Are you a W-2 employee or are you self-employed? Most W-2 employees won’t be able to deduct home office expenses on their federal return, even if they’ve been asked to work from home due to COVID-19. But, some states do allow W-2 employees to deduct these types of expenses on their state returns. We’ll check for every possible deduction and any state-specific tax breaks to get you your best tax outcome. If you are a W-2 employee, provide your state and we can tell you if your state has a deduction before you put the effort into claiming the home office deduction.
Your home office business deductions are based on either the percentage of your home used for the business or a simplified square footage calculation. The Home Office Deduction You can find more details in that link. But if you are qualified to take the deduction, answers to your questions:
1- No, you don't enter the portion of income derived from the home office.
2- No, only the portion that relates to your business gets deducted
3- Yes, you cannot take the same deduction in 2 places
4- Your cell phone bill is not part of the home office deduction, but if you are self-employed, you can deduct the business portion of your cell phone bills. You can use any reasonable method to allocate the cost between personal and business use. But it is not part of the home-office deduction.
5-No, only the portion allocable to your home office. No personal deductions are allowed. But again, it depends on what method you use - see The Home Office Deduction
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