If you have a smaller home office you may qualify to use the simplified method for figuring your home office deduction.
Home office deduction how to calculate. If your home office is 300 square feet or less instead of having to total up all of your expenses and calculate the percentage of your home used for business you can multiply the square footage by the irs rate 5 as of the time of publication to figure your deduction. This deduction is for self employed business owners. Appropriately titled the simplified option it works out to 5 per square foot of the business or office space in your home. The regular calculation method allows you to deduct your exact expenses but requires more record keeping.
The home office expenses calculator helps you work out the amount you can claim as a tax deduction for home office expenses for the previous six income years. There is a simplified calculation method that deducts 5 per square foot for up to 1 500. Let s look at an. For example if your home office is 200 square feet and your home is 1 600 square feet your office takes up 12 5 of your home.
If you use the simplified method to calculate your home office deduction you don t need to complete form 8829. The miscellaneous deduction for unreimbursed business expenses has been eliminated effective with the 2018 tax year and going forward. If you are a small business owner wanting to cut costs start early to assemble your receipts utility statements mortgage statements or canceled rent checks to calculate and justify your deduction for a home office. To claim the home office deduction a home office must be used regularly and exclusively for your business.
You can claim 12 5 of your eligible. Special rules for claiming the home office deduction. Just enter the total square footage of your home the square footage of your office and your calculated deduction on line 30 of schedule c. Home office expenses are generally calculated in proportion to how much your business space takes up relative to your entire home.
How to calculate the home office deduction one needs to work out the total square meterage of the home office in relation to the total square meterage of the house and then convert this to a percentage. Requirements to claim the home office deduction. The irs introduced a second much simpler method of calculating your home office deduction beginning in tax year 2013. So if you use a whole room or part of a room for conducting your business you need to figure out the percentage of your home devoted to your business activities.
One then applies this percentage to the home office expenditure in order to calculate the portion which is deductible. What s new for 2018 19 the fixed rate for heating cooling and lighting in your home office is now 52 cents per hour. The home office deduction can save you a substantial amount in taxes. Generally when using the regular method deductions for a home office are based on the percentage of your home devoted to business use.