Question

Can I expense home office bills that are in my partner's name?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 5, 2019
3 replies
0 views

I live with my partner, work from home part of the time, and am self employed. I pay for the hydro/internet, but all of the bills are currently in his name. I transfer him a monthly amount of cover the expenses. Can I still include these as home office expenses?

TurboTax Self Employed Online

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SweetieJean

Employee

This is the USA forum.

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xmasbaby0

Employee

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Carl11_2

Employee

" I transfer him a monthly amount of cover the expenses."

If it's the business that transfers the amount, and it's a reasonable amount, there's no reason I can see why you can't claim what you actually pay your partner for your share of the expenses from your business account.

In the home office section you're asked for "whole house" expenses, as well as "home office only" expenses. So for "whole house" expenses you would claim zero. For "home office only" expenses, you would claim the amount you actually paid from the business account. So long as the amount is reasonable, the IRS will not question it. If it is questioned, then you should have no problem using bank statements to prove the amount paid to your partner, by your business.

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courtneyholmbergAuthor

Hi Carl, thanks for the response. I'm a sole proprietor and don't have a business account, but the transfers are from the same account I do all my other expensing from. Should that still be reasonable?