A home office is a great way to make work an inescapable part of life. And, working without wearing real pants is not only the American dream, but has a practical tax benefit as well. However, a good number of CPAs continue to steer clients in another direction, advising they not explore the Home Office Deduction come tax time. Whether it’s a lack of desire to dive into the itemized deduction wormhole, or the fact that CPAs tend to err on the side of the conservative, the stance against the Home Office Deduction remains a mystery to me. Perhaps in response to the lack of interest, the IRS website now boasts a reminder to take advantage of the Home Office Deduction, and offers both a Regular and Simplified method of doing so. The Regular Method is just a matter of splitting up home expenses into business and personal use categories, and could even be called the “common sense method”, while the Simplified Method is more cut and dry, using a prescribed rate of $5 per square foot used for business in the home. If you’re drowning in floor space, leaving room for mid-day break dancing to ease stress or just plain rich, the Simplified Method might be right for you. Whatever the method used for taking advantage of what the IRS is calling the most overlooked deduction, make sure those business expenses claimed aren’t higher than the gross business income, or you’ll be stuck with no deduction and no pants.
