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Home office tax deductions in Australia, 2026–27: the honest version
Whether you can claim a desk on tax depends entirely on who you are — employee, sole trader, or someone whose employer paid. The honest guide, minus the confident nonsense you will read elsewhere.
11 July 2026
Every July the internet fills up with confident advice about claiming your home office on tax, most of it written by people who do not know whether you are an employee or a business. That distinction is the whole game, so start there.
If you are an employee, the fixed-rate method most people use for working from home — a set number of cents per hour — covers running costs like electricity and internet. It does not cover furniture. The desk is a separate line. If it cost $300 or less you can generally claim the work-use portion outright; if it cost more, you claim its decline in value over its effective life, apportioned for how much you use it for work rather than watching the cricket.
If you are a sole trader or run a business through an ABN, the rules are different and usually more generous, because the desk is a business asset rather than an employee's work-related expense. Depending on the write-off thresholds in force for the year, you may be able to deduct it immediately rather than depreciating it. Those thresholds move, so this is exactly the kind of thing to confirm against current ATO settings rather than last year's blog post.
If your employer buys the desk, the answer is simple: you do not claim it, because you did not pay for it. It is the company's asset. That is not a worse outcome — it is often the best one, because it costs you nothing and still gets you the desk.
The new financial year that started on 1 July is the natural moment to sort this, and it lines up neatly with the 1 September law change. If you are going to buy, buying now means the deduction (or your employer's) lands in a clean year and the desk is installed before the deadline the whole thing is built around.
Two practical notes that apply however you file. Keep the receipt, and keep a short note of what percentage of the time the desk is used for work — that apportionment is the first thing anyone will ask about. And do not take a number off a website, including this one, as gospel: the rules change, your circumstances are specific, and a registered tax agent earns their fee on exactly this.
General information only, not financial or tax advice. Rules change and depend on your circumstances — check current ATO guidance or a registered tax agent.