The reason I ask is because the home office is also used for personal purposes
Then you don't qualify to claim a home office. Period.
The program asks two questions pertaining to your use of the space being claimed as a home office. I've paraphrased the questions here.
- Percentage of time you use this home office for business - You may only be in that home office 1 hour a day conducting business. But if for that one hour each day you occupy it, if it's only for business, then it's 100%. If you use that office or space for anything else, then it's not used 100% for business and you do not qualify to claim the home office.
- Percentage of business conducted in the home office - This will usually be less than 100%. For example, in my computer business a majority of my business is conducted "on site" at the client's location. I'm only in the home office conducting business about 30% of the time. When the office is occupied, I make/receive business phone calls, do invoices, order supplies, perform book keeping tasks, schedule jobs, etc.
