It merely simplifies the calculation and recordkeeping requirements of the allowable deduction.
Max square floor home office write off.
For example if your home is 2000 square feet and your home office is 400 square feet your office space is 20 of the total area of your home.
It simply utilizes a formula based on the square footage of the business portion the studio home office of your home vs.
For example say your home office is 450 square feet and the dining room which is used for business.
Requirements to claim the home office deduction.
The traditional home office deduction is a fairly straightforward deduction to calculate on federal form 8829.
Get the biggest tax write off for your home office.
For example if your home office is 200 square feet you ll get a 1 000 deduction.
Find out the square footage of your home.
That s all there is to it.
The total square footage of the house or apartment and then applies that percentage to all associated costs.
If the office measures 150 square feet for example and the total area of the house is 1 200 square feet your business percentage would be 12 5.
For our example.
This simplified option does not change the criteria for who may claim a home office deduction.
You can only use this method if your home office is 300 square feet or less.
So if you use a whole room or part of a room for conducting your business you need to figure out the percentage of your home devoted to your business activities.
The percentage of office use is 120 square feet 1 200 square feet x 100 10.
Generally when using the regular method deductions for a home office are based on the percentage of your home devoted to business use.
To do this you divide the square footage of your office space by the total square footage of the home.
If your home office is a 15 ft by 15 ft room then its total square footage is 225 square feet 15 ft x 15 ft 225 square feet.
You have the alternate choice of submitting a simplified deduction of a flat 5 per square foot of home office area claimed up to a 300 square foot 1 500 limit.
Divide the number of rooms used for business by the total number of rooms in the home use this method if the number of rooms is about the same.
The most exact way to figure this proportion is to measure the square footage devoted to your home office and find what percentage it is of the total area of your home.
Beginning in tax year 2013 returns filed in 2014 taxpayers may use a simplified option when figuring the deduction for business use of their home.