Work from home calculator: ATO fixed rate method
If you run your business from home (even from a desk in the lounge room), the ATO's fixed rate method lets you claim a set amount for each hour you work there: 70 cents per hour for 2024-25 and 2025-26. It covers electricity and gas, phone and internet, stationery and computer consumables. Items such as a desk, chair or laptop are claimed separately.
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Rules to know
- Claim = hours × rate. The ATO's sole-trader example (Pam): 1,440 hours × 70c = $1,008, plus a desk ($880) and chair ($266) under simplified depreciation = $2,154.
- Actual hours, not estimates. You need a record of every hour worked from home for the whole year (diary, timesheet, roster or spreadsheet). An estimate isn't acceptable.
- One bill per expense type. Keep at least one bill or receipt for each running expense you had, such as one electricity bill and one phone bill.
- No double dipping. With this method you can't also claim electricity, phone, internet or stationery separately.
- Not covered (claim separately): decline in value of equipment and furniture, their repairs, and other running costs like cleaning a home office.
- Occupancy costs (rent, mortgage interest, rates, insurance) are a different question: they need part of the home to be a genuine place of business, and they can affect the capital gains tax main residence exemption.
- Rounding: the ATO's examples disregard the cents in the final claim (843 h × 70c = $590.10, claimed as $590).
2026-27: on 17 Oct 2026 the ATO's rate list ran only to 2025-26 (70c). The guideline (PCG 2023/1) sets 70c "from 1 July 2024", so 70c is shown here for 2026-27, but check the ATO before you lodge.
Sources (checked 17 Oct 2026): ATO Home-based business expenses: sole trader or partnership (Pam example); ATO Fixed rate method (rates by year, Keisha example, record keeping); PCG 2023/1, paragraph 26A.
General information, not tax advice. Your situation may differ. Check with the ATO or a registered tax agent.
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