While I get that I can claim part of things for my home office on my taxes, do I have to have a separate "office" space set up for this to work? Or will the desk in the living room be enough if I use it for my work?
You can only count the actual floor space - I have my desk in my living room and just figure out the floor space to figure out the percentage I can figure off as expense - but getagrip is right - ask your accountant.
Hi Purple, I use percentages with several things. I am very minimal about the actual percentages to be a bit conservative. I wouldn't want to raise any red flags and if I do get audited, I want to show them I was being conservative. I write off some of my expendable office supplies, very small portions of my utilities, small percentages of space in a couple rooms, and small percentages of anything I use for both personal and my business. If you use a minority percentage, it is much less likely that you will get flagged. Definitely ask your state and the IRS. ~Newbie Shield~
This is my 1st post! I have to agree on asking the IRS before you do anything drastic. They will tell you exactly what you need.
All of the IRS materials I've read state that you can only write off space that is used specifically and exclusively for your business. So for those of us that use our laptops and work from various locations around the house are out of luck! It's not a big deal anyway. Depending on how much write-off you have, it may not even be worth the time and energy it takes to keep track of all those little things.
It used to be that all you needed was a desk for you to write it off, but I was told by my accountant, that you actually have to have an entire room that it's sole purpose is for the business. The IRS has made it a lot harder to count things as deductions
