If you use your home for business — whether you’re a contractor, sole trader, in partnership or own a company — you can claim a portion of household expenses. You can claim 100% of expenses that are solely for business purposes eg a business phone line. For the rest, you can claim the proportion of your house that you use for work.

In this example, the house is 100 square metres and the office 10 square metres — 10% of the total area. So the owner can claim 10% of expenses not solely for business, eg a power bill. Whatever you claim, remember to keep a record of each item.