Can I claim health insurance on tax if I work from home?
No: private health insurance premiums are not a working-from-home deduction. They are a private expense. Working remotely, needing to stay healthy for work or an employer requiring cover does not turn the premium into a work expense. The ATO expressly rejects deductibility even for employment-required cover in its employee sportsperson guidance. ATO: private health insurance, in its sportsperson guide (PDF).
General information for Australian employees. Official sources checked 6 September 2026. Check the rules for your claim year and ask a registered tax agent where your circumstances need individual advice.
The private health insurance rebate is separate
You may be eligible for the private health insurance rebate, depending on your circumstances, policy and income. That is a different part of the tax system from deducting work expenses. Use the insurer’s statement and the ATO’s rebate guidance rather than treating the annual premiums as a WFH cost. ATO: private health insurance rebate.
Medicare levy surcharge rules are another separate issue. Do not interpret a statement that hospital cover can affect the surcharge as meaning the premiums are deductible. For your situation, use the Australian Government’s health-insurance incentives guide or your tax agent.
Example: keeping a private bill out of the work total
Illustrative example: you pay $3,600 in health premiums during the year while working at home three days a week. Multiplying by three-fifths does not create a $2,160 deduction. The WFH deduction for those premiums is $0. That says nothing about any separate rebate entitlement.
How The Paper Keep helps with the records
Save premium-payment receipts in a Personal health insurance category with Tax deductible turned off. You can tag the premium line items health-insurance and personal to find them alongside other household records.
Review any automatically suggested category. A personal tag by itself does not remove a receipt from a category-based deductible total; the category setting matters. Do not map insurance premiums into any WFH running-cost kind.
Keep the annual insurer statement with your tax records and compare it with the information used for your return. The Paper Keep can organise payment receipts, but it does not calculate the health-insurance rebate, Medicare levy surcharge or a complete tax refund.
Keep different insurance types separate
This guide concerns private health cover. Do not use its answer to classify every policy sold by an insurer. If a payment bundles different types of cover, get a breakdown and check the rules for each rather than relabelling the entire premium as a work cost.
See the WFH expense directory for electricity, internet and equipment, where the work-use and deduction-method questions are different.
Find it once. Keep it easy to find.
Save the receipt you found, then keep future receipts together. Upload PDFs and photos, forward receipt emails, or connect a supported inbox to collect receipt emails automatically.
Find your receipts again for returns, warranties or expense records. Start with a 14-day free trial — no credit card required.
When you're ready to do this in The Paper Keep, these are the click-by-click pages.