So you work at home, and communicate with your employer mainly by telephone, e-mail, fax,
electronic data transfer, express mail services, etc., you should know about the strict rules that
govern whether you can deduct your home office expenses.
You may deduct your home office expenses if your home office is for the convenience of your
employer (see below), and if you meet any of the three tests described further below: the separate
structure test, the place for meeting patients, clients or customers test, or the principal place of
business test.
If you do qualify, you may compute your home office deductions (described below) on a special
worksheet. You should report the expenses on Schedule A as below-the- line miscellaneous itemized
deductions that are deductible only to the extent that they (together with all other miscellaneous
itemized deductions) exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income. These deductions are no longer deductible in 2018.
Convenience of the employer requirement. The convenience of the employer requirement is
satisfied if:
o You maintain your home office as a condition of employment, in other words, if your employer
specifically requires you to maintain the home office and work there.
o Your home office is necessary for the functioning of your employer’s business.
o Or your home office is necessary to allow you to perform your duties as an employee properly.
The convenience of the employer requirement means that you must maintain your home office for
your employer’s convenience, and not for your own. This requirement isn’t satisfied if your use of a
home office is merely “appropriate and helpful” in doing your job.
Under the above rules, if your employer requires you to telecommute, and doesn’t make on-
premises office space available for you, your maintenance of a home office for telecommuting will
probably be treated as for the convenience of the employer. Otherwise, it’s not clear whether your
home office will be treated as satisfying this requirement. Therefore, if you can, you should get your
employer to put in writing that it’s a requirement of your job to work from an office in your home.
Separate structures. You may deduct the costs of a separate structure used as a home office that
is not attached to your “dwelling unit.” In other words, the “separate structure” must be an
unattached structure on the same property as your home, for example, an unattached garage,
artist’s studio, workshop, or office building. To qualify for the deduction, the separate structure must
be used exclusively and on a regular basis in connection with your activities as an employee. In
addition, you must maintain the home office in the separate structure for the convenience of your
employer.
Home office used for meeting patients, clients, or customers. Alternatively, you may deduct
your home office expenses if you use a home office, exclusively and on a regular basis, and for the
convenience of your employer, to meet or deal with patients, clients, or customers of your employer
in the normal course of your duties as an employee.
Principal place of business. In addition, you may deduct your home office expenses if you use
your home office, exclusively and on a regular basis, as the principal place of business for your work
as an employee, and if you maintain the home office for the convenience of your employer.
While there have been many disputes between IRS and taxpayers about whether taxpayers’ home
offices qualified as their principal places of business, a telecommuter should have no problem
establishing that the home office is his or her principal place of business if the telecommuter does
the most important part of his or her work in the home office, and spends most of his or her work
time there.
Exclusive and regular use requirements. As noted above, whether the home office is in a
separate structure or is a principal place of business (which doesn’t have to be in a separate
structure), the home office must be used exclusively and on a regular basis in connection with your
work as an employee.
The exclusive use requirement means that you must use your home office solely for the purpose of
carrying on your work as an employee. Any other use of the home office will result in loss of all
deductions for your home office expenses.
For example, if you work in a spare bedroom that contains your desk, computer, fax, files, etc., and if
you don’t use that bedroom for anything but your work, that room passes the exclusive use test. But
if you also use the room to sleep occasional overnight guests, it fails the exclusive use requirement.
And if you use the room exclusively for work during your regular workday, but the room reverts to
other uses at nights and/or on weekends, it also fails the exclusive use test.
The regular basis requirement means that you must use the home office in carrying on your
business on a continuous, ongoing or recurring basis. Generally, this means a few hours a
week, every week. A few days a month, every month, may do the trick. But occasional, “once-in- a-
while” business use won’t do.
Dennis & Associates can help you figure out whether your home office satisfies the exclusive and
regular use tests, and suggest things you might do to make sure that you do pass these tests. For
example, removing non-business furniture and fixtures, not letting guests use your home office,
and/or keeping the kids out, etc.
What you get if you qualify for home office deductions. If your home office is your principal place
of business under the rules noted above, the costs of traveling between your home office and other
work locations in the same trade or business, regardless of whether the other work location is
regular or temporary, and regardless of its distance, are deductible transportation expenses, rather
than nondeductible commuting costs.
If your use of your home office qualifies under any of the above rules, you may take business
expense deductions for the following:
o The “direct expenses” of the home office e.g., the costs of painting or repairing the home office,
depreciation deductions for furniture and fixtures used in the home office, etc.
o And the “indirect” expenses of maintaining the home office e.g., the properly allocable share of
utility costs, depreciation, insurance, etc., for your home, as well as an allocable share of
mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and casualty losses.
Amount limitations on home office deductions . The amount you may deduct as home office
expenses is subject to limitations based on the income attributable to your use of the home office,
your residence-based deductions that aren’t dependent on use of your home for business (e.g.,
mortgage interest and real estate taxes), and your business deductions that aren’t attributable to
your use of the home office.
Any home office expenses that can’t be deducted because of the above amount limitations may be
carried over and deducted in later years.
Computers and related equipment . If your use of your home office qualifies under any of the rules
discussed above, you may deduct the un-reimbursed cost of computers and related equipment that
you use in the home office, and the deductions are not subject to the “listed property” restrictions
that would otherwise apply.
Effect of home office deductions on later sales of your principal residence . You should be
aware that, if you claim any depreciation deductions with respect to the home office, when you sell
the residence, any gain attributable to the depreciation deductions will not be eligible for the
otherwise available $250,000/$500,000 exclusion for gain on the sale of principal residences. Also,
the exclusion won’t apply to the portion of your gain allocable to a home office that’s separate from
the dwelling unit.
Commuting expenses of taxpayers with office at home
Because you maintain your office in your home, you may be entitled to a special tax break on your
commuting costs. For most people, the cost of daily travel between home and a regular work
location is a nondeductible commuting expense. However, taxpayers who have an office at home
can deduct the daily costs of travel between home and another work location in the same business,
regardless of distance and regardless of whether the other location is regular or temporary.
Note that you get this break only if your home is your principal place of business. In other words, you
must meet the tests for deducting expenses of an office at home. Give me a call if you aren’t familiar
with those tests.
You must be able to substantiate the auto expenses that you claim through adequate records, such
as a log or diary. You can either use the standard mileage rate or deduct your actual expenses.
If you are an employee and your employer reimburses your travel expenses, you needn’t report the
reimbursements as income if they are made under a so-called “accountable plan.” An accountable
plan is one that reimburses only deductible business expenses, requires you to substantiate your
expenses, and requires you to return amounts in excess of your substantiated expenses. If the plan
is not an accountable plan, the reimbursement must be reported as income, and your deductible
expenses must be claimed as employee business expenses.
If your office at home isn’t your principal place of business, the costs of travel between your home
and the first and last business stops of the day are nondeductible commuting expenses. However,
the costs of going between home and a temporary work location are deductible, if you have a regular
work location away from home. Generally speaking, employment at a work location is temporary if it
is realistically expected to last (and does in fact last) for no more than a year.
If you have any questions about whether you are entitled to deduct your job-related travel expenses,
please give us a call.
Massachusetts individual return commuter deductions
Individuals may deduct certain commuting costs on their Massachusetts returns. These include the tolls
paid through the Massachusetts E-ZPass account or the cost of weekly or monthly transit commuter
passes for Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority transit, bus, commuter rail or commuter boat. For single,
married filing separate or head of household filers, the deduction applies only to the portion of
commuter costs that exceeds $150. For married couples filing joint, the deduction applies only to the
portion of commuter costs of each individual that exceeds $150. One spouse cannot transfer his or her
excess deduction to the other spouse. The total amount deducted may not exceed $750 for each
individual.