My 23-year-old son was employed as a college advisor to high students in Oregon during 2021, and because of covid-19, he worked mainly from his studio apartment. Based on TurboTax Deluxe's criteria for a home office, he qualifies since he worked more than 15 days per month in the home office for 11 months. We would like to claim a home office for him using the square footage method + his monthly Internet charges, but I am worried about this claim triggering an audit. Even in pandemic times, does this audit trigger still apply? Also, if we do claim a home office, in response to Turbotax's question about the total income earned using the home office, do I indicate 100% of his salary, or do I enter a lesser % based on deducting the % of time (approximately 14%) that he was able to work on high school campuses and at his non-profit organization's office?
