Expenses you can 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. If that is the case, you should refer to running your business from home. The other situations where you may be entitled to claim occupancy expenses are addressed below.
The table below outlines the ways you can work at home and the expenses you can claim, when:
- home is your principal place of work (that is, no other work location is provided to you by your employer or your home is a place of business) 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 work there as a matter of convenience and you have a dedicated work area – for example a study
- you work at home as a matter of convenience but you don’t have a dedicated work area – for example you use a room with a dual purpose such as a lounge room.
| 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 |
Note 1: Generally, an employee who works at home and who does not have a dedicated work area will not be entitled to claim running expenses or their claim for running expenses will be minimal. This is due to the fact that they can only claim the additional running expenses incurred as a result of working from home
Running expenses
If you work from home, you can claim the work-related proportion of your running expenses. These include:
- home office equipment including computers, printers, telephones and furniture and furnishings. You can claim the
- full cost for items up to $300
- decline in value for items over $300
- heating, cooling and lighting
- the costs of repairs to your home office equipment, furniture and furnishings
- cleaning costs
- other running expenses including computer consumables (for example, printer paper and ink) and stationery.
Only the additional running expenses incurred as a result of working from home are deductible.
