Slash Your Tax Bill: Mastering Home Office Expenses in New Zealand
Not using your home office to pay less tax? Let’s fix that.
Nearly one-third of New Zealanders work from home at least part of the time. That means a considerable portion of your household expenses could be quietly contributing to reducing your tax bill and keeping more money in your bank account.
Types of home office expenses you can claim
Grasping the types of expenses you can claim is the key to unlocking these savings. In New Zealand, you're entitled to home office expenses such as:
A portion of your rent or mortgage interest
Utility bills (electricity, heating, water)
Home and contents insurance
Repairs and maintenance related to your workspace
Depreciation on home office furniture and equipment
Internet and phone expenses
But it's more than just knowing you can claim them, it's having a system to track these expenses efficiently, ensuring that when tax season rolls around, you're well-prepared to claim them.
How to track home office expenses
Let’s streamline the tracking right now. The trick is to have a system that's easy to maintain throughout the year.
Separate your expenses into the categories above, and track in an Excel spreadsheet how much you are spending each month for each of the categories, need a spreadsheet to get started? Download our Home Office Expense Tracker below.
Get into the habit of recording expenses every month, delay often leads to forgotten cash.
Other tips to keep in mind:
Use a dedicated bank account or credit card for expenses that are purely for business, including home office expenses. This will make it easier to track.
Keep all your receipts and bills, you can keep these in digital formats such as photos. The IRD requires you to keep these for 7 years.
Make it a routine
As you integrate these practices, you might find the process is not as overwhelming as you thought. Instead, it becomes second nature - a small, routine task that pays off with paying less tax at the end of the tax year.