Humaniti - Working from home expenses you can claim

Australians working from home should keep track of their expenses.

Many Australians are being forced to work from home which resulting in spending money they normally would not have. These are the costs you can claim.

Vanessa Croll, News Corp Australia Network – March 30, 2020 2:25pm

As working from home becomes the new norm for many Australians during the coronavirus crisis, experts warn it’s important to understand the tax implications of these changes.

About one in four Australians are hunkered down at home as a result of the outbreak, a new survey by finance app Humaniti has found.

The figures were released last week,but as more restrictions are put in place and the situation continually changes, these numbers are set to increase.

But for some Australians transitioning to a home office simply isn’t possible – 35 per cent say they cannot carry out their job from home.

But H&R Block’s director of tax communications Mark Chapman say for those who can it’s important to understand the tax implications.

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What you can claim on tax when working from home:

• Heating, cooling and lighting bills.

• Costs of cleaning your home working area.

• Depreciation of home office furniture and fittings.

• Depreciation of office equipment and computers.

• Costs of repairing home office equipment, furniture and furnishings.

• Items such furniture and computer equipment costing less than $300 can be written off in full immediately (they don’t need to be depreciated).

• Computer consumables (like printer ink) and stationery.

• Phone (mobile and/or landline) and internet expenses.

Source: H&R Block

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“To optimise your tax return, start preparing now by recording working hours and filing receipts and bills,” he said.

“Employees should know that if they incur extra expenses through working from home, which aren’t reimbursed by their employer, they should be able to claim a tax deduction for those costs.”

The survey found 42 per cent of respondents said they were aware of what they could claim on tax when working from home, 41 per cent were unsure and 17 per cent did not realise this was an option.

Mr Chapman said there’s two ways to claim.

“The easiest option is to claim the ATO’s (Australian Taxation Office) flat rate allowance for home working of 52 cents per hour,” he said.

“All you need to do to claim this is to keep a diary of your home working – note the time you start work each, day, the time you finish work each day and any breaks.

“In addition, you can also make separate claims for the work-related proportion of items like your home internet, mobile phone costs and other expenses that directly relate your work, like stationery, printer ink and even additional toilet rolls.”

Alternatively the other way is to keep a record of all the expenses you have.

Tahnee Almelor has transferred her home kitchen to create a new workspace. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Tahnee Almelor, 29, is a manager of client partnerships for a media and advertising company and has transformed her home kitchen into her workspace. She said with the changes happening so suddenly she had not thought about tax deductions relating to working from home.

“I’ll probably raise that with my accountant but I am not aware as to whether I need to be prepping for tax time,” Ms Almelor said.

Humaniti CEO Ben Dixon said for those working from home they should keep a record of their expenses.

”With our Humaniti personal finance app, you can easily set up a category such as ‘Home office expenses’ so each time you go to Officeworks, or IGA to buy a stapler, not to buy groceries, or you pay your internet bill, you can load that all into this category then download it and hand to your accountant,” he said.

Originally published as Working from home expenses you can claim

Working from home expenses you can claim

Australians working from home should keep track of their expenses.

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