Office in home

[grandmabee]

can a schedule C truck driver qualify for office in home? Its just used for scheduling of truck runs and paying bills. It is exclusive use but not where he conducts business and meets clients etc. that would be on the road.

[kcjenkins]

Requirements to Claim the Deduction

Regardless of the method chosen, there are two basic requirements for your home to qualify as a deduction:

1. Regular and Exclusive Use.

You must regularly use part of your home exclusively for conducting business. For example, if you use an extra room to run your business, you can take a home office deduction for that extra room.

2. Principal Place of Your Business.

You must show that you use your home as your principal place of business. If you conduct business at a location outside of your home, but also use your home substantially and regularly to conduct business, you may qualify for a home office deduction. For example, if you have in-person meetings 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. 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 the only place where you meet patients, clients, or customers.

Generally, deductions for a home office are based on the percentage of your home devoted to business use. So, if you use a whole room or part of a room for conducting your business, you need to figure out the percentage of your home devoted to your business activities.

So basically, a self employed trucker, if he meets the first test, can take the OIH deduction, because scheduling of truck runs and paying bills are both critical parts of running a successful business.

[grandmabee]

# 1 is yes I have no problem with that its the principal place of business that I am questioning.

[7204 MEM]

There are three threshold requirements that everyone must meet to qualify for the home office deduction. You must:

· Be in business

· Use your home office exclusively for business (unless you store inventory in your home) and

· Use your home office for your business on a regular basis.

If you pass the first hurdle, then you must also meet any one of the following five requirements:

· Your home office is your principal place of business

o If you work in more than one location, your home office still qualifies as your principal place of business if you perform your most important business activities – those activities that most directly generate your income – at home.

o If you perform equally important business activities in several locations, your principal place of business is where you spend more than half of your time.

· You regularly and exclusively use your home office for administrative or management activities for your business and have no other fixed location where you conduct substantial administrative or management activities.

o Administrative and management activities include, but are not limited to:

§ Billing customers

§ Keeping books & records

§ Ordering supplies

§ Setting up appointments and

§ Writing reports

As long as you have no other fixed location where you regularly do these activities – like an outside office – you’ll qualify for the deduction. Also, you can qualify for the deduction even if you have suitable space to conduct administrative or management activities outside your home, but choose to use your home office for those activates instead.

· You meet patients, clients or customers at home.

· You use a separate structure on your property exclusively for business purposes, or

· You store inventory or product samples at home.

There are a few additional requirements if you are an employee of a corporation, including owners (for the convenience of the employer & the corp must pay).

[kcjenkins]

# 1 is yes I have no problem with that its the principal place of business that I am questioning.

Does not have to be, that's only one of the possible qualifiers. 7204 MEM has it right in full detail.

[jklcpa]

Thank you, 7204 MEM! I have a consult with a new client coming up where your post will be very helpful.