Depreciation on a home office

[pbarber]

Is it possible to take a home office deduction without taking the depreciation part?  If I have an exclusion when I sell the home for $500k gain, will I still have to add back the depreciation even if it was not deducted on my tax return?

Or can I figure the depreciation on a longer period of time to make it less?

[Anonymous_]

The recovery period is 39 years.

See https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Content/Claim-Depreciation-or-Not.aspx

[pbarber]

With what I have researched, i did see the loophole of not deducting depreciation, but needing to understand the gain on the sale, versus the savings on the deduction, versus the reduced basis.  Lots of factors.

[Mike9241 · Accepted solution]

you can't win by not taking depreciation because when you sell you have to claim 1250 recapture

the higher of allowed which would be zero because you didn't take any and allowable the amount you should have taken. You'll be paying taxes on a deduction you never took. 

see this link about simplified method - no depreciation is taken

FAQs - Simplified method for home office deduction | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)