Can IT workers claim working from home?

Yes, through one of the ATO methods. Under the fixed rate you cannot also claim phone and internet separately, and as an employee you cannot claim occupancy costs such as rent or mortgage interest.

How does the $300 rule work for a monitor or laptop?

An item costing $300 or less comes off in full the year you buy it; over $300 it is claimed as decline in value. Claim the work-use share, and the desk or monitor depreciation sits on top of the fixed-rate hours.

Can I claim certifications and courses?

Certifications like AWS, Cisco or CompTIA that build on your current role are deductible. Study to break into IT or move into a different field is not.

Am I an employee or a contractor?

It changes the rules. PAYG employees follow this guide; contractors on an ABN deal with personal services income, GST and business deductions instead.

Tax deductions for IT professionals in 2026: what you can claim

IT professionals tax guide › Introduction

IT is one of the more claimable desk jobs, mostly because so much of it runs on your own gear and from your own home: the second monitor, the home-office hours, the certifications that keep your skills current. A fair bit is deductible, and plenty goes unclaimed. Every claim turns on whether the cost powered your work or your personal life, and telling the two apart is most of the exercise.

The test behind every claim

Every claim has to pass the same three tests. You paid for it yourself and your employer didn't reimburse you, it connects directly to earning your income, and you have a record to back it.

You paid for it yourself and your employer didn't reimburse you

It connects directly to earning your income

You have a record to back it

Miss one and the deduction is gone, however work-related it feels. Plenty of an IT worker's kit runs both sides of the fence, like the home internet that carries your standup and your streaming, so you claim only the work share, not the whole bill.

Working from home

If you do some of your work from home, you can claim the running costs. The simplest way is the ATO's fixed-rate method, which gives you a set rate for each hour worked at home and covers energy, phone and internet in one figure, as long as you keep a record of your hours. You can still separately claim the decline in value of bigger items like a desk, chair or laptop used for work.

The fixed rate bundles energy, phone and internet into one figure. Claim them again on top and you're double-dipping.

Equipment and software

The gear you buy for work is deductible, and the only question is how quickly you claim it.

$300 or less

Anything costing $300 or less, like a keyboard, mouse or headset, comes off in full in the year you buy it.

Over $300

Anything over $300, like a laptop or a second monitor, is claimed gradually as it declines in value.

Software subscriptions and tools you pay for and use for work are deductible in their work-related share.

The deductions that get missed

The recurring, skills-related costs are the ones people forget, and they add up:

Certifications and courses.Self-education with a genuine connection to your current role, like a certification that builds on what you already do.

Professional memberships.Fees for an industry body or association tied to your work.

Technical books and subscriptions.Reference material and services you use for the job.

Phone and internet.The work share, but only if you use the actual-cost method: the fixed rate already bundles phone and internet in, so you can't claim them again on top of it.

Home-office items.The work-use share of a desk, chair or monitor you bought yourself.

What you can't claim

A few costs look deductible on a hybrid week but don't make the cut:

Your commute. Home to the office and back is private, even on a hybrid week.
Everyday clothing. There's no uniform in most IT roles, and ordinary clothes are never deductible.
The private share. The part of your internet, laptop or phone you use for personal life doesn't count.
Getting into IT. A degree or the first certification that got you into the field is what it cost to break in, not to do the role you already hold.

If it isn't logged, you can't claim it

Most of an IT worker's deductions arrive as email receipts and card charges: the invoice for a second monitor, the annual bill for a certification renewal, the log of hours worked at the kitchen table. The ATO wants written evidence for each one, a record of your work-from-home hours, and a note of how you landed on any work-use percentage for your laptop or internet. The habit that saves you is filing each cost as it lands, rather than digging back through twelve months of inbox and card statements the night before you lodge, which is where genuine deductions quietly vanish. The ATO's free myDeductions app will log the basics for you.

PFO+ Tax

PFO+ Tax is made for a job run largely from home: forward or snap the hardware invoice and the certification receipt, it sorts each into the right category and keeps them fully encrypted on Australian servers, tracks your work-from-home hours as they add up, and turns the lot into an accountant-ready pack at tax time. The data stays yours, held encrypted onshore, never sold, never shared.

See the Tax Pack →

The bottom line

IT is one of the more claimable desk jobs, but only for what you paid for yourself, used to earn your income, and can prove. Claim the home-office hours, the monitor and the keyboard, the software subscriptions, the certifications and the industry memberships. Leave out the commute on your office days, your everyday clothes and the degree or first cert that got you into the field. Get those two lists right, keep the receipts and the hours log, and your tax bill will settle where it genuinely should, not a dollar above it.

Add up your deductions

See what a year of home-office hours, hardware and certifications is worth against your income and tax.

Deductions calculator →

Related: deductions by occupation · income tax calculator. General information only, not tax advice. Check the ATO or a registered tax agent for your situation.