Home Office Safe Harbor
2020 01 09 starting for tax years 2013 and afterwards taxpayers will be able to use a simplified form which the irs has not published yet for claiming the home office deduction where the irs will simply allow the business owner to claim a safe harbor amount equal to 5 multiplied by the number of.
Home office safe harbor. Taxpayers may use the prescribed rate of 5 per square foot of the portion of the home used for business up to a maximum of 300 square feet. Money taxes business taxes new safe harbor for claiming the home office deduction. Select the home office asset type from the drop down list and press tab.
Conduct the home office use calculation using the the safe harbor and the traditional method to ensure the safe harbor opportunity makes the most sense for you. Under this safe harbor method depreciation is treated as zero and the taxpayer claims the deduction directly on. One of the nice benefits of the safe harbor rule is that your home value basis is not reduced by depreciation.
It merely simplifies the calculation and recordkeeping requirements of the allowable deduction. This simplified option does not change the criteria for who may claim a home office deduction. 2013 13 provides a safe harbor that allows taxpayers to avoid the recordkeeping and complex calculations required by the actual expense method.
Beginning in tax year 2013 returns filed in 2014 taxpayers may use a simplified option when figuring the deduction for business use of their home. More information about our privacy practices more information about our privacy practices. To use the safe harbor method taxpayers must continue to satisfy all the other requirements for a home office deduction including that the space be used exclusively for the qualified business purpose and that an employee qualifies for the deduction only if the office is for the convenience of the taxpayer s employer.
Revenue procedure 2013 13 pdf allows qualifying taxpayers to use a prescribed rate of 5 per square foot of the portion of the home used for business up to a maximum of 300 square feet to compute the business use of home deduction.