We recognise that due to COVID-19, a significant number of employees
and business owners started working from home from 1 March and are
incurring additional running expenses in relation to their income producing
activities.
In addition to the existing fixed rate and actual cost methods, we introduced
a temporary ‘shortcut method’ of 80 cents per hour worked from home. You
can use this method between 1 March and 30 June 2020 for the 2019–20
income year. This method is an all-inclusive rate that requires simple
record keeping and a single calculation step.
While the shortcut method initially only applied for the period 1 March 2020
to 30 June 2020 it has now been extended up until 30 June 2021. This
means, if you use the shortcut method you can claim your work from home
expenses for the period between:
1 March 2020 to 30 June 2020 in your 2019–20 tax return
1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 in your 2020–21 tax return.
We encourage you to use the method or combination of methods that best
suits your circumstances. This means, for the 2019–20 income year you
can use one of the existing methods to work out your expenses for either:
the whole income year
the period from 1 July 2019 to 29 February 2020, then use the
shortcut method from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2020.
You can only use one of the methods at a time in a date range.
You can't use the shortcut method to work out your claim for working from
home expenses for the period 1 July 2019 to 29 February 2020. You can
use either the existing working from home fixed rate (52 cents) or actual
expenses method for this period.
Once you have calculated your deduction, enter the amount at 'Other work-
related expenses' in your tax return.
We encourage you to use the method or combination of methods that best
suits your circumstances. This means, for the 2019–20 income year you
can use one of the existing methods to work out your expenses for either:
the whole income year
the period from 1 July 2019 to 29 February 2020, then use the
shortcut method from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2020.
You can only use one of the methods at a time in a date range.
You can't use the shortcut method to work out your claim for working from
home expenses for the period 1 July 2019 to 29 February 2020. You can
use either the existing working from home fixed rate (52 cents) or actual
expenses method for this period.
Once you have calculated your deduction, enter the amount at 'Other work-
related expenses' in your tax return.