Home Office

[Dorner]

I am having an issue entering in my home office information.  I have 2 offices this past year.  First is the home i rented for 7 months.  The second is for the home I purchased and used for the remaining 5 months.  The issue I am having is for the second home office.  When it asks for the "First day used for business" I enter in the day I moved into my new home 8/1/2023 but it tells me that it has to be on or before 12/31/2022.  How is this?

[AnnetteB6]

As you go through the Home Office section of your Schedule C, TurboTax will first take you through the expenses and information for the home office in your current residence, if that address is the one entered as your mailing address for your tax return.  Then, after that one is finished, you can enter the details for the second home office (the one used earlier in the year).

Go back through your Home Office section and be sure that the dates and office addresses match up properly.  

When it comes to allocating your business expenses to each home office, the following TurboTax help article may give you some additional guidance:

How do I allocate expenses for two home offices?
 

[Carl]

If you opened the new home office on 8/1/2023, then you "must" show that you closed the old home office at least 1 day before. If you show closing one on the same exact day that you opened a new one, that will sometimes cause issues.

[Dorner]

I went back through and deleted both of my home offices.  I started fresh.  So I started with my current address.  When I got to the page that asks for "Enter the actual date you began using this home office for business".  I enter the date 8/1/2023 and it still comes back with "Date entered must be on or before 12/31/2022".  I am not sure where I am going wrong here.  This is the only place I have come across where it is asking for my home office information.  Which is under "Job expenses for W-2 income",

[Carl]

Just a guess, as we all make mistakes. But it "sounds" to me like you're using TurboTax 2022, and not TurboTax 2023. Might what to confirm what year's program you are actually using.

[Dorner]

I'm using the online version

[AnnetteB6 · Accepted solution]

If you are using TurboTax Online, then you are in the correct year (2023).  

There are two places that Home Office information may be entered, depending on how you earn your income.  If you are self-employed, then the Home Office information is entered as part of the Schedule C.  The answer given above regarding the order of entering home offices applies in this case.

The other section where home office expenses may be entered is in the Job-Related Expenses section when you are a W-2 employee.  Due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017, only certain categories of employees may claim these expenses as part of their Federal return.  However, they may be claimed on your state return, depending on your state.

That being said, I checked this section to try to understand the message you are seeing and I got the same result both in the online version and the CD/downloaded version of TurboTax.  The date entered for the office start date seems to only be captured on a worksheet that is kept for your own records.  The important information used in the calculations comes later when you enter the other details about the home office use and income associated with the office.

To get around the situation, just enter 12/31/2022.  The rest of the home office expenses should not be affected in any way.  

@Dorner