Today TaxMama hears from Brian in Georgia wants to know. “I work out of my home office in Georgia for a company headquartered in Virginia. Can I write off my home office as a home office work place and deduct part of my home etc.? Or would that only count if I had my own business on the side?”
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As it happens, Brian, yes, you can.
You’ll find a great deal of information in IRS Publication 587 https://www.irs.gov/publications/p587/index.html
The section about Qualifying for a Deduction explains how employees can use office in home expenses.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p587/ar02.html#d0e252
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Chapter 7 will explain exactly what you need to do to maximize the deduction.
The main difference between you and someone who’s self-employed in this regard is, that you will prepare the Form 8829 and https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8829.pdf
attach it to your Form 2106, Employee Business Expenses https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2106.pdf
If you’re using tax software, they often have a link to an internal worksheet for an employee’s home office. It asks all the same questions as the Form 8829 without
actually filling it out.
Incidentally, you’ve got a job and you’re working from home. Is it possible that you qualify to be a “Statutory Employee”?
That can make your whole tax life a little more interesting!
I just found this interpretation in the CompleteTax Guide by CCH. They are one of the top publishers of tax reference materials. https://taxguide.completetax.com/text/Q10_2018.asp
Their “homeworkers” interpretation is what particularly interests me. “For example, persons hired to type up correspondence and to do other word processing jobs on their home computers would be homeworkers. “ Since you’re undoubtedly performing online marketing and related services…you just might qualify for some of the tax benefits of statutory employees…
And remember, you’ll find answers to lots of questions about office in home and other tax information, free. Where? At TaxMama.com
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- IRS Publication 587 :: Office in Home Information
- IRS Form 8829 :: Office in Home Form
- IRS Form 2106 :: Employee Business Expenses
- CCH Complete Tax Guide :: Definition of “Homeworkers” for Statutory Employee rules
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