Home Office Deduction Checklist

These are the criteria you must meet in order to be entitled to deduct expenses for a home office:

• You must use the office for the majority of work you do for your business.
• You must use it exclusively to conduct business (in other words, you can’t also use it as a guest or exercise room).
• You can deduct a room you use to conduct business, or a stand-alone structure such as a garage, studio, barn or. guest house.
• If you conduct business at a location outside of your home, but also use your home regularly to conduct business, you may also qualify for a home office deduction. For example, if you have in-person meetings with clients or patients in your home, even though you also carry on business at another location, you can deduct yor expenses for the part of your home you use for those meetings.
• Beginning in tax year 2013, taxpayers were able to use a simplified option when figuring out the deduction for the business use of their home. This allows a standard deduction of $5 per square foot of home used for business (maximum 300 square feet).

If you think an office-related cost might be deductible, save your records and receipts of those expenses. You’ll need them when you start preparing your tax return.