Tax Deductions for Ecommerce Sellers: The 2026 Guide

Running an online store offers incredible freedom, but it also comes with a complex web of expenses. Unlike traditional retail businesses with clear rent and utility bills, ecommerce expenses are often digital, recurring, and easy to overlook at tax time.

If you are running a Shopify, Amazon FBA, or WooCommerce store in Australia, you need to ensure you are claiming every legitimate deduction to lower your taxable income. Here is the comprehensive list of deductions for 2026.

1. Digital Subscriptions & SaaS

The modern ecommerce stack is built on software. These monthly fees add up quickly and are 100% tax-deductible. Ensure you are capturing invoices for:

• Platform Fees: Monthly subscriptions for Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, or BigCommerce.
• Marketing Apps: Klaviyo (Email), Gorgias (Support), Loox (Reviews), and PageFly.
• Operations Tools: A2X (Accounting connector), Zapier (Automation), and project management tools like Trello or Asana.
• Hosting & Domains: GoDaddy, Google Workspace (G-Suite), and AWS/Cloud hosting fees.

2. Home Office Expenses

Many ecommerce entrepreneurs start from home. You can claim a portion of your household expenses, but you must be careful with the method you choose:

The Shortcut Method

This allows a simple cents-per-hour claim for every hour you work from home. It covers electricity and gas but is often less than the actual cost.

The Occupancy Method

If you have a dedicated room exclusively for business (e.g., a room full of inventory or a packing station), you may be able to claim a portion of your Rent or Mortgage Interest.

3. Marketing & Advertising

In ecommerce, traffic is something you buy. Every dollar spent on acquiring customers is deductible.

• Paid Ads: Facebook (Meta) Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, and Pinterest Ads. Ensure you download the actual tax invoices from the ad accounts; the bank statement line item is often insufficient for an audit.
• Influencer Marketing: Payments to influencers are deductible. If you send them free product in exchange for a post, the cost of that product is a marketing expense, not just lost inventory.
• Content Creation: Photography, videography, and graphic design costs (Canva subscriptions).

4. Banking & Transaction Fees

This is the "hidden" deduction many sellers miss. Payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Afterpay take a cut of your sales before the money hits your bank.

If you sell a product for $100 and receive $97, you must record $100 as income and claim the $3 as a merchant fee expense. If you simply record the $97 as income, you are under-reporting your turnover and missing out on GST credits on the fees.