How much can I claim for working from home and phone use in 2026?
For 2025-26, the simplest option is the fixed rate method: 70 cents for every hour you worked from home. That rate already includes your electricity, gas, internet, mobile and home phone, and stationery, so you cannot claim those items again separately. You can still claim depreciation on your laptop, monitor or office chair on top of the 70 cents.
The two ways to claim
Fixed rate method (70 cents per hour). Multiply your logged work-from-home hours by 70 cents, per the ATO's fixed rate method. This one figure covers electricity and gas, phone and internet, and computer consumables and stationery. Two things need to be on file, not just one: a record of your actual hours for the whole year, kept as you went, such as a timesheet, roster, or diary, and at least one bill or receipt for each expense the rate covers (a phone bill, an electricity bill), to show you genuinely incurred that cost. The ATO is explicit that an estimate of your hours is not acceptable.
Actual cost method. You claim the real work-related portion of every expense: a percentage of your electricity bill, your phone plan, your internet, plus depreciation on equipment. This usually produces a bigger deduction if you have high running costs or a dedicated home office, but it demands real bills and a defensible basis for the work-use percentage, not a guess.
The mistake we see most often
This is the most common finding in our pre-lodgement audits: people claim the 70 cents fixed rate, and then also claim a separate deduction for their phone bill or internet on top of it. You cannot do both. The rate is bundled. If you want to claim your phone and internet as their own line items, based on itemised bills and a documented work-use percentage, you need to use the actual cost method for everything, not mix and match.
What you can still add on top of the 70 cents, either way: decline in value (depreciation) on a laptop, monitor, desk or chair used for work, and repairs to that equipment.
A worked example
Marcus works in IT support from Palmerston, three days a week from home for most of the year. Under the fixed rate method, he multiplies his logged hours by 70 cents to get his claim. His work laptop is also used mostly for work, so he adds a separate decline in value amount for that on top. He does not add a phone or internet claim, because the 70 cents already covers it.
What we check before lodging
On every return with a work-from-home claim, we check three things: that the hours are supported by an actual record, not a round number pulled from memory; that no bundled expense like phone or internet has been double-claimed on top of the fixed rate; and that any equipment claimed separately is genuinely used for work and depreciated correctly, not expensed in full where it shouldn't be. Undocumented phone and internet apportionment is one of the most common issues we flag before a return goes out the door.
Frequently asked questions
No, not if you use the fixed rate method. Phone and internet are already built into the 70 cents. To claim your phone separately you need to switch to the actual cost method for the whole claim and keep itemised bills.
Principal, Numio Accountants | Registered Tax Agent 26342345 | Darwin, NT
Not sure which method gets you the bigger, defendable deduction? Start your return with num.tax and we will run both numbers before we lodge.