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If you’re working from home, you may be able to claim some of your home office expenses at tax time.
You’ll need to make sure your deductions meet the three golden rules when working out your claim:
💵 You must have spent the money yourself (and have not been reimbursed)
💼 Your costs must directly relate to earning your income
🧾You must have a record to prove your claim
If you’re an employee who regularly works from home, you may be able to claim a deduction for expenses relating to that work. These are generally home office running expenses, and phone and internet expenses.
In limited circumstances you may also be able to claim occupancy expenses. One such circumstance is if your home is your principal place of business.
Expenses you can claim
Check out the table below for the expenses you can claim as well as the three ways you can work at home, which include:
- home is your principal place of work and you have a dedicated work area that is unlikely to be suitable for domestic use
- home is not your principal place of work but you have a dedicated work area – for example a study
- you work at home but you don’t have a dedicated work area – for example, you use a room with a dual purpose such as a lounge room.
| Home office expenses you can and can’t claim | |||
| Expenses | Home is principal workplace with dedicated work area | Home not principal workplace but has dedicated work area | You work at home but no dedicated work area |
| Running expenses | Yes | Yes | No (see note 1) |
| Work-related phone & internet expenses | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Decline in value of a computer (work related portion) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Decline in value of office equipment | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Occupancy expenses | Yes | No | No |
Contact Expert Tax on 0449 952 855 or 1300 869 829 for assistance on tax related matters.
