It tracks on its own
WFH Diary sits in your menu bar and records when your Mac is in use. Short pauses count as work. There is nothing to start or stop.
Mac menu bar app for Australians who work from home
Your work-from-home hours, ATO-ready.
WFH Diary records your hours automatically from your Mac’s menu bar, asks about the gaps, and builds the diary the ATO’s 70c fixed rate method asks for. It never looks at what you do.
Free to track. Pro adds tax-time reports from A$14.99 a year. macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
ATO-ready means your report has what the fixed rate method needs: the actual hours you worked from home, recorded at the time, with the rate for each period. It isn’t an ATO approval. The ATO doesn’t approve apps.
- 70can hour, worked out for you
- 0apps, files or screens seen
- 1 mina week to review
Records when, never what
Start, end and pauses. No app names, window titles or screenshots.
Kept at the time
A day-by-day record built for the fixed rate method (PCG 2023/1).
Your iCloud only
Syncs between your Macs. Nothing ever reaches us.
How it works
Three steps. You only do the middle one.
Most hours need nothing from you. WFH Diary asks only about the moments a record can’t settle on its own.
You answer the gaps
Review shows only what needs you: a longer pause, a day to confirm, a weekday with nothing tracked. Most weeks it takes a minute.
Claim at tax time
Pick a tax year and export a PDF diary and CSV, with the 70c fixed-rate amount worked out. Cents are dropped, the way the ATO does it.
The diary
Calm screens that stay short as the year grows.
Four views. Each opens on what matters now, not on a wall of sessions.
Review lists only what needs an answer. Everything else is already counted.
Lives in your menu bar
No timer to start. No app to remember.
WFH Diary sits next to the clock and records when your Mac is in use. One click shows where your day is up to.
- See today’s hours at a glance, and whether WFH Diary is recording.
- Pause from the menu. It stays paused through quit and restart until you resume.
- Open the diary, Review or reports in one click.
- It can open at login, so there is nothing to remember.
Built for tax time
Every feature answers one question: would this hold up?
A short review list
Everything that is already clear is counted. You only see the few things that need an answer, oldest first.
Pauses handled properly
Under 15 minutes counts as work. For a longer pause, WFH Diary asks if you were working, at the time, and keeps your answer.
Every Mac, merged
Use two Macs and the hours merge through your own iCloud. Overlapping time is counted once.
Ready for your return
PDF and CSV for any tax year, with the rate for each period and the amount to claim. Attach your bills, and the report lists them.
Bills to keep, ticked off
The fixed rate needs a bill for each running cost it covers: energy, internet, phone and stationery. Tick each one off for the year, or attach it.
Reminders, if you want them
A nudge at a time you choose, on workdays only or every day. It can open at login, and you can pause it from the menu bar any time.
Printable worksheet
Print your logged sessions with boxes to tick and lines to write on, or only the days still to check.
Checks you can claim
If your employer pays all your running costs, you can’t use the fixed rate. Say so in Settings and your report warns you, plainly.
Never deletes your records
The ATO wants records for five years after you lodge. WFH Diary keeps everything until you choose to delete it.
Records kept at the time
The ATO wants hours recorded as you go. So does WFH Diary.
The ATO doesn’t accept estimates or catch-up spreadsheets for the fixed rate method. WFH Diary records hours as you work, and is clear about where each hour came from.
- Tracked live as you work, with the time each answer was given.
- Marked up by hand on a printed worksheet, if you like paper.
- Typed in later only when you must. Those hours are labelled “added later” in your report.
WFH Diary worksheet · FY 2026–27
Printed 4 Nov 2026 from MacBook Pro
Monday 2 November7h 05m logged
8:40 am – 12:30 pm3h 50mLive
1:15 pm – 4:30 pm3h 15mLive
Worked from home?YesNoHours at home7h
Tuesday 3 November1h 23m logged
9:05 am – 9:50 am0h 45mLive
7:12 pm – 7:50 pm0h 38mLive
Worked from home?YesNoNotesat the office
Private by design
A diary of when, never of what.
WFH Diary records when your Mac is in use and nothing else. Tracking needs no special permissions, and your records stay in your own iCloud.
App names, window titles or web addresses
What’s on your screen, or screenshots
Keystrokes or mouse movement
Your files, unless you attach a bill
Your location or IP address
Your name, email or Apple Account
Other ways to keep the diary
Why not myDeductions or a spreadsheet?
Any of them can work. What matters is a record of the actual hours, kept at the time. The difference is who does the remembering.
myDeductions (the ATO’s own free app)
Free and official. You type in your hours on your phone, each day, yourself. A good choice if you’ll remember to.
A spreadsheet or template
Works if you fill it in as you go. A sheet filled in from your usual schedule in June is an estimate, and the ATO says estimates aren’t enough.
WFH Diary
Records the hours on its own while you work, then asks only about the gaps. You still confirm each day was at home.
Pricing
Free to record. Pay when you need the report.
Prices in Australian dollars, including GST. No account to create.
Free
A$0 forever
- Automatic tracking in the menu bar
- Review, Day, Week and Year screens
- Running 70c deduction estimate
- Manual entries, labelled “added later”
- Printable worksheet
- Bills to keep checklist and attachments
- iCloud sync between your Macs
- Daily reminders
WFH Diary Pro
A$14.99 a year
or A$39.99 once, for life
- Everything in Free
- PDF and CSV reports for any tax year
- Suggest past hours: suggestions from file activity that you check, marked “added later”
macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Pro is bought in the app through the Mac App Store, and Restore Purchases works on every Mac signed in to your Apple Account.
Questions
The ones we’d ask too.
Will this satisfy the ATO?
The fixed rate method needs a record of the actual hours you worked from home, kept at the time (PCG 2023/1). WFH Diary records your hours as they happen and keeps your answers about pauses and days. You still confirm that each day was work at home, and you are responsible for what you lodge. This is general information, not tax advice.
Is WFH Diary ATO approved?
No app is. The ATO doesn’t approve or certify record-keeping apps, and its own free tool is myDeductions. What the ATO checks is your records. For the fixed rate method it wants the actual hours you worked from home, recorded at the time. WFH Diary records those automatically, and you confirm each day.
Do I still need a WFH diary now there’s a $1,000 deduction?
From 2026–27 you get the higher of a $1,000 standard deduction or your itemised work expenses. To itemise more than $1,000 you need records, including your actual WFH hours. With no other expenses, that takes about 1,429 hours at 70c. You won’t know until June which is higher, so the diary keeps the option open.
Does it know if I worked from home or the office?
No. It knows when your Mac was in use, not where you were. Review asks you to confirm each day, and you can leave out any session that was at the office. Weekends and national public holidays with no activity are marked as no work for you.
I only just started. What about the months before?
Hours you didn’t record at the time are hard to claim under the fixed rate method, because estimates aren’t accepted. WFH Diary Pro can suggest past sessions from activity your Mac recorded, for you to check day by day. Treat them as a starting point, not a record, and check with a tax agent before claiming them.
Does my data leave my Mac?
Only through your own private iCloud, which only you can read. Nothing is sent to us. There are no third-party SDKs, analytics or crash reporting.
What if I use two Macs?
Sessions merge across all your Macs through iCloud. Overlapping time is counted once, so you never claim an hour twice.
How much does it cost?
Tracking, the diary, manual entries, the printable worksheet, bills, iCloud sync and your deduction estimate are free. WFH Diary Pro adds PDF and CSV reports for your return and Suggest past hours (suggestions from file activity that you check, marked added later), for A$14.99 a year or A$39.99 once.
What Mac do I need?
Any Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or later. WFH Diary is a menu bar app from the Mac App Store. There’s no iPhone or Windows version yet.
What if the 70c rate changes?
Rates are stored by period, so old hours keep the rate that applied then (67c before 1 July 2024, 70c from then). We update the app when the ATO announces a change.
What permissions does it need?
Tracking needs nothing beyond the standard Mac sandbox, and notifications are optional. It never asks for screen recording, accessibility, the microphone, the camera, your location or your contacts.
Stop rebuilding your hours from memory in July.
Install it once. Every day you work from home until 30 June is recorded the way the fixed rate method asks.