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As the workforce evolves, more and more people are working from home for a day or two or continuing work when they get home. The ATO has recognised this by allowing tax payers to claim home office electricity expense for the amount of hours they work from home. The current rate for home electricity expenses is 45 cents per hour.
This deduction is to cover the cost of running the electricity or gas while you are working from home. Anyone who has to work from home can claim this deduction. However, the deduction is based on the amount of hours you actually work from home. An example of a claim that will be denied, will be a claim of 24 hours a day of home office electricity because you need to charge your laptop, the ATO does not allow this.
Example calculation
Bob works full time and works from home for approximately 5 hours a week as overtime. He is entitled to claim these 5 hours as home electricity expenses. We always assume that a person takes their 4 weeks annual leave when working out the calculation.
5 hours per week X 48 working weeks in the year X 45 cents per hour = $108 deduction.
So if you do work from home please let your Accountant or Tax Agent know how many hours you spend doing this, so you can maximise your tax deductions at year end.
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