Do you claim a tax deduction for a home office?

Should you include or exclude your garage space in your calculations of business-use percentage?

Home-office tax deductions require a look at the garage and other usable space as possible positive or negative factors in the home-office calculation.

This takes more than a sentence or two. You need to read this article, because there’s more to the garage space questions and answers than meets the eye.

Besides the garage, this article also touches on the unfinished basement and attic. Do you have to count such spaces when figuring your business-use-of-home percentage?

Usable-Space Concept

Ronald Culp earned an office deduction for 78 percent of his home. That’s a nice percentage, but what’s really interesting is how the court looked at Mr. Culp’s home in deciding that 78 percent business use.1

Mr. Culp ran a business printing legal documents from his home, where he exclusively used the garage, the finished basement, two and a half of the six rooms on the first floor, and the attic.

The IRS said that Mr. Culp could not include either the garage or the attic in his ... Log in to view full article.