Quick answer
Accommodation you need because you stay away from home overnight for work is deductible, and the 10% GST is claimable with a valid tax invoice. The stay must be genuine work travel where you return home, not a relocation. Keep the tax invoice, claim within the ATO reasonable amounts if you receive a travel allowance, and keep a travel diary if you are away six or more nights.
Is work accommodation tax deductible in Australia?
Yes, when an overnight stay is a genuine result of work travel. If a project, client, or conference requires you to stay away from home overnight, and you have a permanent home elsewhere, the reasonable cost of accommodation is deductible [1] , and it follows the same logic as business travel. The crucial distinction is between travelling for work and living away from home: if you have relocated or taken an extended posting, the accommodation is dealt with under the living-away-from-home rules and fringe benefits tax, not as a deduction.
Australian accommodation carries 10% GST, so a work hotel stay is one of the travel costs where there is a GST credit to claim, provided you hold a valid tax invoice. Meals charged to the room follow the meal rules rather than the accommodation rules.
How much can you claim?
You claim the actual, reasonable cost of the accommodation. There is no fixed cap on a deduction, but where you receive a bona fide travel allowance the ATO publishes annual reasonable amounts that set the level you can claim without full substantiation:
| Item | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Accommodation (Australia) | Actual cost, 10% GST credit with a tax invoice |
| Reasonable amounts | Published yearly by the ATO for allowance recipients |
| Stays of 6+ nights | Travel diary required |
| Living away from home | FBT and a LAFHA, not a deduction |
Worked example. An engineer stays three nights in Brisbane for a temporary project. The hotel is $198 per night including $18 GST, totalling $594 with $54 of claimable GST. Because the trip is under six nights, no travel diary is required, but she keeps the tax invoice and notes the work purpose. She claims the $54 GST credit and deducts the GST-exclusive $540, because the ATO says to deduct the GST-exclusive amount when you’re entitled to the credit [1] .
Record-keeping requirements
Keep the tax invoice from the accommodation provider, not just the card receipt, because you need a valid tax invoice to claim the GST credit above $82.50 [2] . Note the work purpose and the dates of the stay. Sole traders and partners who travel for six or more consecutive nights must keep a travel diary, before the trip ends or as soon as possible afterwards, recording each business activity, its date, start time, duration and place [1] . Everyone else is strongly advised to keep one [1] . The ATO’s example is a landscaper exhibiting at a London flower show for six days and sightseeing for two: she claims only the business portion [1] . The ATO requires records to be kept for five years.
How to claim, step by step
- Confirm the stay is genuine work travel where you return home, not living away from home.
- Obtain a valid tax invoice from the accommodation provider.
- Code the room cost to travel or accommodation and claim the 10% GST credit.
- Treat any meals charged to the room under the meal rules.
- If you receive a travel allowance, check your claim against the ATO reasonable amounts.
- Keep a travel diary for stays of six or more nights and retain records for five years.
Common mistakes
- Keeping only the card receipt, which is not a valid tax invoice and blocks the GST credit.
- Treating a relocation or long-term posting as deductible travel instead of living away from home.
- Missing the travel diary for trips of six or more consecutive nights.
- Claiming the private portion of a trip extended into a holiday.
- Lumping room-service meals into the accommodation cost instead of applying the meal rules.
Software that helps
Hotel folios bundle the room, the GST, and any meals on one document, so the value is in splitting them correctly at capture.
- TravelPerk itemises booked stays and separates accommodation from extras.
- ExpenseFlow reads the hotel folio, separates the room cost from the meals and incidentals, applies the 10% GST treatment to each line, and syncs the coded stay to Xero.
- Expensify matches the hotel card transaction to the uploaded folio for faster reconciliation.
FAQ
See the answered questions above for deductibility, reasonable amounts, the travel diary rule, GST on hotels, and living away from home.
References
Sources and references
Every figure, threshold, deadline, and regulatory rule cited in this guide is traceable to an official government publication. URLs are reproduced in full so any reader can verify the claim at source. Numbers are subject to change at each fiscal event; we re-check this list at every quarterly refresh of this guide.
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[1]
ATO · Deductions for business travel expenses
https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/income-deductions-and-concessions/income-and-deductions-for-business/deductions/deductions-for-business-travel-expensesUpdated 27 May 2026. Accommodation for overnight business travel with a permanent home elsewhere; private and living-away-from-home costs excluded; GST-exclusive deduction; travel diary compulsory for sole traders and partners at 6+ consecutive nights.
Retrieved 2026-10-10
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[2]
ATO · When you can claim a GST credit
https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/claiming-gst-credits/when-you-can-claim-a-gst-creditTax invoice over A$82.50.
Retrieved 2026-10-10
From ExpenseFlow
GST coding on autopilot
ExpenseFlow reads every receipt, assigns the right GST treatment and account code, and syncs to Xero or QuickBooks Online once you approve.