1
COUNT THE COST OF
A HOME OFFICE
If you work from home, your electricity bill is a deduc-
tion that you can legitimately claim. It falls under the
category of a home office expense. To work out what
deduction you may be entitled to, simply multiply the
nu mber of hou rs you work f rom home by 45 cents. T hat ’s
the fixed rate that the tax office allows you to claim.
Under this method you can also include the decline in
value of office equipment such as computers and faxes
but not furniture.
Keep a record of the number of hours you work from
home as proof. Let’s say you work a total of 10 hours
a week from home – at 45¢ an hour for 10 hours over,
say, 48 weeks you’re looking at a tax deduction of $216.2
SPLIT THE BILL FOR
WORK PHONE CALLS
You don’t need to document every work-related call
but you do need to keep records for at least a four-
week period. And, of course, you can only claim yourHere are seven ways to
get something back from
the tax man
Claim
your
perks
STORY EFFIE ZAHOSMY MONEYTAX
work-related calls, not your personal ones. Let’s say,
for example, you pay $69 a month for your mobile
phone plan. You estimate that 50% of your monthly
calls are work related, so you’ll be able to claim $414
on your tax return as a deduction.3
BUY A CAR FOR AN
IMMEDIATE BENEFIT
If you’re self-employed and are in the market for a
new or used car, you may be eligible for an imme-
diate tax deduction if it costs less than $20,000.
But hurry – you only have until June 30 to take
advantage of this deduction. After this date the old
rules (which require assets to be written off over
their effective lives) will come back into force. This
instant tax break applies to any items of machinery
or equipment that are used in your business.
But remember that deductions are only useful to
offset against tax. If your business makes a loss, then
a tax deduction is of little benefit because you’re not
paying any tax.