Working from home? Claim it properly, wherever you file.

Most guides to work-from-home deductions are written for contractors. 2Fin is built for employees too: your home-office costs sorted as they happen, Australia’s two methods compared with your own figures, and the rules for the country you file in.

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From your bank feed to your return

The claim is only as good as the records behind it. 2Fin keeps them as the year goes, so the working-from-home part of your return is a review, not a reconstruction.

Your costs, already sorted

Internet, phone, power and equipment arrive from your bank feed or statements and are tagged work-related, business or personal — with the receipt matched where you have one.

Both methods, side by side (Australia)

The fixed rate — 70c an hour for 2025–26 — against actual costs, worked out with your own hours and bills, for your job and any business separately. You choose; 2Fin never picks for you.

Equipment on the right clock

A laptop or a desk goes into the asset register with its work-use share, so the depreciation is claimed over the years it should be.

Ready for your return

In Australia, the ATO myDeductions export suggests a return line for each work expense; elsewhere, a Tax Deduction CSV labelled for your tax authority.

The rules for where you file

Outside Australia, 2Fin asks the questions that decide a home claim in your country and shows what each answer does — now and when you sell — with a dated link to the official source.

United Kingdom

The questions HMRC’s rules turn on — employed or self-employed, and whether a room is used only for work — with what each answer does now and when you sell.

United States

The questions that decide a home-office claim, which differ for employees and the self-employed, each with the IRS source it comes from.

Canada

The CRA’s questions on a work space in the home, and what each answer means for the figures.

New Zealand and India

Inland Revenue’s and the Income Tax Department’s questions for a home used for work, each with a dated source link.

A desk, or a place of business?

In Australia the difference matters beyond this year’s return: a room that is a place of business can affect the main residence exemption when you sell, while a desk in a shared room does not. 2Fin asks how the space is used and shows what follows, with your own figures. Try the free home business calculator.

Working from home, answered

Questions employees ask about working from home

Can an employee claim working-from-home costs?
In many countries, yes, under rules that differ from the self-employed. In Australia an employee can claim using the fixed-rate method or actual costs; elsewhere the questions that decide whether and how you can claim depend on the country. 2Fin asks those questions for the country you file in and shows the official source for each. This is general information — confirm your own position with your tax authority or adviser.
Which work-from-home method claims more in Australia?
It depends on your bills and your hours, which is why 2Fin shows both with your own figures rather than picking one. The fixed rate is 70 cents for each hour you work from home in 2025–26; actual costs use your real bills and a work share. The guide linked on this page walks through when each one wins.
What about the laptop, desk and chair I bought to work from home?
Add each from its bank transaction to the asset register with the share you use it for work. In Australia the effective life fills in from the ATO determination and the depreciation schedule follows; in seven other countries the tax authority’s own rules apply.
I work from home for my job and run a side business — can 2Fin keep them apart?
Yes. Every transaction, and every line of a split payment, is tagged to your job, your business or your private life, and in Australia the two working-from-home methods are worked out for the job and the business separately.

Claim what your home office really costs.

Start free, and let the year’s records build themselves.

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