Can I claim a desk or office chair on tax?

A desk or office chair you buy and use for employment duties may qualify for its work-use share. It is an equipment expense, with its own asset treatment, rather than another electricity or internet bill. Private use and furniture your employer supplies are excluded. ATO: office furniture eligibility.

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.

Does the whole purchase qualify this year?

For an immediate deduction, the ATO’s tests include a cost of $300 or less, use mainly to produce non-business assessable income, and restrictions on sets and identical or substantially identical assets. The amount still needs to exclude private use. More expensive furniture generally requires decline-in-value calculations. ATO: the four immediate-deduction tests.

Assess what you bought. A desk and chair arriving on one receipt does not by itself settle whether they form a set. Keep descriptions, individual prices and delivery details so the treatment can be reviewed.

Example: a shared office chair

Illustrative example: a $280 chair with 80% supported work use could give a $224 immediate deduction if all four tests are met. If the conditions are not met, that calculation alone is not enough to justify an immediate claim.

Keep evidence of how the chair is used as well as the receipt. A room called a home office does not establish that all furniture in it is used entirely for work.

Furniture can sit alongside the revised fixed rate

The revised WFH fixed rate does not include eligible furniture decline in value, so that can be considered separately. Older WFH methods had different coverage; use the rules for the actual claim year. ATO: expenses outside the fixed rate.

Track the purchase and review the asset

In The Paper Keep, use an Office furniture for review category. Tag the relevant items desk, chair and depreciation-review, then note any private use, employer contribution and date first used for work.

The work-assets section lets you enter cost, date, work-use percentage and depreciation settings for an estimate. It applies an immediate-cost shortcut to assets at or below $300; it does not establish that the set, similar-item or main-use tests are satisfied. If the shortcut does not match your situation, calculate the treatment separately.

Do not put the furniture price into a running-bill category as well as an asset entry. Likewise, adding a summary purchase total to the estimator’s asset component can double count it. Keep originals unchanged and review the calculation with your tax agent where needed.

Compare another item in our WFH expense guides.