topic Can a corporation register your home as a corporate office with out your permission and you use your home as a home office and pay all your expenses as an employee? in Deductions & credits

Can a corporation register your home as a corporate office with out your permission and you use your home as a home office and pay all your expenses as an employee?

intel1962 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 13:42:18 GMT

My corporate office with out telling me registered my home as a corporate office in the state of Missouri. They are located in Iowa. They did this two years ago and I have had the home office for the past 10 years and the IRS audited me for these two years that they have my actual home listed as a corporate office. My CPA's tell me that is what triggered the audits for those two years. It cant be a corporate office and a home office at the same time? Is that true?

You have a legal issue that is beyond the scope of this f...

Hal_Al — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 13:42:20 GMT

You have a legal issue that is beyond the scope of this forum.
A separate tax issue is how to handle the "income" from the employer paying all your expenses. Normally you would include that as income and then deduct the home office . You might want to post the results of your audit for the benefit of others.

The home office deduction is allowed or not allowed on it...

Opus 17 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 13:42:22 GMT

The home office deduction is allowed or not allowed on its own facts, regardless of whether your office is "Registered" according to some state law.

For a W-2 worker, you must meet three tests to deduct a home office. The space must be used exclusively for work (not also used for personal living space), it must be your regular place of work, and it must be used at the convenience or direction of your employer, and not merely for your own convenience.

Assuming those facts, then you can deduct your home office expenses, but only if you pay them yourself out of pocket or after tax. If your employer reimburses you and the expenses are included in your W-2 box 1 income, then you can deduct the costs as an itemized deduction limited by the 2% rule using form 2016 and schedule A. However, if the employer is paying your costs and not including them in your taxable wages, then you can't also take a tax deduction. That's double-dipping; if the money is already tax free, you can't deduct it again.

You don't say, but I'm guessing the employer paid your costs tax-free, and that's why they registered your home as an office, so they could do that. That's probably why you were audited and you probably lost the deduction. If I guessed wrong and you want more information, post a comment or reply with more details.