Trader Status

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to get Turbotax to apply a home office deduction for my side business as a sole proprietor/securities trader? Everything I've read says that a home office deduction should be listed on the Schedule C, but Turbotax doesn't apply it because there is no income listed (The income is on my personal Schedule D).

What am I missing?

Thanks in advance!

[Carl]

A SCH C business can only claim a home office deduction, only if that business has the income on the SCH C to deduct the allowed costs from. If the SCH C business doesn't have the income, you can "claim" the home office. But no deduction can occur from zero business income reported on the SCH C.

Now a SCH C is for "earned" income. What I don't know, because I'm not a trader and don't know anyone who is, is if income from playing wall street is earned income, or passive income. My wild guess, based on no facts what-so-ever is that it's passive income. The only thing reported on SCH C is "earned" (sometimes referred to as active) income. That income would be paid to you in cash, or reported to you on a 1099-MISC box 7. That's pretty much all that counts for SCH C income.