Air Purifier - Potentially deductible for someone working from home?

Homer's job now is working from home full-time for the past few years (he quit his power plant job). Due to the bushfires all over Springfield over the past few months the air quality has become absolutely terrible, including inside his home. Homer has decided to buy an air purifier for his home office room where he works from. Would the air purifier be tax deductible for Homer?

 

Is Homer a small business entity? Is it only used for work purposes?

I was looking for one the other day and all sold out...

 

Order online and they'll ship it to you from China. I ordered one from Dyson last week and it arrived today.

 

I believe so. Homer now knows how to use a computer (no more typing bird causing a nuclear power plant meltdown) and has become a full-time share trader for the past few years.

Xiaomi Mi air purifiers seem to get good reviews from people using them. Few different models to choose from depending on the size of the room. Chinese company but seems decent based on the reviews. Can buy from their Aussie site: mi-store.com.au

 

Like any object, the purifier would be deductible or likely depreciable to the extent used to produce assessable income. Its no different to a heater, AC or laptop really.

I noted these devices really only cater to a small enclosed space. Their capacity is limited often to 25 m2. (Approx 60m3). The filter life is said to be long but I would image the recent fires would see that life significantly affected. eg a month at very best ? The actual air quality isnt anything like the expected use. BOM said at least 500 times worse ? And being run 24/7 rather than 8 hours. So thats 1500 times less life than spec. If it was a 9 month filter spec - Thats now around 9 hours life by my calcs. These devices may deliver a false promise without frequent filter changes.

Homer would need to apportion between the work and private use. If he had a dedicated office unit v others in other areas it may be 100%.

 

Ok thanks Paul

Don't know how happy the ATO would be if someone were to buy a replacement filter every day for a year at $40 each and claim it (or part of it) on their tax returns lol

 

Its not a relevant issue if its 100% used in that manner. The ATO and tax agents shouldnt make value judgements. The key issue is tax law compliance. It can escalate reviews however.

I had a client with a $600,000 performance car that was leased. Massive deductions as he worked across several hospitals as a specialist with a high work % in a logbook and had a home office. He complied with tax laws and got frequent reviews for the major car deductions. None found any issue.