The age of the home worker – Part 1: Deductibility of home occupancy expenses

Published on 01 Dec 18 by "AUSTRALIAN TAX FORUM" JOURNAL ARTICLE

The number of workers including employees that make use of their home to work has increased considerably in recent years. The authoritative court cases on the deductibility of home office occupancy expenses, the main ones being rent of premises and interest on home loans, were decided in a past era of work practices that differed from current work practices, including the rise of the mere contemplative (knowledge) worker. Given the extent of taxpayers with outstanding home loans (35% of Australian dwellings) and the extent of renters of homes (31% of dwellings), the deductibility issue is significant.

Author profiles

Dale Boccabella CTA

Dale has 18 years experience teaching a wide range of Australian taxation law courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level including goods and services tax, fringe benefits tax, taxation of companies, tax administration and tax avoidance. Dale is currently teaching at the University of New South Wales and has also published over 70 articles on a wide range of areas of Australia’s taxation system. - Current at 29 May 2019

More by Dale BOCCABELLA

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• Extinguishment of tax attributes (eg losses) on death under Australia’s income tax is anomalous and inequitable - 01-September-2013
• Managing losses - Traps for the unwary paper - 18-May-2010
• Inconsistent treatment is hard to justify - 01-February-2002
• Tax practice: Ralph Report: retaining a work in progress advantage under the Ralph Report - 01-May-2000
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• FCT v Rowe: will the High court overrule itself - 01-April-1996

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Kathrin Bain

Kathrin is a Lecturer, School of Taxation and Business Law, UNSW Business School, UNSW Sydney - Current at 29 May 2019

More by Kathrin Bain

• The age of the home worker – Part 2: Calculation of home occupancy expense deductions, deduction apportionment and partial loss of CGT main residence exemption - 01-April-2019
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