If You Are Running A Business, Make Sure You Are Claiming Your Home Office Tax Deductions
Home office tax deductions are an important part of your business accounting, yet you would be surprised how many people just don’t bother to claim what they are entitled to. If you are using any part of your property for business purposes, you are entitled to claim your legitimate business expenses against tax. Of course, you must actually be running a proper business to be able to do this, you cannot just set up a home computer and try to claim back the expense of your electricity and equipment you need for gaming!
If you possibly can, make sure you use your home office exclusively for the purposes of doing business. This doesn’t mean that you can’t ever sit at your desk and write a letter to a member of your family, but it does mean that you shouldn’t have anything installed on the desk which could be exclusively used for something else. If you use computers in a hobby, try to get separate ones and set them up away from your office area.
Your utility bills will be hard to calculate with any certainty, as light will need to be on in the home whether or not you are working. Electricity consumption is difficult to evaluate as obviously the meter does not itemize the amounts of money spent in each room, or on each individual electrical appliance. Nevertheless, it is possible to make a reasonable assessment of the percentage of electricity you use in your business area, and that can be counted as a deductible expense.
As with so many areas of human life, there is no substitute for qualified experience. Referring your business accounting to a good qualified accountant will nearly always result in you saving more money in tax than you are paying the accountant. Just bear in mind that the accountant is not a magician, and he can only work with what you give him, Make sure you keep accurate records of your expenditure, and that you keep all receipts which are proof of this.
It is imperative that you set up your home office in such a way that it is the only place from which you can carry out your administrative duties. Make sure that all of your bookkeeping and accounting are done using software packages on the computer you use for your business, in your home office. This is the major criteria the IRS uses when assessing whether business expenses can be claimed against tax. Of course, if you attempt to overdo this and claim too much, IRS will certainly challenge you. Keep accurate figures, and proof, and do not exaggerate. Then, you will be able to claim the legitimate benefits of relief from home office tax.
