Maximizing Home Office Deductions (Currently Unavailable)

Author: Eva Rosenberg

This course reflects tax law after enactment of TCJA.

This course addresses the truths, myths and ‘red flags’ related to home office. You’ll learn how to help your client maximize their deduction; when to use the Simplified Option – and when not to use it; how to protect the deduction for the long term; and when it’s important to fight for it, even if the deduction is small – and when not to use it at all. And why it’s a valuable deduction even for a business that has losses for years.

Publication Date: February 2018

Topics Covered

• Benefits of the Home Office
• Red Flags
• Employees working at home
• Schedule C business at home
• Daycare business at home
• Home Office and the entitity: S Corp, C Corp, Partnership
• Limits to home office deductions
• Maximizing home office area
• Depreciation must be taken

Learning Objectives

• Recognize how to use the home office deduction to the taxpayer's best advantage
• Describe how to avoid needless audit
• Identify a disadvantage of having a home office
• Identify red flags for a home office
• Recognize the questions a taxpayer should assess to determine if a home office deduction is allowed
• Identify characteristics of the simplified home office deduction method
• Differentiate deductible expenses for home offices without visitors
• Recognize proper statements with respect to the accounting for daycares
• Identify key characteristics of avoiding home office disadvantages
• Describe forms included in a taxpayer's return which would be red flagged if they also have rent or utilities included on Schedule C
• Identify the maximum allowable amount and square foot of a home used as a business that can be deducted when using the simplified method
• Identify characteristics of the regular method with respect to the home office deduction
• Recognize the business percentage used when a client rents a home
• Describe the amount of interest on a mortgage is limited to total acquisition debt

Level
Basic

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Taxes (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
Tax practitioners at all levels regardless of tax practice who want to ensure their small business clients don’t lose this, often valuable deduction. Business owners who are just getting started – or those who have been in business for years – and want to learn what they’ve been doing correctly (or not) about their office in home deduction. Familiarize yourself with IRS Publication 587

Advance Preparation
None