Can your employer pay for your desk?

Often, yes. Not always in full, and rarely without a conversation, but a desk you use for work every day sits squarely inside what the new Victorian laws contemplate when they talk about reasonable home working costs.

There are three shapes this usually takes. The company buys it outright, which is most common where there is already a home office budget. The company splits it, which is the most common outcome overall. Or you buy it and claim the deduction or depreciation yourself.

How to ask: put it in writing, tie it to the work rather than the room, and give a number. Something like: I work from home three days a week, the current setup is a dining chair and a folding table, here is a desk at $1,549 that fixes it. A specific request with a price attached gets a decision. A vague one gets a maybe.

If the answer is no, ask whether it can be a partial contribution. Half a desk is still half a desk.