Are you one of the five million Australians who claim work-from-home deductions? If that’s the case, you might have to follow stricter record-keeping rules now.
For this financial year and moving forward, there are now only two methods to calculate your work-from-home claim:
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The actual costs method (unchanged)
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The revised fixed rate method (with new rules applying)
The actual costs method
The actual costs method has never been all that popular because you need to keep records of every expense incurred and depreciating asset purchased, as well as evidence to show the work-related use of the expenses and depreciating assets. By way of example, to claim electricity expenses, the ATO suggests that you need to find out the cost per unit of power used, the average amount of units used per hour (power consumption per kilowatt hour for each appliance) and the number of hours the appliance was used for work-related purposes.
For this reason, the fixed rate method has been preferred (or in recent years, the COVID shortcut method where you could simply claim 80 cents for each hour worked from home. Note, however, that the COVID method is no longer available).
The revised fixed rate method
The fixed-rate method has now been revised. The revised fixed-rate method increases your claim from 52 cents to 67 cents per hour. However, this rate now includes internet, phone, stationery and computer consumables. Therefore, you can’t claim these expenses separately in addition to your home office fixed-rate deduction. Cleaning expenses and depreciation on office furniture are no longer included in the fixed rate. Therefore, you can now claim these expenses separately.
The record-keeping requirements under the revised fixed rate method are now more onerous., too. You now need to keep a record of the actual hours worked from home. The ATO will accept a record in any form, but it suggests either: timesheets, rosters, logs of time spent accessing systems, time-tracking apps, or a diary. The ATO will no longer accept estimates, or a four-week representative diary.
This new, strict record-keeping requirement applies from 1 March 2023. For the period before it (1 July 2022 to 28 February 2023) the ATO will accept a four-week representative diary.
Further, under the revised fixed rate method, you will now also need to provide at least one document for each type of expense to demonstrate that you actually incurred that expense. For example, if you receive electricity bills quarterly, you will need to keep one of those quarterly bills as a record to represent that year’s electricity expenses.
Need more information?
If you have questions about these stricter rules, and how they may impact you, reach out to us. Our in-house accountants and financial advisors offer proactive solutions to your individual and business accounting and taxation needs. Book a free chat today.
Disclaimer: The content of this article is general in nature and is presented for informative purposes. It is not intended to constitute tax or financial advice, whether general or personal nor is it intended to imply any recommendation or opinion about a financial product. It does not take into consideration your personal situation and may not be relevant to circumstances. Before taking any action, consider your own particular circumstances and seek professional advice. This content is protected by copyright laws and various other intellectual property laws. It is not to be modified, reproduced, or republished without prior written consent. Content developed in partnership with IFPA.
