It depends. Please see IRS Publication 463. If you have more than one regular place of business, your main place of business is considered your tax home. But if you don't have a main place of business, your tax home could be your actual home, your place of abode.
These are the factors used to determine if your place of abode is your tax home:
- You perform work in the general area of your main home, and live there while doing business in the area.
- You have duplicated living expenses, because you have to pay for lodging etc., while you are away from home.
- You are living in the area that historically has been your home, a family member lives with you there, or you use that home for lodging regularly.
If you meet all three of these tests, your regular place of abode is considered your tax home. From what you describe, you seem to have met the last two tests, and the home where you live with your family could be considered your tax home. If you only meet one test, you are considered an itinerant, with no tax home.
The weakest factor looks to me to be the duplication of expenses, as you wonder yourself. Is $300/month for shared expenses sufficient to be considered actual duplication of expenses? It's possible, considering what your share of the home expenses would reasonably be. If the IRS examined your return, they would consider all the facts and circumstances of your situation.
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