The standard method has some calculation allocation and substantiation requirements that are complex and burdensome.
Home office tax deduction options. Instead of keeping records of all of your expenses you can deduct 5 per square foot of your. In simple terms home office tax deduction allows taxpayers to deduct a portion of expenses related to carrying out your business from home. This means you ll calculate your deduction by multiplying the square footage of your home office by the fixed rate. As a home business owner you re able to take a variety of tax deductions related to the cost of running your business.
The irs introduced a simpler option for deducting home office expenses in 2013. Instead of keeping records of all of your expenses you can deduct 5 per square foot of your. There was a time that it was believed that taking the home office deduction would increase the chance of an irs audit however today over 50 percent of small businesses are run from home making. The home office deduction is only for self employed business owners.
This simplified option does not change the criteria for who may claim a home office deduction. How to claim the home office deduction on your tax return how you claim the home office deduction on your taxes will depend on which method you use to calculate your deduction. Simplified option for home office tax deduction. It merely simplifies the calculation and recordkeeping requirements of the allowable deduction.
Beginning in tax year 2013 returns filed in 2014 taxpayers may use a simplified option when figuring the deduction for business use of their home. If you choose to use the simplified method you ll need to comply with the irs s fixed deduction rate. If you include home depreciation as part of the home office deduction and eventually sell your home at a profit you will have to pay a capital gains tax on the total amount of depreciation deductions you took while you were living there assuming you sold the home for a profit. The irs introduced a simpler option for deducting home office expenses in 2013.
The fixed rate for 2013 was 5 per square foot. This includes expenses incurred operating your business from a home office. If you choose the simplified option use the simplified method worksheet from the schedule c instructions and then write the value of your deduction on line 30 of.