Tax Deductions for Fitness Businesses in Australia: What You Can Claim in 2025-26

Tax Deductions for Fitness Businesses in Australia: What You Can Claim in 2025-26

Tax deductions for fitness businesses in Australia can significantly reduce your tax bill if you know what to claim. Whether you own a gym, run a martial arts school, operate a dance or Pilates studio, or work as a sole trader personal trainer, the Australian Taxation Office allows deductions for a range of business expenses, from equipment and travel to software and professional development.

This guide covers the key deductions available to fitness business owners and self-employed fitness professionals for the 2025-26 financial year (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026). It is written in line with ATO guidelines, but every business is different. Always check with your accountant or registered tax agent before lodging your return.

Start by understanding your business structure

What you can claim and how you lodge depends on how your business is structured. A sole trader personal trainer has a different tax position to a company that employs staff and operates from a commercial premises.

Before you start thinking about individual deductions, make sure you are clear on the basics. Are you operating as a sole trader, a partnership, a company, or a trust? Do you employ staff? Do you have an ABN and are you registered for GST?

Your structure affects which deductions are available, how you report income and expenses, and whether you are eligible for specific small business concessions. If you are unsure about your structure, this is a conversation to have with your accountant well before tax time.

Equipment and assets

Fitness equipment is one of the largest expenses for most gym and studio owners, and one of the most valuable deduction categories.

For the 2025-26 financial year, small businesses with an aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million can immediately deduct the full cost of eligible assets that cost less than $20,000 each under the instant asset write-off. This applies on a per-asset basis, so you can write off multiple items in the same year as long as each one is under the $20,000 threshold and was first used or installed ready for use between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026.

This could include items like reformer machines, spin bikes, kettlebells, boxing bags, flooring, mirrors, sound systems, TV monitors, reception furniture and office equipment.

Assets costing $20,000 or more cannot be immediately written off. Instead, they are placed into the small business general pool and depreciated at 15% in the first year and 30% in each subsequent year.

If you are a personal trainer or sole trader fitness professional, items costing less than $300 can be claimed as an immediate deduction. Items over $300 are depreciated over their effective life.

Travel

If you work across multiple locations, your travel between work sites may be deductible.

For example, a personal trainer who runs sessions at two different gyms, or a martial arts instructor who teaches at a dojo in the morning and runs a community bootcamp at a park in the evening, can claim the cost of travelling between those work locations.

If you use your own car, you can choose between two methods. The cents per kilometre method allows you to claim 88 cents per kilometre for work-related travel, up to a maximum of 5,000 kilometres per year. Alternatively, the logbook method lets you claim the business-use percentage of your actual car expenses (fuel, registration, insurance, maintenance, depreciation) based on a logbook kept for at least 12 continuous weeks.

You cannot claim the cost of travelling from home to your regular place of work and back. That is a private expense regardless of how far you travel.

Clothing and protective gear

Clothing deductions are commonly misunderstood. You cannot claim the cost of general workout clothing, even if you only wear it for work. However, there are several categories that are deductible.

Branded uniforms. If you are a gym owner and provide staff uniforms with your business logo, the cost of purchasing and laundering those uniforms is deductible. If you are a personal trainer and are required to wear a branded uniform, the cost of purchasing it is deductible.

Protective items. If you teach outdoor classes, items like sunscreen, sunglasses and protective hats are deductible as sun protection equipment. Specialised footwear required for safety (such as martial arts shoes or specific training footwear that differs from everyday shoes) may also be deductible.

Laundry. You can claim the cost of laundering eligible work uniforms. The ATO allows you to claim $1 per load if you are washing only work items, or 50 cents per load if you are washing work items with other clothing.

You cannot claim general athletic clothing (even high-end brands), unless it is a compulsory uniform with your business branding.

Professional development and training

Courses and training that maintain or improve your skills in your current profession are generally deductible. This could include a continuing education course in sports science, a workshop on a new training methodology, a business management short course, or a first aid recertification.

The key test is that the training must relate to your current work. A personal trainer who completes a course in nutrition coaching to offer that service to existing clients can likely claim it. A gym owner who completes a short course in small business marketing can likely claim it.

You cannot claim pre-vocational courses. If you are studying for your initial fitness qualification (such as a Certificate III or IV in Fitness) to enter the industry, the ATO treats that as a pre-vocational expense rather than a work-related one.

Software and digital subscriptions

The tools you use to run your fitness business are generally deductible. This includes gym and studio management software (scheduling, bookings, member management, payment processing), accounting software, website hosting, domain registration, email marketing platforms, social media scheduling tools and music streaming subscriptions used in classes.

If you use a tool partly for business and partly for personal use (such as a mobile phone or a laptop), you can claim the business-use proportion. Keep records to demonstrate how you split the usage.

Marketing and advertising

Expenses you incur to promote your fitness business are deductible. This includes website design and hosting, online advertising (Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram ads), printed materials (flyers, business cards, banners), signage for your premises, photography and videography for marketing content, and sponsorship of local events.

Rent and premises costs

If you lease a commercial space for your gym or studio, the rent and associated costs (utilities, cleaning, insurance, council rates) are deductible. If you run your personal training business from a dedicated home office or studio space, you may be able to claim a proportion of your home expenses. The ATO has specific rules around home-based business deductions, so check with your accountant on what applies to your situation.

Insurance

Business insurance premiums are deductible. For fitness businesses, this typically includes public liability insurance, professional indemnity insurance, contents and equipment insurance, workers compensation insurance (if you employ staff), and income protection insurance.

The small business income tax offset

If you operate as a sole trader or receive a share of net small business income from a partnership or trust, you may be eligible for the small business income tax offset. This provides an offset of up to $1,000 per year, calculated on the proportion of tax payable on your business income. Your business must have an aggregated annual turnover of less than $5 million.

Tips for making tax time easier

Keeping your records organised throughout the year makes lodging your return significantly less stressful. Here are some practical steps that help.

Track income and expenses in real time. Use accounting software (such as Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks) connected to your business bank account so transactions are categorised as they happen, not reconciled from memory months later. If you use Clubworx for your studio, your payment and revenue data is already tracked and accessible through built-in reporting, which makes reconciliation with your accounting software straightforward.

Scan and store receipts digitally. The ATO accepts digital copies. Use a receipt scanning app or your phone camera and store them in a dedicated folder. Paper receipts fade and get lost.

Set aside time monthly. One hour per month to review your finances, check that expenses are categorised correctly and flag anything unusual is far easier than trying to reconstruct a full year in June.

Separate business and personal spending. A dedicated business bank account and credit card makes it much simpler to identify and justify deductions. Mixing personal and business transactions creates unnecessary complexity.

Talk to your accountant before June 30. If you are planning a significant purchase (new equipment, a software upgrade, a training course), check with your accountant whether it is more beneficial to buy before or after the end of the financial year.