Two of the biggest meal deductions workers leave behind.
If you work overtime, or you drive long-haul and sleep away overnight, the meals you buy on the job can be one of your largest deductions of the year — and most of the time you don’t even need receipts.
Be sure to claim your overtime meals
If you’re paid a genuine overtime meal allowance under your award or workplace agreement, and you buy a meal while working that overtime, you can claim what you spent — up to $38.65 a meal with no receipts.
It adds up fast. Across a year of regular overtime it can total around $14,000 — yet it’s the deduction workers forget most often, because the allowance is small and buried in their pay.
Most people working under an award can claim it — local and long-haul truckies, tradies, equipment operators, miners and the rest of the hard-yakka trades. Salaried professionals usually can’t: they rarely work under an award or get a separate meal allowance.
In D5 — Other work-related expenses. Our worksheet puts it there for you automatically.
For meals you bought and ate while working overtime — no receipts needed at $38.65 a meal or less.
The ATO rules on overtime meals
Tick these boxes and your claim is clean and audit-proof.
You received a genuine allowance
The overtime meal allowance must be paid under an industrial award or agreement — and reported as income on your tax return.
You actually bought a meal
The deduction is for the food and drink you bought and ate while working the overtime — not the allowance itself.
Up to $38.65 a meal, no receipts
Claim up to the ATO’s reasonable amount per meal without keeping receipts — just be ready to show you spent it (bank statements are fine).
Claiming more? Keep receipts
Spend more than $38.65 a meal and want the lot? You’ll need written evidence for the full amount.
Straight from the source: ATO — overtime meal expenses.
How it adds up over a year
Count the days you actually worked overtime, take off the days you didn’t, and apply the reasonable amount. Here’s a typical 6-day-a-week roster.
Overtime meal days
example figures| Weeks worked (52 − 2 weeks off) | 50 |
| Overtime days possible (6 / week) | 300 |
| Less days off on a rostered OT day | − 5 |
| Actual overtime days worked | 295 |
Preview only — show how the days off are counted
| Public holidays that landed on a rostered OT day | |
| Easter Friday | 1 |
| Christmas Day | 1 |
| New Year’s · Australia Day · Easter Monday · Anzac · King’s birthday · Labour Day · Boxing Day · show day | 0 |
| Other days off when rostered for OT | |
| Sick days | 3 |
| Other (pregnancy, funeral, etc.) | 0 |
| Total days off on rostered OT days | 5 |
Sleep away from home? Meals are your biggest claim.
If you drive long-haul and stay away overnight, the meals you buy on the road are very likely your single largest deduction of the year — so don’t truck it up.
With a genuine travel allowance you can claim $140.50 a day for meals without receipts — around $42,500 a year. Keep your receipts and you can go up to $165 a day (about $50,000 a year).
Either way, you’ll need to show the money actually left your account if the ATO asks — bank statements do the job — so claim what you genuinely spent and keep it honest.
Claiming travel meals without receipts
The no-receipts daily rates only apply when all of this is true.
You slept away overnight
You were required to sleep away from your usual home on an overnight trip or long-rest break.
You got a genuine travel allowance
Your employer paid a real travel allowance, and it’s included as income in your tax return.
No double-dipping
Only claim meals you personally paid for — never meals your employer supplied or paid for.
You can prove it
Even on the reasonable rates, keep proof you travelled and spent the money — bank statements plus a record of your trip dates and destinations.
Reference: ATO TD 2025/4 — reasonable travel & overtime meal amounts, 2025-26. Rates vary for capital cities, regional centres and overseas.
A fortnight on the road
Based on the 20,000+ long-haul truckies we’ve interviewed: an 11-day working fortnight — six days/five nights, then five days/four nights. Add up the meals and incidentals you actually buy.
Meals & incidentals · one fortnight
example figures| Week 1 — 6 days / 5 nights away | $800.00 |
| Week 2 — 5 days / 4 nights away | $500.00 |
| Water, energy drinks & the odd KFC | $148.00 |
| Total per fortnight | $1,448.00 |
Preview only — show the day-by-day breakdown
| Day | B’fast | Lunch | Dinner | Incid. | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 — leaves Day 1, home Day 6 | |||||
| Day 1 · supplies for the week (e.g. Coles) | $150.00 | ||||
| Day 1 · leaves 4pm | $50.00 | $20.00 | $70.00 | ||
| Day 2 | $15.00 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $20.00 | $115.00 |
| Day 3 | $15.00 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $20.00 | $115.00 |
| Day 4 | $15.00 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $20.00 | $115.00 |
| Day 5 | $15.00 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $20.00 | $115.00 |
| Day 6 · arrives home after lunch | $15.00 | $25.00 | $10.00 | $50.00 | |
| Day 7 · home | $0.00 | ||||
| Week 2 — leaves Day 8, home Day 12 | |||||
| Day 8 · supplies for the week | $120.00 | ||||
| Day 8 · leaves 10am | $25.00 | $50.00 | $15.00 | $90.00 | |
| Day 9 | $15.00 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $20.00 | $115.00 |
| Day 10 | $15.00 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $20.00 | $115.00 |
| Day 11 | $15.00 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $20.00 | $115.00 |
| Day 12 · home for lunch | $15.00 | $15.00 | |||
| Day 13–14 · home | $0.00 | ||||
| Extras across the fortnight | |||||
| Water slab · 1 / week | $80.00 | ||||
| Energy-drink 6-pack · 1 / week | $50.00 | ||||
| KFC · first week | $18.00 | ||||
How to claim up to $15,000 for your overtime meals
The dedicated overtime-meals walkthrough — exactly how to turn routine overtime spending into one of your biggest, most overlooked deductions.
See the full video library
Let the calculator tally your meals
Pick your occupation and the worksheet’s meals calculator counts your overtime meal days — and, for truckies, your overnight travel days — then applies the ATO rates for you. You’ll find it in the Other work-related expenses section.