What expenses can I claim if I work from a coworking space?

Understanding what “claiming expenses” really means

Working from a coworking space can be a smart move: you get a professional environment, reliable internet, meeting rooms, and a sense of routine that’s hard to replicate at home. But once you start paying for a desk or membership, a practical question quickly follows: what expenses can you claim?

Before diving into individual items, it helps to understand the basic idea behind claiming expenses. In most tax systems, the costs you can claim are those that are incurred “wholly and exclusively” (or the local equivalent) for the purpose of carrying out your work or business. That principle is where most decisions come from. If an expense is clearly for your work, it’s usually easier to justify. If it’s partly personal, you typically need to apportion it, or you may not be able to claim it at all. And if it’s primarily personal with only a thin work connection, it’s often not claimable.

Another key point is that your status matters. The rules and mechanics can differ depending on whether you are self-employed, operating through a limited company, employed by someone else, or running a side business. Coworking expenses are often most straightforward for freelancers and small business owners, because they are directly paying for workspace to generate income. Employees can sometimes claim certain work-related costs, but many systems limit what employees can deduct unless the employer requires the expense and doesn’t reimburse it.

That said, you can still build a clear, defensible approach regardless of your setup. The easiest way to think about coworking claims is to break costs into categories: the coworking membership itself, add-ons like meeting rooms, equipment and supplies you need to work, travel to and from the space, and incidental costs such as printing or postage. Then you look at which of those are genuinely for work, whether there is any personal element, and how to document the claim properly.

Coworking membership fees and desk rental

The most obvious expense is the coworking membership or desk rental fee. If you pay for a hot desk membership, a dedicated desk, or a private office within a coworking facility, that fee is generally a core business expense when the space is used to perform your work. It functions like rent for a workspace, even though it’s packaged as a membership.

Different coworking spaces structure pricing differently. You might pay a monthly fee that includes a set number of days, a certain tier of access (for example, business hours vs. 24/7), and basic amenities. Some spaces bill per day, per week, or per hour. Regardless of the structure, the principle is the same: the portion of the membership that is for your work use is typically the claimable part.

Where this gets nuanced is mixed use. If you frequently use the coworking space for personal projects, leisure activities, or social events unrelated to your business, you may need to apportion the cost. For example, if you are running a business but also use the space’s community area on weekends for hobbies, claiming the entire membership could be hard to justify. In contrast, if your use is predominantly work and the personal element is incidental (say you occasionally have a coffee with a friend in the lounge while you’re there working), many people treat the membership as wholly business-related.

If your employer pays for the membership directly, you typically are not claiming it personally because you’re not bearing the cost. If you pay and your employer reimburses you, you usually would not claim it separately either, because the cost has been covered. The cleanest scenario is where you pay the membership and it is directly related to generating your income or carrying out your job duties, and you are not reimbursed.

Dedicated desk and private office packages can feel even more “business-like” because you are paying for exclusive or semi-exclusive space. If you have a private office in a coworking building, it resembles commercial rent even more closely. In many cases, that makes it easier to explain why the expense is necessary for your work, especially if you need privacy, storage, or space for a small team.

Meeting rooms, event space, and client facilities

Many coworking spaces charge extra for meeting rooms, boardrooms, podcast studios, interview rooms, or event space. These costs are often claimable when they are used for business purposes such as meeting clients, conducting interviews, running workshops, holding team meetings, or recording work content.

Meeting room charges are usually easy to document because they come with an invoice or booking confirmation showing the date, duration, and sometimes the room name. To keep the claim robust, it helps to note the business purpose on your records, such as “client pitch meeting,” “project planning session,” or “quarterly review.” If you use a room for something partially personal, like hosting a social gathering, that portion is not typically claimable.

Some coworking communities also have “member events” and paid networking sessions. Whether those are claimable can depend on how clearly they relate to your business. A training workshop relevant to your profession or an industry event where you are actively developing business relationships may be more defensible than a general social mixer. The key is to connect the cost to earning income, maintaining professional skills, or generating business leads, rather than personal entertainment.

Internet access, utilities, and bundled amenities

One of the attractions of coworking is that essentials like internet, electricity, heating, air conditioning, and cleaning are built into the membership. When these are bundled, you typically don’t claim them separately; they form part of the overall coworking fee. That’s still fine, because it doesn’t reduce your ability to claim the membership itself as a workspace cost.

Sometimes coworking spaces charge for premium services: dedicated bandwidth, private network access, extra printing credits, lockers, or mail handling. If those add-ons are purchased for work, they are commonly treated as business expenses. For instance, if you pay for a private locker to store work equipment overnight, or you pay for a dedicated phone booth package to take confidential calls, those are usually business-related costs.

Where you should be careful is amenities that are more lifestyle-oriented. If your coworking space offers a gym, wellness classes, or social club perks as part of an upgraded membership, the claimability becomes less clear. Some people can justify certain wellness provisions if they are directly tied to work (for example, a standing desk add-on to manage a health condition that enables you to work), but general fitness or lifestyle benefits often look personal. If the premium tier is primarily for upgraded workspace access (like 24/7 entry, more meeting room credits, and faster internet), it may still be defensible as a business cost. If it’s primarily for leisure perks, it may not be.

Phone, software, and subscriptions used at the coworking space

Working from a coworking space doesn’t change the nature of many regular business expenses, but it can prompt questions about what counts as “work-related.” Phone costs, cloud storage, project management tools, design software, accounting subscriptions, and other digital services can generally be claimed if they are used for your work or business.

The key issue is not where you use them but whether they are used for work and how much personal use exists. If you have one mobile phone that you use for both personal and business calls, you typically need to apportion the cost based on a reasonable method. That might be call logs, usage estimates, or separate lines. If you maintain a separate work phone or SIM exclusively for business, that is often simpler to justify.

Similarly, software is generally claimable when it is used to provide your services or run your business. If you subscribe to a creative suite, a developer platform, or a CRM, those are often clear-cut. If you subscribe to something that blends work and personal use, you may need to justify the business proportion. The coworking setting itself doesn’t create the expense, but it often encourages better documentation because you are already collecting invoices and membership statements.

Equipment you need to work from the space

Many people go to coworking spaces specifically because they want a consistent, professional setup. That often means investing in equipment that makes work easier and more productive. Common examples include laptops, monitors, keyboards, mice, headphones, webcams, microphones, laptop stands, portable lights for video calls, external drives, chargers, and protective cases.

In many tax frameworks, equipment can fall into two broad treatments: routine consumables and longer-lived assets. Small accessories and consumable supplies may be claimed as day-to-day business expenses. Larger equipment, particularly items with a longer useful life, may need to be treated as capital assets and claimed through depreciation or capital allowances over time. The exact line varies by jurisdiction and by the cost of the item, but the concept is consistent: items that last and have significant value are often not deducted all at once.

Because coworking spaces are shared environments, some equipment is specifically about privacy and professionalism. Noise-cancelling headphones, privacy screens for laptops, and portable Wi-Fi devices (as a backup) can have a clear business rationale. Again, if you use these items personally as well, you may need to apportion. If you buy a high-end camera or microphone to record business content, that may be claimable, but it might be treated as an asset rather than a simple expense depending on cost and local rules.

Don’t forget ergonomic items. If you buy a supportive chair for a private office, a footrest, or an ergonomic keyboard because you work long hours, these can be work-related. The tricky part is that some ergonomic purchases straddle personal benefit. The more clearly the item is purchased to enable you to work (and is mainly used for work), the stronger the claim tends to be.

Office supplies and consumables

Even in a digital-heavy world, coworking often involves small but steady supplies: notebooks, pens, sticky notes, printer paper, folders, postage, packaging for shipping products, and similar items. These are generally easier to claim because they are clearly business consumables.

Many coworking spaces include limited printing in the membership, but charge for extra pages. If you pay for printing credits for contracts, client deliverables, marketing materials, or operational documents, those costs are typically work-related. If you print personal documents, that portion should not be claimed. A simple habit helps here: separate personal and business printing where possible, and keep the coworking receipts for extra credits.

Business travel to and from the coworking space

Travel is one of the most common areas of confusion. People often assume that commuting is never claimable, but business travel can be. The treatment depends on whether your coworking space is considered your normal place of work, a temporary workplace, or a location you visit for specific business purposes.

In many systems, ordinary commuting from home to your regular workplace is not deductible. If your coworking space functions as your regular base—where you routinely go to work—your travel there may be treated like commuting. However, if you use the coworking space as a temporary workplace, or you travel there specifically for meetings, client work, or short-term projects, travel may be treated as business travel.

This is where your working pattern matters. If you use multiple work locations—home, client sites, and coworking spaces—some travel between those locations may be claimable as business mileage or public transport costs. For example, traveling from your coworking space to a client meeting is typically easier to classify as business travel than traveling from home to the coworking space five days a week for months.

Because the rules can hinge on facts, it helps to keep a simple travel log: dates, origin, destination, purpose, and cost. If you drive, you may claim mileage under an allowable method (where applicable) or claim actual vehicle costs apportioned for business use. If you use public transport, keep the receipts or transaction records where possible. Taxis or rideshares used for business travel are often claimable when they are taken for work needs, such as getting to a time-sensitive meeting or transporting equipment.

Meals, coffee, and snacks at the coworking space

Coworking spaces often come with coffee, tea, snacks, or even in-house cafés. It’s natural to wonder whether those costs are claimable, especially if you buy lunch while working. This is an area where many tax systems draw a fairly strict line: ordinary food and drink is usually considered a personal expense, even if you buy it while working.

That doesn’t mean there are no exceptions. In some contexts, meal costs can be claimable when you are traveling for business, attending certain work events, or providing meals in a way that is explicitly part of doing business (such as hosting a client meeting where food is part of the business hospitality). But everyday lunches, coffees, or snacks you would have purchased anyway are commonly treated as personal.

If your coworking membership includes basic refreshments as part of the fee, that’s typically just part of the workspace cost. If you pay separately for meals, treat them cautiously. If you are buying food specifically as part of entertaining clients or holding a business meeting, keep detailed notes: who attended, what was discussed, and how it related to your business. Without a clear business purpose, food and drink claims are among the first things that get challenged.

Client entertainment and hospitality

Coworking spaces make it easier to meet clients in a professional environment, and some have onsite bars, cafés, or restaurants. Client entertainment expenses can sometimes be partially claimable depending on local rules, but they are often restricted, limited, or treated differently from other business costs.

Even where entertainment is allowed, it usually requires a genuine business purpose: discussing a project, negotiating a contract, or maintaining a client relationship in a way that supports ongoing work. Purely social outings typically don’t qualify. Documentation matters a lot here: keep receipts, record who attended, and note the business context.

It’s also important to understand that some places distinguish between “subsistence” (meals while traveling for work) and “entertaining” (meals with clients). They may be treated differently for deduction and tax purposes. If you routinely claim hospitality costs, it’s worth being especially consistent and conservative in what you claim, because these categories attract scrutiny.

Marketing and business development costs connected to coworking

Coworking spaces can be great for business development. You might sponsor a community event, pay to host a workshop, or purchase advertising in the coworking newsletter. These costs can often be claimed when they are clearly aimed at promoting your services or generating leads.

Examples of potentially claimable marketing expenses include: fees to host an educational session relevant to your business, printed materials you distribute at a coworking event, or paid listings in the coworking member directory where clients can find you. If you pay for a booth or sponsor slot at a coworking-organized expo, that can also be a business expense when it is used to promote your work.

As with other categories, personal or social motives can complicate things. Sponsoring an event mainly because your friend is organizing it, without a genuine promotional benefit, is harder to justify than sponsoring an event that directly reaches your target clients.

Postal address services, virtual office add-ons, and mail handling

Many coworking operators offer business address services: you can use the location as your mailing address, receive packages, and sometimes access receptionist services. These can be especially valuable if you work from home but don’t want to publicize your residential address, or if your business needs a professional address for client confidence.

Mail handling fees, package reception, and virtual office services are often claimable when they are used for business. If you use the coworking address on invoices, websites, and official correspondence, that supports the idea that the service is part of running your business.

However, if you receive substantial personal mail at the address, you may need to separate business and personal usage. It’s usually best to keep the coworking address for business mail only, not for personal subscriptions, to avoid muddying the waters.

Insurance and professional services

Coworking spaces sometimes require members to carry certain insurance, especially if you rent a private office or host events. You might also decide to take out insurance to cover equipment you bring into the space, professional indemnity insurance, or public liability coverage. These insurance costs are generally claimable when they relate to your business activity.

Similarly, you may use coworking as a catalyst to professionalize operations: hiring an accountant, paying for bookkeeping support, getting legal advice for contracts, or using a business formation service. These professional fees are typically business expenses when they are incurred for business purposes. Some setup costs may have special treatment depending on local rules, but ongoing professional support is usually straightforward.

Training, courses, and professional development

Coworking spaces often partner with trainers or run internal workshops. If a course or workshop updates skills you need for your current work, it may be claimable as a training expense. If it is aimed at starting an entirely new career or a new line of business unrelated to your existing work, it may be treated differently.

Professional development can be a grey area because it sits between personal growth and business necessity. The more directly the training relates to your current business or job—such as learning a new feature in software you already use, maintaining a certification required for your work, or improving a skill that directly supports your services—the more defensible it tends to be.

Keep records of what the training covered and why it was relevant. If the coworking space invoices it as an event fee, keep that invoice and note that it was professional training rather than entertainment.

Home office vs coworking: can you claim both?

Many people split their working time between home and coworking. In principle, you may be able to claim both types of expenses as long as you are not “double counting” the same cost and the claims reflect reality.

If you claim a portion of home office costs (such as a business percentage of utilities or a simplified home working allowance), and you also pay for coworking, you should be prepared to explain why both are necessary. Often the reason is practical: you work from home some days, use coworking for meetings or focused work, and perhaps travel to clients on other days. That pattern can make sense.

However, if your coworking membership is full-time and you rarely work from home, claiming extensive home office costs as well may look inconsistent. The strongest approach is to align your claims with your actual working pattern and maintain documentation to support it.

Apportionment: handling expenses with mixed business and personal use

Apportionment is a fancy word for a simple idea: if an expense is partly for business and partly personal, you claim only the business part. Coworking-related costs can involve mixed use in several ways: using the membership for personal projects, buying equipment you also use at home for personal tasks, or using a phone plan for both personal and business.

A reasonable apportionment method is important. The method should be consistent, based on evidence where possible, and not obviously engineered to maximize deductions. For a phone plan, you might base the business proportion on call time or data usage. For a laptop used for both work and personal use, you might estimate usage based on working hours. For coworking membership, you could base it on the proportion of days used for business versus personal activities.

If you are ever challenged, the goal is to show that your method is sensible and grounded in real usage. Keeping simple logs for a few representative months can help. Even if you don’t keep perfect records forever, having a baseline and a habit of writing brief notes on invoices can make your overall position much stronger.

Documentation: how to keep records that support your claims

Good documentation is the difference between a claim that feels solid and one that feels risky. For coworking expenses, the basics are straightforward: keep invoices, receipts, and bank statements showing payments. Many coworking spaces provide monthly invoices, and those are ideal.

Beyond the basic proof of payment, it helps to keep a record of business purpose for less obvious items. Meeting room bookings are easy: note the client name or meeting purpose. Event fees and training sessions should be annotated with what they were and how they relate to your work. Travel logs should record date, route, and purpose. Equipment receipts should be stored with notes on business use, especially for larger purchases.

If you operate through a company, ensure invoices are addressed to the company where possible and that payments come from the business account. If you are self-employed, you still want consistent record keeping. Using accounting software or even a simple folder structure (by month or category) can save time and reduce stress when you need to summarize expenses later.

Common mistakes to avoid

People often get into trouble not because coworking expenses are inherently questionable, but because they overreach or keep poor records. A few mistakes come up repeatedly.

One common mistake is claiming meals and coffee as routine work expenses. In many places, that is not allowed unless it falls into specific categories like travel or legitimate business hospitality with clear documentation. Another mistake is claiming the full cost of a mixed-use expense without apportionment, especially for phones, laptops, or premium coworking tiers with lifestyle benefits.

Some people also assume that “anything used for work” is automatically deductible. In reality, you need a clear connection to earning income or performing duties, and the cost must be reasonable. Buying high-end gadgets that are only loosely connected to your work can invite questions. That doesn’t mean you can’t buy good equipment; it means you should be able to explain why it is needed for your work and how it is used.

Finally, travel claims can be mishandled. If the coworking space is your regular base, travel from home to the space may not be treated as business travel in some systems. If you are unsure, treat travel conservatively and keep detailed records so you can support your position.

Examples of claimable coworking-related expenses

To make the categories more concrete, here are examples that are commonly claimable when they are genuinely for business use and properly documented:

Monthly coworking membership fees for hot desk access used to perform your work.

Dedicated desk or private office rental within the coworking facility used as your regular working space.

Meeting room booking fees for client meetings, interviews, team sessions, or project workshops.

Printing and scanning charges paid to the coworking operator for business documents.

Mail handling or business address service fees where the address is used for business correspondence.

Equipment purchased to enable your work, such as a laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, webcam, or external storage, subject to the appropriate treatment for longer-lived assets.

Office supplies like notebooks, stationery, postage, and packaging used for business operations.

Software subscriptions used for your business, such as accounting tools, design software, cloud storage, or productivity apps.

Insurance required for your business activity, such as professional indemnity, public liability, or equipment coverage.

Fees to host a business workshop or promotional event at the coworking space, where it is directly linked to marketing or delivering services.

Examples of expenses that are often not claimable, or need extra care

Some costs come up frequently but tend to be restricted, non-deductible, or only partially claimable depending on circumstances. These include:

Everyday lunches, coffees, and snacks you buy while working, which are often personal expenses.

Entertainment costs without a clear business purpose, or costs that are primarily social.

Premium coworking tiers purchased mainly for lifestyle perks rather than workspace access.

Personal use of coworking facilities, such as using the space for hobbies, social events, or unrelated projects, without apportioning the cost.

Travel from home to a regular coworking base that is treated as ordinary commuting in many systems.

Equipment purchases that are primarily personal, even if occasionally used for work.

How to build a sensible claiming strategy

A practical approach is to treat coworking like any other business infrastructure cost. Ask yourself: does this expense help me deliver my work, earn income, or meet professional obligations? If yes, it may be claimable. If it also provides personal benefit, you may need to apportion or exclude the personal element.

Start by collecting clean paperwork: invoices for membership and add-ons, booking confirmations for rooms, and receipts for any extras you pay through the coworking operator. Next, separate categories in your records so that you can see what you spend on workspace, equipment, travel, and subscriptions. This makes it easier to spot anything that needs apportionment.

Then decide on consistent rules for mixed-use items. If you will claim a portion of your phone bill, decide how you will estimate business use and stick to it. If you sometimes use coworking for personal projects, keep a simple note of those days so you can justify any apportionment. You don’t need perfect data, but you do need a method that you can explain.

Finally, be realistic. Tax authorities and auditors tend to focus on patterns that look inflated or inconsistent. If your coworking membership is reasonable, directly connected to your work, and backed by clear invoices, it is usually easier to defend than a pile of small lifestyle-type claims with minimal documentation.

Special scenarios: teams, contractors, and multiple locations

Coworking isn’t only for solo workers. Small teams often use coworking private offices or multi-desk packages. In those cases, the expenses can include additional items such as extra access cards, dedicated phone booths, storage rooms, or increased meeting room credits. These can generally be treated as business costs when they are incurred to support staff and operations.

If you hire contractors and bring them into the coworking space, you may pay for day passes or guest fees. These can be claimable when they are necessary for project delivery, collaboration, or training. Likewise, if you rent event space for recruitment days or onboarding sessions, those costs can be legitimate business expenses if tied to business operations.

Multiple coworking locations can complicate travel and membership claims, especially if you have a flexible pass that allows you to use different branches. In practice, you can still claim the pass if it is used for work, but travel classification may depend on how regularly you attend a particular location and whether any locations are considered your normal base.

When it’s worth getting professional advice

While many coworking expenses are straightforward, a few situations are worth discussing with a qualified tax professional. If you are unsure whether your coworking space counts as your normal workplace for travel purposes, that can affect a large portion of your costs over the year. If you are mixing home office claims with full-time coworking, it helps to ensure your overall approach is consistent. If you are buying expensive equipment and aren’t sure whether it should be deducted immediately or treated as an asset, professional advice can save headaches later.

Advice is also useful if you operate through a limited company and want to structure payments correctly, or if you are an employee trying to understand what you can claim versus what your employer should reimburse. Getting clarity early often prevents messy corrections later.

Conclusion: the coworking claim checklist

Working from a coworking space can create a clean, defensible set of work-related expenses when you approach it with the right mindset. The membership fee itself is often the core claim. Add-ons like meeting rooms, printing, and business address services are typically claimable when they are used for work. Equipment, supplies, software, and insurance can also be claimable, though larger purchases may require asset-style treatment. Travel can be claimable in some circumstances but is often the most fact-dependent category, so careful records matter.

The simplest rule is to claim what is genuinely for work, apportion what is mixed, and avoid stretching personal spending into business deductions. Keep invoices and receipts, note the purpose of meetings and events, and maintain a basic travel log when relevant. With that foundation, coworking can be both a productive work choice and a manageable part of your overall business expense picture.