I entered the information about utilities, property tax, etc. for my home. I gave the square footage for the room used as home office and the house. Now it's asking me for the expenses for just the room. So shouldn't it make that calculation for me based on the information that I already provided?
No, the expenses for just the home office are different. These are not allocated from the total for the house. One good example would be an improvement made only to the home office for something like new paint or paneling or a fireplace just in the home office. Another example might be a window air conditioner just for the home office to keep the computer equipment cool. That kind of expense is 100% deductible for the home office because it's not shared by the rest of the house.
Yes, it had to have been paid for in 2016. Ir can certainly have begun in a prior year but payment needed to be in 2016. Buying on credit, like a credit card, is considered to have been paid when purchased because the supplier is paid by the card, and the debt is incurred by you on the date purchased, not the date payments are made on the card
