This year the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has its sights on specific parts of your tax return. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the switch to working from home, the ATO isn’t expecting expense claims relating to travel, laundering uniforms etc. from anyone not commuting to the office.
Any Australians wanting to claim work-related expenses must keep these three rules in mind:
- You must have spent the money and have not been reimbursed for the expense
- The expense has to be related to directly earning your income
- You need a proof of purchase receipt
The ATO is expecting a large amount of working from home expenses to be claimed according to a spokesperson. These are expenses such as phone bills and internet costs which would be more significant for anyone working from home.
If there is a timesheet, it can prove working from home hours which can make claiming these expenses easier.
The ATO warns to only claim expenses that are needed to perform your job.
“You can’t simply copy and paste the previous year’s claims without evidence.” Anyone who deliberately makes a false claim will be met with firm action but the ATO also reassures that any legitimate mistakes made with good faith efforts will be met with sympathy.