Home Office Expenses Calculator

Hours, Costs and Supported Methods

The home office expenses calculator compares personal working-from-home deductions using the fixed-rate and actual-cost methods. It covers the 2024-25 and 2025-26 tax years, at 70 cents per work hour for the fixed-rate method.

Enter your recorded work-from-home hours, or total dated work periods after excluding breaks. Work periods cannot overlap. A date range with a total helps organise existing records. It does not replace the full-year record of actual hours the fixed-rate method requires.

The ATO's fixed-rate guidance lists the expenses covered by the hourly rate. These are electricity and gas used for work, phone, internet, stationery and computer consumables. You cannot add a second deduction for those expenses elsewhere in the same return.

The actual-cost comparison multiplies each entered expense by its own work-use percentage. Use only additional running expenses incurred for work and a reasonable basis supported by records. A percentage of a household bill is not automatically deductible. Exclude private costs and amounts reimbursed by your employer.

For either method, enter an eligible work-use decline-in-value deduction separately. This tool does not calculate depreciation or test an immediate asset write-off. Rent, mortgage interest and other occupancy costs are outside this estimate. It does not calculate a company or trust deduction.

Comparing the Estimated Deduction

For the hypothetical starting record of 1,000 hours, the fixed-rate running-expense estimate is $700. Adding the separately entered $200 asset deduction gives $900.

The actual-cost example uses $1,200 of eligible energy costs at 25% work use and $1,000 of internet costs at 40%. These give $300 and $400. Phone and stationery are zero in this example, so adding the same $200 asset deduction gives $900.

Changing methods keeps the same hours and expense record. The fixed-rate result ignores the entered running-cost amounts because its hourly rate already covers them. The actual-cost result replaces the hourly allowance with the work-use costs. It never adds the two running-cost methods together.

Results show whole-dollar estimates. Calculations retain cents for your CSV export. These figures are deductions from taxable income, not a tax refund. The larger figure does not establish entitlement or replace the records required for that method.

Records Behind the Result

For fixed rate, retain actual work-from-home hours throughout the tax year and evidence for each included expense you incurred. The ATO requires evidence of energy, phone and internet costs, plus a receipt for stationery or consumables where incurred.

For actual cost, keep receipts and bills for the expenses claimed, together with evidence explaining each work-use percentage. For assets, retain the purchase details and the calculation of this year's work-use decline in value.

The ATO's work-related deductions guidance explains the personal eligibility and record requirements for both methods. Your circumstances and evidence determine what you can claim. Export the entered periods and excluded breaks with the comparison to retain your calculation assumptions.