NEW COVID-RELATED TAX DEDUCTIONS

From at-home tests to WFH expenses, here’s your handy guide

Hands up if you’ve spent a fortune on COVID-19 tests over the past financial year? You may be able to claim a deduction on your tax return – provided that you bought them for work-related reasons.

But I didn’t keep my receipts!

If you don’t have a record of every test that you bought, the ATO says it will still accept reasonable evidence of your expenses.

This could include:

• Bank and credit card statements, or

• A diary or other documents, including receipts, that show a pattern of buying COVID-19 tests “after the law change that could reasonably have applied from July 1, 2021”.

What if I work from home?

You may not be able to deduct for COVID-19 tests if you work from home and don’t intend to visit your workplace. However, the ATO has extended its shortcut method for deducting WFH expenses, so you may be able to use it when claiming for the past financial year. This allows you to deduct 80 cents for each hour you worked from home. If you use this, you can’t claim for other work-related expenses. Visit ato.gov.au for more info.