Qualifying for a Deduction

To deduct expenses related to the business use of part of your home, you must meet specific requirements. Even then, your deduction may be limited. Use this section and Figure A to decide if you can deduct expenses for the business use of your home.

To qualify to claim expenses for business use of your home, you must meet the following tests.

1. Your use of the business part of your home must be:
1. Exclusive (however, see Exceptions to Exclusive Use, later),
2. Regular,
3. For your trade or business, AND
2. The business part of your home must be one of the following:
1. Your principal place of business (defined later),
2. A place where you meet or deal with patients, clients, or customers in the normal course of your trade or business, or
3. A separate structure (not attached to your home) you use in connection with your trade or business.

Additional tests for employee use. If you are an employee and you use a part of your home for business, you may qualify for a deduction for its business use. You must meet the tests discussed above plus:

1. Your business use must be for the convenience of your employer, and
2. You do not rent any part of your home to your employer and use the rented portion to perform services as an employee.

Whether the business use of your home is for your employer's convenience depends on all the facts and circumstances. However, business use is not considered to be for your employer's convenience merely because it is appropriate and helpful.

Exclusive Use

To qualify under the exclusive use test, you must use a specific area of your home only for your trade or business. The area used for business can be a room or other separately identifiable space. The space does not need to be marked off by a permanent partition.

You do not meet the requirements of the exclusive use test if you use the area in question both for business and for personal purposes.

Example. You are an attorney and use a den in your home to write legal briefs and prepare clients' tax returns. Your family also uses the den for recreation. Since the den is not used exclusively in your profession, you cannot claim a business deduction for its use.

Exceptions to Exclusive Use

You do not have to meet the exclusive use test if either of the following applies.

• You use part of your home for the storage of inventory or product samples (discussed next).
• You use part of your home as a day-care facility, discussed later under Day-Care Facility.

Storage of inventory or product samples. If you use part of your home for the storage of inventory or product samples, you can claim expenses for the business use of your home without meeting the exclusive use test. However, you must meet all of the following tests.

• You sell products at wholesale or retail as your trade or business.
• You keep the inventory or product samples in your home for use in your trade or business.
• Your home is the only fixed location of your trade or business.
• You use the storage space on a regular basis.
• The space you use is an identifiably separate space suitable for storage.

Example. Your home is the sole fixed location of your business of selling mechanics' tools at retail. You regularly use half of your basement for storage of inventory and product samples. You sometimes use the area for personal purposes. The expenses for the storage space are deductible even though you do not use this part of your basement exclusively for business.

Regular Use

To qualify under the regular use test, you must use a specific area of your home for business on a continuing basis. You do not meet the test if your business use of the area is only occasional or incidental, even if you do not use that area for any other purpose.

Trade or Business Use

To qualify under the trade or business use test, you must use part of your home in connection with a trade or business. If you use your home for a profit-seeking activity that is not a trade or business, you cannot take a deduction for its business use.

Example. You use part of your home exclusively and regularly to read financial periodicals and reports, clip bond coupons, and carry out similar activities related to your own investments. You do not make investments as a broker or dealer. Since your activities are not part of a trade or business, you cannot take a deduction for the business use of your home.

Principal Place of Business

You can have more than one business location, including your home, for a single trade or business. To qualify to deduct the expenses for the business use of your home under the principal place of business test, your home must be your principal place of business for that trade or business. To determine your principal place of business, you must consider all the facts and circumstances.

Your home office will qualify as your principal place of business for deducting expenses for its use if you meet the following requirements.

• You use it exclusively and regularly for administrative or management activities of your trade or business.
• You have no other fixed location where you conduct substantial administrative or management activities of your trade or business.

Alternatively, if you use your home exclusively and regularly for your business, but your home office does not qualify as your principal place of business based on the previous rules, you determine your principal place of business based on the following factors.

1. The relative importance of the activities performed at each location.
2. If the relative importance factor does not determine your principal place of business, you can also consider the time spent at each location.

If, after considering your business locations, your home cannot be identified as your principal place of business, you cannot deduct home office expenses. However, see the later discussions under Place To Meet Patients, Clients, or Customers or Separate Structure for other ways to qualify to deduct home office expenses.

Administrative or management activities. There are many activities that are administrative or managerial in nature. The following are a few examples.

• Billing customers, clients, or patients.
• Keeping books and records.
• Ordering supplies.
• Setting up appointments.
• Forwarding orders or writing reports.

Administrative or management activities performed at other locations. The following activities performed by you or others will not disqualify your home office from being your principal place of business.

• You have others conduct your administrative or management activities at locations other than your home. (For example, another company does your billing from its place of business.)
• You conduct administrative or management activities at places that are not fixed locations of your business, such as in a car or a hotel room.
• You occasionally conduct minimal administrative or management activities at a fixed location outside your home.
• You conduct substantial nonadministrative or nonmanagement business activities at a fixed location outside your home. (For example, you meet with or provide services to customers, clients, or patients at a fixed location of the business outside your home.)
• You have suitable space to conduct administrative or management activities outside your home, but choose to use your home office for those activities instead.

Example 1. John is a self-employed plumber. Most of John's time is spent at customers' homes and offices installing and repairing plumbing. He has a small office in his home that he uses exclusively and regularly for the administrative or management activities of his business, such as phoning customers, ordering supplies, and keeping his books.

John does not do his own billing. He uses a local bookkeeping service to bill his customers.

John's home office qualifies as his principal place of business for deducting expenses for its use. He uses the home office for the administrative or managerial activities of his plumbing business and he has no other fixed location where he conducts these administrative or managerial activities. His choice to have his billing done by another company does not disqualify his home office from being his principal place of business. Because he meets all the qualifications, including principal place of business, he can deduct expenses (to the extent of the deduction limit, explained later) for the business use of his home.

Example 2. Pamela is a self-employed sales representative for several different product lines. She has an office in her home that she uses exclusively and regularly to set up appointments and write up orders and other reports for the companies whose products she sells. She occasionally writes up orders and sets up appointments from her hotel room when she is away on business overnight.

Pamela's business is selling products to customers at various locations throughout her territory. To make these sales, she regularly visits customers to explain the available products and take orders.

Pamela's home office qualifies as her principal place of business for deducting expenses for its use. She conducts administrative or management activities there and she has no other fixed location where she conducts administrative or management activities. The fact that she conducts some administrative or management activities in her hotel room (not a fixed location) does not disqualify her home office from being her principal place of business. Because she meets all the qualifications, including principal place of business, she can deduct expenses (to the extent of the deduction limit, explained later) for the business use of her home.

Example 3. Paul is a self-employed anesthesiologist. He spends the majority of his time administering anesthesia and postoperative care in three local hospitals. One of the hospitals provides him with a small shared office where he could conduct administrative or management activities.

Paul does not use the office the hospital provides. He uses a room in his home that he has converted to an office. He uses this room exclusively and regularly to conduct all the following activities.

• Contacting patients, surgeons, and hospitals regarding scheduling.
• Preparing for treatments and presentations.
• Maintaining billing records and patient logs.
• Satisfying continuing medical education requirements.
• Reading medical journals and books.

Paul's home office qualifies as his principal place of business for deducting expenses for its use. He conducts administrative or management activities for his business as an anesthesiologist there and he has no other fixed location where he conducts administrative or management activities for this business. His choice to use his home office instead of one provided by the hospital does not disqualify his home office from being his principal place of business. His performance of substantial nonadministrative or nonmanagement activities at fixed locations outside his home also does not disqualify his home office from being his principal place of business. Because he meets all the qualifications, including principal place of business, he can deduct expenses (to the extent of the deduction limit, explained later) for the business use of his home.

Example 4. Kathleen is employed as a teacher. She is required to teach and meet with students at the school and to grade papers and tests. The school provides her with a small office where she can work on her lesson plans, grade papers and tests, and meet with parents and students. The school does not require her to work at home.

Kathleen prefers to use the office she has set up in her home and does not use the one provided by the school. She uses this home office exclusively and regularly for the administrative duties of her teaching job.

Kathleen must meet the convenience-of-the-employer test, even if her home qualifies as her principal place of business for deducting expenses for its use. Because her employer provides her with an office and does not require her to work at home, she does not meet the convenience-of-the-employer test and cannot claim a deduction for the business use of her home.

Can you deduct business use of the home expenses?

More Than One Trade or Business

Whether your home office is the principal place of business must be determined separately for each trade or business activity. One home office may be the principal place of business for more than one activity. However, you will not meet the exclusive use test for any activity unless each activity conducted in that office meets all the tests for the business use of the home deduction.

Example. Tracy White is employed as a teacher. Her principal place of work is the school. She also has a mail order jewelry business. All her work in the jewelry business is done in her home office and the office is used exclusively for that business. If she meets all the other tests, she can deduct expenses for business use of her home for the jewelry business.

If Tracy also uses the office for work related to her teaching, she would not meet the exclusive use test for the jewelry business. As an employee, Tracy must meet the convenience-of-the-employer test to qualify for the deduction. Because she does not meet this test for her work as a teacher, she cannot claim a deduction for the business use of her home for either activity.

Place To Meet Patients, Clients, or Customers

If you meet or deal with patients, clients, or customers in your home in the normal course of your business, even though you also carry on business at another location, you can deduct your expenses for the part of your home used exclusively and regularly for business if you meet the following tests.

• You physically meet with patients, clients, or customers on your premises.
• Their use of your home is substantial and integral to the conduct of your business.

Doctors, dentists, attorneys, and other professionals who maintain offices in their homes will generally meet this requirement.

Using your home for occasional meetings and telephone calls will not qualify you to deduct expenses for the business use of your home.

The part of your home you use exclusively and regularly to meet patients, clients, or customers does not have to be your principal place of business.

Example. June Quill, a self-employed attorney, works 3 days a week in her city office. She works 2 days a week in her home office used only for business. She regularly meets clients there. Her home office qualifies for a business deduction because she meets clients there in the normal course of her business.

Separate Structure

You can deduct expenses for a separate free-standing structure, such as a studio, garage, or barn, if you use it exclusively and regularly for your business. The structure does not have to be your principal place of business or a place where you meet patients, clients, or customers.

Example. John Berry operates a floral shop in town. He grows the plants for his shop in a greenhouse behind his home. Since he uses the greenhouse exclusively and regularly in his business, he can deduct the expenses for its use, subject to the deduction limit, explained later.

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