Work From Home Tax Deduction Calculator 2025–26
Work out what your hours at the kitchen table are worth at tax time. This calculator applies the ATO's 70 cents per hour fixed rate for the 2025–26 income year — the return most people are lodging right now — and shows the tax you'd save.
| Total Hours WFH | 0 hrs |
| Fixed Rate Used | 70c / hour |
| Tax Saving | $0 |
| Net Saving (after tax) | $0 |
The ATO's 70 Cents Per Hour Fixed Rate Method
For the 2025–26 income year — the return most Australians are lodging right now — the ATO's fixed rate for working from home is 70 cents per work hour. Multiply the hours you actually worked at home by 70c and that's your deduction. No apportioning bills, no measuring floor space. The fixed rate is one deduction. A car used for work is the car logbook calculator (88 cents a kilometre for 2025–26, and 91 cents for 2026–27). Salary packaging is the pre-tax route where an employer offers it, and contractor versus employee is the comparison if you are paid a day rate rather than a wage. A tool or laptop under the write-off threshold is the instant asset write-off. The brackets those deductions sit inside are in the 2026–27 income tax guide.
The ATO has not yet published a rate for the 2026–27 income year. Its fixed-rate list currently stops at 2025–26, so that is the year this calculator works to. If you are claiming for an earlier year, the rate is different — check the ATO's page for the year you are amending.
What the 70c Rate Covers
- Electricity and gas (lighting, heating, cooling your workspace)
- Home internet expenses
- Mobile and home phone usage
- Stationery and computer consumables (paper, ink, etc.)
What Can Still Be Claimed Separately
The 70c rate does not cover everything. You can still claim separately:
- Depreciation of office furniture (desk, chair)
- Depreciation of technology assets (computer, monitor, headset)
- Repairs to WFH equipment
A worked example
Two days a week at home — 20 hours a week across 48 weeks — is 960 hrs at the fixed rate, a deduction of $672. At a 30% marginal rate that is $202 back at tax time. A deduction reduces taxable income, so it is worth your marginal rate, not the full amount.
What 70c an Hour Is Actually Worth
These figures are exactly what the calculator above returns.
| Hours worked from home | Deduction at 70c | Tax saved at 30% | Tax saved at 37% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $350 | $105 | $130 |
| 960 — 20 hrs a week for 48 weeks | $672 | $202 | $249 |
| 1,500 | $1,050 | $315 | $389 |
| 1,824 — 38 hrs a week for 48 weeks | $1,277 | $383 | $472 |
| 2,000 | $1,400 | $420 | $518 |
Record-Keeping Requirements
To use the fixed rate method, the ATO now requires you to keep a record of actual hours worked from home for the entire year — a 4-week representative diary is no longer sufficient (this changed from 1 March 2023). Acceptable records include timesheets, rosters, diary entries, or a spreadsheet log.
Do You Need a Dedicated Home Office?
No. Unlike the actual cost method, the fixed rate method does not require you to have a dedicated room used solely as a home office. You can work from your kitchen table or lounge and still use this method.