Claiming Working From Home on Your 2025-26 Tax Return

The fixed rate is 70 cents per hour worked from home for the 2025-26 income year — the return Australians are lodging right now, in July and August 2026. The rate is unchanged from 2024-25; the old 67c rate applied to 2022-23 and 2023-24 only (ato.gov.au, fixed rate method, updated 8 June 2026). So if you are copying last year's approach, the rate is the same — but the record-keeping rules still catch people out, and that is what this guide focuses on.

The 70c rate bundles your electricity and gas, home and mobile internet, phone usage, and stationery and computer consumables. You cannot claim any of those items separately on top of it. You can separately claim the decline in value of a desk, chair, monitor or computer you bought yourself — immediately if the item cost $300 or less. You do not need a dedicated home office to use the fixed rate.

Two of our earlier guides compare the methods in depth — fixed rate vs actual cost for 2025-26 and which method gives you more. This post is about the mechanics of actually claiming it, correctly, in myTax.

Working-from-home expenses go under Deductions → Other work-related expenses in myTax — not under a dedicated WFH label. The ATO's myTax 2026 instructions set out three specifics people miss (ato.gov.au, myTax 2026 instructions):

• Select Add/Edit at the Deductions banner, then Add at Other work-related expenses.
• In the description field, state the method you used — write "Fixed rate" or "Actual cost".
• Enter the dollar amount, not the number of hours. Do the multiplication before you lodge: hours × $0.70.

Depreciation on office furniture and equipment is added at the same section; the ATO's built-in Depreciation and capital allowances tool can calculate the decline in value for anything over $300. Once your deductions are in, sanity-check the refund impact with the Tax Refund Calculator.

Two things, and the first is non-negotiable: a record of the actual hours you worked from home across the entire year — a timesheet, roster, diary or similar kept as you went — and at least one bill or receipt for each expense category the rate covers (for example, one quarterly electricity bill and one internet invoice). The ATO states plainly that an estimate of your hours is not acceptable, and records must be kept for five years from the date you lodge (ato.gov.au).

The ATO's own worked example shows the arithmetic. Yang recorded 567 hours working from home in 2025-26 on a spreadsheet: 567 × $0.70 = $396.90. He also bought a $299 chair and a $250 desk — both $300 or less, so both immediately deductible. Total claim: $396.90 + $299 + $250 = $945.90, entered as $945 (cents disregarded, not rounded). A full-time hybrid worker doing two days a week at home for 48 weeks records about 768 hours — roughly $537 at the fixed rate before any depreciation. Model your own pattern with the WFH Tax Deduction Calculator.

You cannot reconstruct a year of hours from memory and claim the fixed rate on it — that is exactly the "estimate" the ATO says it will not accept. The ATO's guidance includes an example on point: Wanda kept no hours record from July 2025 to February 2026, started a calendar record in March 2026, and can only use the fixed rate for the period she actually recorded (ato.gov.au).

Practical options if your 2025-26 records are patchy: claim the fixed rate only for the months you can evidence (payroll records, rosters or employer WFH approvals can serve as the record if they show actual days and hours); consider the actual-cost method only if you kept receipts and a usage pattern, which most people did not; or accept a smaller, defensible claim this year. Then fix it for next year — start an hours log today, because the same rules apply to the 2026-27 return. A claim you can substantiate beats a bigger one you cannot.

Five patterns do most of the damage:

• Double-dipping phone and internet. The 70c rate already includes them. Claiming a separate mobile deduction on top of the fixed rate is the classic error — if your work phone use is genuinely heavy, the actual-cost method is the only way to claim it in full.
• Claiming rent, mortgage interest, rates or insurance. Occupancy expenses are generally not deductible for employees, per the myTax 2026 instructions — and claiming them can put your home's capital gains tax exemption at risk.
• Household basics. Coffee, tea, milk and other general household items are explicitly not claimable, even if your employer provides them in the office.
• Employer-reimbursed costs. If you were reimbursed, or your employer provided the equipment, there is nothing to claim.
• Copy-pasting last year's hours. Identical round numbers year after year are an audit flag. Use this year's actual record.

If you are unsure when your return is safe to lodge at all, see our guide to 2026 lodgement dates and the pre-fill window — the self-lodgement deadline this year is effectively Monday 2 November 2026.

Is the WFH rate 67c or 70c for my 2025-26 return?

70 cents per hour. The ATO's fixed rate is 70c for both 2024-25 and 2025-26; the 67c rate only applied to 2022-23 and 2023-24. Multiply your recorded work-from-home hours by $0.70 and enter the dollar amount in myTax.

Where does working from home go in myTax 2026?

Under Deductions, at Other work-related expenses. Add the expense, include the method in the description ("Fixed rate" or "Actual cost"), and enter the calculated dollar amount rather than your hours. Depreciation on furniture and equipment is worked out at the same section.

Can I claim the fixed rate without an hours diary?

No. The ATO requires a record of actual hours kept through the year — a timesheet, roster, diary or similar — and says estimates are not acceptable. If you only have records for part of the year, you can only claim the fixed rate for that part.

Can I claim my desk and chair as well as the 70c rate?

Yes. The fixed rate does not cover depreciating assets. Items costing $300 or less can be claimed in full immediately; more expensive items are claimed as decline in value over their effective life. Keep the receipts for five years.

Do I need a separate home office to claim?

No. The ATO confirms you do not need a dedicated work area to use the fixed rate method. You do, however, need to be genuinely working from home — not just checking the odd email — and to have incurred additional running costs.