1099-NEC includes reimbursed expenses, eliminates home office deduction

[JohnB_303]

Hello,

I am an independent contractor with only 1099-NEC income. My client sends me on many business trips for this job, which I pay for myself and they then reimburse me for. This year, for the first time, they included all of the travel expenses on my 1099. I figured that was fine, I'll just deduct it on my Schedule C as travel expenses.

When I did so, my home office deduction surprisingly went to $0. I can't figure out what limitation TT is imposing here; no, my total deductions are still far below my total 1099 income. My 179 and vehicle mileage deductions were unaffected. Only the home office deduction changed. What am I doing wrong?

[JohnB_303]

I see, my home office is a room that is 10% of the square footage of my house. Thus, when I deduct a VERY large amount of travel expenses my total deductions become more than the income my "home office generated" and I can no longer take a home office deduction.

This does not seem right. If I only get to count 10% of my business income for the home office, then I should also only count 10% of my business deductions. There must be something I'm doing wrong here?

[Vanessa A]

No, you are not doing anything wrong.  The home office deduction is limited to profit.  If you do not have a profit, you cannot take a home office deduction.