Bizarre working-from-home tax deduction claims: Nope, toilet paper doesn’t count

Aussies working from home have cheekily tried to claim some absurd things on their tax returns. Don’t try this when you file yours.

Taxpayers working from home have tried to claim things their office used to supply, including an iconic Aussie biscuit.

Australian Taxation Office assistant commissioner Tim Loh chuckled as he recounted the bizarre claim attempts he’d seen.

“There’s always a few funny ones,” Mr Loh told NCA NewsWire.

“Toilet paper – people have been trying to claim dunny roll as a tax deduction, but obviously that’s a private expense, so you can’t claim that.

“Tim Tams are obviously not a deductible expense because that’s private.”

ATO assistant commissioner Tim Loh Supplied by the Australian Taxation Office.

Bizarrely, some taxpayers try to claim their Netflix subscription – even people who don’t work in a relevant industry like entertainment.

“What we’d be saying there is you can only be claiming the work-related portion, and typically, that should be zero,” Mr Loh said.

“The other thing we see is childcare costs. They are not directly related to earning your income.”

The three golden rules for acceptable claims are:

* They are direct work-related expenses needed to earn your income

* They have not been reimbursed

* A record of the purchase is provided

Nope, you can’t claim toilet paper just because your boss used to pay for it when you worked in the office. Picture: Mike Dugdale

“We want people to claim the deductions they are entitled to – nothing more, nothing less,” Mr Loh said.

“Looking for that old receipt from last year is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

“So we’ve got this ATO app called myDeductions, and all you need to do is take a photo of your receipt during the year and pop it into the ATO app and then upload it to myTax if you lodge the return yourself, or send it off to your registered tax agent.

“It makes things easier, and more importantly, people get the results they’re entitled to.”

This year, the ATO is on the lookout for anyone trying to claim hefty working-from-home expenses while also maintaining or increasing claims for things like car, travel or clothing expenses.

“If you are working at home, we would not expect to see claims for travelling between worksites, laundering uniforms or business trips,” Mr Loh said earlier this week

“You can’t simply copy and paste previous year’s claims without evidence.”

Wave goodbye to the shoebox: The ATO app has a myDeductions feature that allows you to capture photos of your expenses as you go.

An easy, temporary shortcut method for working-from-home expenses is an all-inclusive rate of 80 cents per hour for every hour worked from your dwelling, and you’re advised to keep a record such as a time sheet, roster or diary entry that shows those hours.

There are other options if you believe you incur unusually high working-from-home expenses.

“We do have two other methods – the 52 cents per hour fixed rate or the actual cost method … you could claim separately your electricity (for example), but it’s a very complicated method.

“Obviously, we’d be suggesting to go to our website to get further information about those two methods or speak to a registered tax agent.”

If you want to claim part of an expense more than $300 in future years, such as a desk or computer, you need to keep your receipt.

The ATO’s data analytics will also be on the lookout for claims where someone’s deductions are much higher than others with a similar job and income and also cryptocurrency transactions.

Meanwhile, the ATO is encouraging high school students to take part in this year’s Tax, Super + You competition, a fun way to learn about tax and superannuation, be creative and potentially win prizes.