Do you operate your business as a corporation?
If yes, are you an employee of the corporation?
If yes, would you like to deduct an office in your home?
If yes, know this: Your route to the deduction follows a one-way path that requires
1.
you to use the office in your home for the convenience of your employer-corporation,
2.
you to pass the tax code rules for deducting a home office, and
3.
your corporation to reimburse the home-office deduction to you as an employee business expense.
Why Only One Way?
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated “employee business expenses” as itemized deductions for the years 2018 through 2025. Thus, you may not currently obtain the home-office deduction as an employee.
Key point. The workaround is to have the corporation claim the deduction. It does this by reimbursing you, the corporate employee, for your home-office expenses.
Rent Does Not Work
The IRS audit manual, in its boilerplate language for denying the home-office deduction, addresses the rent-as-expense issue as follows: “If you rent all or part of your residence ... Log in to view full article.
