@TheSeal you will also need to follow this discussion to determine if your Internet service deduction depends upon your qualifying for and taking the home office deduction. I was thinking this was a different thing and that your issue would be defending that it the business use %, but it may not be.
@Carl what if the OP is not claiming the 280A(c) home office deduction at all (a separate thing)?
Do think that Internet service to a residence is a deduction "with respect to the use of a dwelling" per I.R.C. 280A(a)? ("no deduction otherwise allowable under this chapter shall be allowed with respect to the use of a dwelling unit which is used by the taxpayer during the taxable year as a residence.) https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/280A
Internet service feels different from electricity or heat or sewer utilities. It doesn't seem like it is with respect to the use of the dwelling Though it feels similar to a phone line, the 1st phone line disallowance is in a different section I.R.C. 262(b). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/262
Looking quickly at the 280A citations, nothing is really on point. The cases are mostly about whether the home office is exclusively for business use or the is the principal place of business. Not whether a particular expense is "with respect to use" ... however one case might imply that it is expenses that have more a connection with maintaining the home. Browning v. C.I.R, 890 F.2d 1084, 1087 (9th Cir. 1989) ("a taxpayer may not deduct expenses incurred in maintaining his or her home") (emphasis added).
How does Internet service differ from deducting a chair or desk or computer that is used from home but no home office deduction is claimed under 280A(c)?
Do you have any other cases or regulations or guidance on-point?
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