CHAPTER 18Home Office Deductions
Today millions of Americans work at home at least some of the time, and due to the pandemic, the number is growing. Computers, smartphones, online meeting options such as Zoom and GoToMeeting, and the internet make it easier and, in some cases, more profitable to operate a home office. The U.S. Small Business Administration reported that 60.1% of all small businesses with no paid employees and 23.3% of those with paid employees are home-based.
As a general rule, the cost of owning or renting your home is a personal one and, except for certain specific expenses (such as mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and casualty losses), you cannot deduct personal expenses. However, if you use a portion of your home for business and you are self-employed, you may be able to deduct a number of expenses, including rent or depreciation, mortgage and real estate taxes, maintenance, and utilities.
Schedule C filers in 2018 (the most recent year for statistics) claimed home office deductions totaling $1,242.4 billion. The pandemic normalized remote work arrangements. As a result, there may be even more Schedule C filers claiming this deduction for 2021.
The deduction may take the form of a write-off ...
Get J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes 2022 now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
