Working From Home Calculator 2025–26 & 2026–27

The fixed rate method: 70 cents an hour

Under the fixed rate method you claim a set amount for every hour you work from home. The ATO rate is 70 cents per work hour for 2024–25 and 2025–26, up from 67 cents in 2022–23 and 2023–24 and 52 cents before that. The ATO has not yet published a separate rate for 2026–27; the calculator uses the latest published rate until it does. The rate covers home and mobile internet and data, phone use, electricity and gas for heating, cooling and lighting, and stationery and computer consumables. You cannot claim any of those separately on top.

You can still claim the decline in value of equipment and furniture you use for work, such as a desk, chair or computer. An item that costs $300 or less and is used mainly for work can be deducted in full in the year you buy it; dearer items are depreciated over their effective life.

The actual cost method

Under the actual cost method you work out the real extra costs of working from home: the work share of electricity and gas, phone and internet, stationery, consumables, cleaning of a dedicated home office, and depreciation. Each cost must be apportioned on a fair and reasonable basis, for example energy use per hour from the appliance rating multiplied by the hours you worked.

There is a catch the ATO spells out: you do not incur additional running expenses if other members of your household who are not working are in the same room while you work. The ATO's example is an employee working from the lounge room while her family watches television. She cannot claim lighting, heating or cooling for that room.

Worked examples from the ATO

Keisha, an engineer, records 843 hours at home in 2025–26. Using the fixed rate she claims 843 × 70c = $590, with the cents disregarded. She cannot also claim her mobile phone, even on office days, because the rate includes it.

Yang works from home two days a week from 6 December 2025 and records 567 hours. He claims 567 × 70c = $396.90 for running costs, plus $299 for a chair and $250 for a desk (each under $300 and used only for work). His deduction is $945, again with the cents disregarded, not rounded.

For a full year of two days a week at home (699 hours), the fixed rate gives $489. Five days a week gives $1,223. With work-related running costs of $710, the actual cost method would give $710 against a fixed-rate $489, so the actual cost method wins.

How much tax does the deduction save?

A deduction saves tax at your marginal rate, including the Medicare levy. In your 2025–26 return, the fixed-rate deduction for 699 hours saves:

2026–27: the $1,000 standard deduction changes the maths

From the 2026–27 income year, eligible employees get a standard deduction of up to $1,000 for work-related expenses without records. It is reduced dollar for dollar by the covered expenses you claim, and working from home is one of them. So a working-from-home claim only saves extra tax once your total covered work expenses exceed $1,000.

Two days a week ($489 at the fixed rate) is below $1,000, so on $95,000 it saves $0 more than taking the standard deduction alone. Five days a week ($1,223) goes over, and the excess saves $71. If you will claim more than $1,000, you need records for every work expense, so keep your hours diary going from 1 July. The calculator applies this automatically when you choose 2026–27; add any car, uniform or travel claims in the extra box.

Records you need

• Fixed rate: a record of the actual hours you worked from home for the whole year, made at the time, such as timesheets, a roster, a diary or calendar entries. Estimates are not accepted for this method.
• Fixed rate: at least one bill or receipt for each type of expense the rate covers, for example one quarterly electricity bill and one phone bill.
• Actual cost: receipts and bills for every cost, plus evidence of the work-related share, such as a diary of work use.
• Depreciating assets: receipts and the percentage of work use. Keep records for 5 years from lodging (or from your last depreciation claim).

Occupancy expenses: rent, mortgage interest and rates

Most employees cannot claim rent, mortgage interest, council rates or home insurance, even with a home office. These occupancy expenses are only deductible in limited circumstances, generally when an area of the home is set aside exclusively as a place of business, not just a study you also work in.