Home Office Expenses Calculator

How much can I claim for working from home in 2025-26?

70 cents for every hour you worked from home and recorded, plus the work share of equipment and repairs. That is the ATO fixed rate method for 2025-26, and it is what most employees use because it needs a record of hours rather than a receipt for every bill. The ATO example Keisha worked 843 hours from home in 2025-26 and claims $590.

To claim at all, the ATO sets three conditions:

• you work from home to carry out your employment duties, not minimal tasks such as checking emails or taking calls;
• you incur extra running expenses because you work from home;
• you have records showing you incurred them.

You cannot claim coffee, tea, milk or other household items, items your employer provides, or costs your employer reimburses. A working from home allowance from your employer goes in your return as income. Self-lodged 2025-26 returns are due Monday 2 November 2026, because 31 October falls on a Saturday (see the tax return deadline guide).

This calculator is for employees. Running a business from home is treated as home-based business expenses, a separate set of ATO rules; the sole trader tax calculator covers the tax on business profit.

Working from home tax calculator: what your claim saves

A working from home deduction cuts your taxable income, so the tax it saves is your marginal rate plus the 2% Medicare levy on the amount claimed. The table runs three ATO example claims through the 2025-26 resident rates, claiming the tax-free threshold and with no HELP debt. A HELP debt adds the repayment rate on top: Keisha's $590 at $85,000 saves $277.30 with one, against $188.80 without (see the HECS repayment calculator).

The saving is not your refund. The refund is the tax withheld from your pay less the tax you owe, and the deduction changes only the second number. Put your claim into the tax refund calculator with your income statement figures to see the refund itself, or check any salary in the PAYG calculator. If your refund came in lower than expected, the tax refund guide lists the usual causes.

Fixed rate method: 70 cents a work hour

The rate is set by the ATO, not by legislation, and it moves when the ATO updates its practical compliance guideline. Use the rate for the year the hours were worked.

Source: ATO fixed rate method page (QC72159) for every year shown; PCG 2023/1 Table 1 for 2022-23 onwards.

Total the claim and disregard the cents. The ATO is specific that the amount is not rounded to the nearest dollar, so Wanda's 136 hours at 70c, $95.20, is a $95 claim.

What the 70c covers, and what you claim on top

The 70c an hour already includes these four running costs, so none of them can be claimed separately:

• home and mobile internet or data;
• mobile and home phone use;
• electricity and gas for heating, cooling and lighting;
• stationery and computer consumables, such as printer ink and paper.

Claim one of them separately and the ATO guideline stops applying to your claim altogether (PCG 2023/1 para 28). What you do add on top is the work share of furniture and technology, such as chairs, desks, computers and bookshelves, plus their repairs:

• $300 or less: deducted in full in the year you buy it, for the work share. The ATO lists keyboards, computer mice, power boards, desk lamps and chargers.
• Over $300: claimed as decline in value. Piruntha's laptop gave her $696.52 for 2024-25.
• A dedicated home office: in limited cases, occupancy and cleaning expenses as well.

Actual cost method: when it beats the fixed rate

The actual cost method claims what you really spent on energy, phone, data, internet, stationery and the decline in value of equipment, each cut to its work share on a fair and reasonable basis. It wins when the work share of those running costs comes to more than 70c for each hour you work at home. That usually means a separate room with the heating or cooling on, or heavy work phone and internet use. It also lets you claim work phone calls made on office days, which the fixed rate does not cover.

Energy is worked out as cost per unit x units used per hour x hours. The ATO example Ben ran a 1.09 kW air conditioner at 28c a kWh, which is 30.52c an hour. Over 768 hours that is $234.39.

The price is the evidence. Actual cost needs:

• bills or receipts for every cost claimed;
• a work use basis for each, with phone and internet use worked out over a continuous 4-week period from an itemised bill;
• your hours, either for the full year or for a continuous 4-week period that represents your usual pattern.

No additional running expenses arise if other members of your household, who are not working from home, are in the same room. In the ATO example Lee works in the lounge room while her family watches television, so she cannot claim the lighting, heating or cooling.

Records the ATO accepts (an estimate of hours is not one)

For the fixed rate method you need:

• a record of the actual hours you worked from home during the entire income year, such as a timesheet, roster or diary;
• at least one record for each running cost the rate covers, such as a phone bill or an electricity bill;
• receipts and a work use basis for any equipment, repairs or decline in value you add.

Keep them for five years, in most cases, from the date you lodge. Only a record kept at the time the hours were worked counts. The ATO example Dan claimed on estimated hours in 2024-25 and lost the fixed rate claim; with no hours record he was left with his chair under the actual cost method, and an objection cannot fall back on the fixed rate.

ATO worked examples

Every row is from the ATO fixed rate page or PCG 2023/1, and each is reproduced to the dollar by the engine behind the calculator above.

2026-27: no confirmed rate yet, and the $1,000 standard deduction

The ATO has not published a working from home rate for 2026-27. Its fixed rate page lists 70c for 2024-25 and 2025-26 and stops there. PCG 2023/1 reads "From 1 July 2024: 70c" with no end year, but no ATO page states that figure for 2026-27, so this calculator does not compute a 2026-27 claim. Keep recording your hours from 1 July 2026 regardless; the record is needed whatever the rate turns out to be.

What is settled is the $1,000 standard deduction. Act No. 49 of 2026 makes it apply from the 2026-27 income year: the lesser of $1,000 and your assessable labour income, applied automatically with no records. A working from home claim reduces it dollar for dollar (ITAA 1997 s 25-130(2)), and so does a car claim under the cents per km calculator. In the ATO example Yui has $550 of work expenses: claim them and her standard deduction falls to $450, so she gets $1,000 either way.

So from 2026-27 a working from home claim only adds value once your covered work expenses pass $1,000. Claim more than the standard deduction and you need written evidence for every work expense in that return. Two equipment rules also change: from 2026-27 an asset you expect to use mainly for work cannot go into a low-value pool, while the $300 immediate deduction stays (and counts against the standard deduction). None of this touches the 2025-26 return you are lodging now.

Sources

Each source below was retrieved on 8 October 2026 and returned a live page.

• ATO: Fixed rate method (QC72159, last updated 8 June 2026). The rates by year, what 70c covers, the records, and the Keisha, Yang and Wanda examples.
• ATO: Working from home expenses (QC72158, last updated 8 June 2026). Eligibility, what you cannot claim, and allowances.
• ATO: Actual cost method (QC72161, last updated 8 June 2026). Records, the 4-week period, and the Ben and Lee examples.
• ATO: PCG 2023/1 (current version 16 April 2025). Table 1 fixed rates, para 28, and the Gerry, Dan and Piruntha examples.
• ATO: Standard deduction for work-related expenses (QC107752, last updated 14 September 2026). Not available for tax time 2025-26; the Yui example.
• Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, Act No. 49 of 2026 (C2026A00049, assented 26 June 2026). ITAA 1997 s 25-130 and the 2026-27 start.
• ATO: Tax rates: Australian residents. The 2025-26 resident scale used for the tax saved.