and the home office portion.
Here are five claims most tradies miss because the receipts don't look like business expenses at first glance.
1. Phone + internet (business %)
Use your phone for jobs? You can claim the business-use percentage. Most tradies claim 60-80%. Your monthly Spark or 2degrees bill — whatever percentage of usage is business — is claimable.
2. Vehicle running costs
If you use your ute/van for jobs, GST on fuel, repairs, insurance, registration — all claimable proportionally. Track business km vs personal km in a logbook (12-week sample is enough). 90% business use is normal for tradies.
3. Accountant + bookkeeping fees
Yes, you can claim back the GST on what you paid your accountant. Including software subscriptions like Smoko ($249 lifetime — fully claimable).
4. Training + tickets
Site safety courses, electrical refresher, plumbing certification renewals, BCITO fees — all GST claimable.
5. Home office portion
Got a corner of the garage with the laptop, files, paperwork? You can claim a proportion of power, internet, even rates/rent based on the square meterage you use exclusively for business. Talk to your accountant before going hard.
How Smoko helps
Snap each of these as you get them — Smoko's Gemini OCR pulls the GST line and categorises it for you. At GST time, the Materials/Vehicle/Phone/Other splits are already done.