Question

home office deduction

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 30, 2024
1 reply
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Dear TurboTax Community,

I have a question about home office deduction and hope someone with expertise can help me. I am an independent consultant who receives income via 1099. My wife works for a company in Boston and receives income via W2. We both live and work from home in California. In the past, I only claim one office for myself with the TurboTax Home and Office version. I am now semi-retired and my income is low, I understand home office deduction is only for 35% of the income. In this case, shall I also claim another office for my wife since she is not retired and has a much higher income? Can someone receive the W2 claim home office? I know Turbo Tax Hone and Biz asks if the home office is shared with another person. Is this the option to use for this purpose? Is there a better option n in TurboTax H&B for someone with W2 to claim a home office?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions and help.

Pang Ho

TurboTax Home & Biz Windows

A

AnnetteB6

For tax years 2018 through 2025, there is not an option for a W-2 employee to claim home office expense on their Federal return. That would be part of employee business expense, which was suspended by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017.

The employee business expense is entered on Form 2106 as part of the Federal return. Some states (such as California) did not conform to the Federal change. This means that you can still enter home office expenses for your wife (if qualified) to claim the home office. The information may provide a tax break on your state return, but it will not change your Federal return.

Since you work as an independent consultant, you can claim a home office as part of your Schedule C, if qualified. One qualification is that your home office be used regularly and exclusively for your business. Be certain that the space you share with your wife as your home office has been divided between each of your areas and that you are only claiming the square feet of your part of the space.

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G

grimsfield

I have a question in response to the last answer.

It seems the only place to enter the home office information is on the federal return. This affects the california return, but it DOES also seem to affect the federal. Which is clearly not right. What is the right way to enter this information so it doesn't come to bite us?

M

MonikaK1

Entering home office expenses on Schedule C will affect your Federal return. It's only the ability to claim them on Schedule A as Employee Business Expenses that was suspended by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

If you are an employee, you still enter employee home office expenses in the Federal return section of TurboTax, under Employment Expenses, but they won't affect your Federal itemized deductions. You can only get a deduction for them on a state return for a state that didn't follow the change to the Federal law, such as California.

See this TurboTax tips article for more information.

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