Working From Home…? Shortcut method to claim your home office expenses…

The governments short cut method is purely for working from home due to COVID-19 measures… and it may or may not be the best way to calculate your out of pocket expenses but it is the easiest…

You can claim a deduction of 80 cents for each hour you work from home due to COVID-19 as long as you are:

working from home to fulfil your employment duties and not just carrying out minimal tasks such as occasionally checking emails or taking calls
incurring additional deductible running expenses as a result of working from home.

You do not have to have a separate or dedicated area of your home set aside for working, such as a private study.

The shortcut method rate covers all deductible running expenses, including:

electricity for lighting, cooling or heating and running electronic items used for work (for example your computer), and gas heating expenses
the decline in value and repair of capital items, such as home office furniture and furnishings
cleaning expenses
your phone costs, including the decline in value of the handset
your internet costs
computer consumables, such as printer ink
stationery
the decline in value of a computer, laptop or similar device.

You do not have to incur all of these expenses, but you must have incurred additional expenses in some of those categories as a result of working from home due to COVID-19.

If you use the shortcut method to claim a deduction for your additional running expenses, you cannot claim a further deduction for any of the expenses listed above.

You must keep a record of the number of hours you have worked from home as a result of COVID-19. Examples are timesheets, diary notes or rosters.

If you use the shortcut method to claim a deduction and you lodge your 2019–20 tax return through myGov or a tax agent, you must include the note ‘COVID-19 hourly rate’ in your tax return.

We would recommend you seeking advice from your accountant before doing so…

We are also making sure all our employees and in particular contractors running through us are being advised accordingly… if you are a contractor and would like further advice please don’t hesitate to contact us or reach us at info@accelerateworkforce.com.au.

Ellen Roumeliotis