You can go about this in one of two ways.
How do you calculate home office tax deduction. The amount you can deduct for work space in the home expenses is limited to the amount of employment income remaining after all other employment expenses have been deducted. 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. Appropriately titled the simplified option it works out to 5 per square foot of the business or office space in your home. The first way is to use simplified business expenses.
Using simplified business expenses is easy and straightforward. For a full explanation of tax deductions for your home office refer to publication 587 business use of your home. Requirements for qualifying to deduct expenses including special. If you had a work from home arrangement before 1 march 2020 you will need to use one of the existing methods to calculate your deduction for the period 1 july 2019 to 29 february 2020.
This involves looking at how many hours you spend working from home each week and deducting a flat rate from your taxes. In this publication you will find. If you have a smaller home office you may qualify to use the simplified method for figuring your home office deduction. The square meterage of her home office 20m2 in relation to her house 200m2 is 20 200 which is 10.
To qualify for this business tax deduction for your home business you must meet certain basic requirements. 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. The shortcut method includes decline in value of all items. The irs introduced a second much simpler method of calculating your home office deduction beginning in tax year 2013.
Therefore leigh ann s home office deduction for the tax year 10 x r120 000 r36 000 r36 000 r5 000 r19 700. Based on the above leigh ann does qualify for a home office deduction. What s new for 2018 19. The home office deduction can save you a substantial amount in taxes.
If your office space is in a rented house or apartment where you live deduct the percentage of the rent and any maintenance costs you paid that relate to the work space. 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. If the use of the home office is merely appropriate and helpful you cannot deduct expenses for the business use of your home. This article explains these requirements shows you how to calculate the deduction percentage and explains the specific expenses you can deduct from your taxes if you qualify.