Home office expenses

Expenses relating to the use or ownership of a home are domestic and are not deductible. However, in specific cases some expenses may be allowed as a deduction if there is a sufficient connection with your employment activities.

If you work from home, you may be entitled to claim some running expenses of a home office. This may include heating, cooling, lighting, cleaning and depreciation of home office furniture and equipment. You cannot claim your home occupancy expenses such as rent, mortgage interest, water, and rates.

Example - working from home

Calvin is employed as a software developer by ABC Pty Ltd, a company based in the Melbourne CBD. Calvin lives in a rented property in Geelong and wants to limit his need to commute to the office in the Melbourne CBD. His employer gives him permission to work frequently from home, but he needs to come into the office for team meetings and on other days as required.

Calvin sets up a spare room as his work office and he doesn't use it for any other purpose. Calvin would be able to claim running expenses in respect of his home office but would not be able to claim any portion of his rent as it is a cost of maintaining a place to live and domestic in nature (that is, an occupancy expense).

If claiming for a home office, you can only claim the additional running expenses incurred as a result of working from home.

Example - additional running expenses

Ian occasionally works from home. As Ian has a dedicated room to work from, he is entitled to claim the additional running expenses that he incurs as a result of working from home during the day. This would include the cost of lighting, heating, and cooling the room he works in for the time he spends working there.

If Ian had instead worked from his dining room or living room when other family members were present, he would not be entitled to claim a deduction for the running expenses such as the cost of lighting or heating and cooling as he incurs no additional cost as result of working from home in those circumstances.

Running expenses

If you are entitled to claim running expenses, you can claim the work-related portion of the following expenses:

  • heating, cooling, and lighting

  • cleaning costs

  • computer consumables (such as printer paper and ink), and stationery

  • home office equipment such as computers, printers, furniture, and telephones - for these you can claim the

      o  the full cost for items up to $300

      o  decline in value for items over $300.

You can claim running expenses either at the fixed rate or as actual expenses. In response to the increased number of employees working at home due to COVID-19, a new temporary method, called the shortcut method has also been introduced.

Shortcut method

The shortcut method is a deduction of 80 cents per hour worked from home. This method is temporary and will only be available to use from 1 March 2020 to 30 September 2020.

To claim the shortcut method, you must:

  • be working from home to fulfil your employment duties and not just carrying out minimal tasks such as occasionally checking emails or taking calls

  • have incurred additional running expenses as a result of working from home.

You don't have to have a separate or dedicated area of your home set aside to work from, such as a private study.

The shortcut method covers all additional deductible running expenses, including decline in value of electronic devices. If you use this method, you can't claim any other expenses for working from home for that period.

When you are calculating the number of hours you worked from home, you need to exclude any time you took a break from working, for example the time you spent to stop and eat your lunch or to assist your children with home schooling.

You must keep a record of the number of hours you have worked from home. This could be a:

  • timesheet

  • roster

  • diary, or

  • similar document that sets out the hours you worked.

If you use the shortcut method to claim a deduction in your tax return, include the amount at the other work-related expenses question in your tax return and include 'COVID-hourly rate' as the description.

For employees guide for further deduction, go to https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?LocID=%22SAV%2FEGWE%2FFTACCOMMODATION%22&PiT=99991231235958#FTACCOMMODATION