If you’re self-employed and work from home, you may be able to claim the home office deduction to help lower your federal income tax bill. But if you’re an employee who works at home, tax reform may have put a wrinkle in your dreams of a home office tax deduction.
While tax reform didn’t directly change the home office deduction, it did temporarily suspend miscellaneous itemized deductions that were claimed on Schedule A. And among those suspended items were unreimbursed employee expenses, including the home office deduction.
That means if you work from home as an employee for someone else, you can’t take the home office deduction for tax years between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2025.
But if you’re self-employed (a small-business owner, freelancer or rideshare driver, for example) you may still be able to claim the deduction. But you’ll have to meet qualifying criteria.
