Home office deductions and when to issue 1099-NEC

[FernF]

Hi,

I am recently self-employed and have a home office. I have deductions for my home office including ongoing cleaning, one-time landscape repair, and ongoing landscape maintenance  expenses. In order to legally deduct these items as part of my home office expenses, do I need to issue a 1099-NEC to the cleaners and landscape maintenance people? What about for my landscape repair? I had a huge drainage and water damage issue affecting my home right underneath my home office that needed repair. Do I need to issue the repair company  a 1099-NEC as well if I am going to include this in my deductions? Thank you

[Critter-3]

No 1099s are needed if you get company receipts for the payments. 

[FernF]

Thank you for the prompt reply! I’m not 100% confident I understand your answer. Company receipt meaning if I issue a company receipt or if the company I hired issues me a receipt? Please rephrase and clarify for my novice brain can understand. Thank you!!

[JandKit]

Hi FernF,

Just a follow up to the above answer may be helpful to you. The 1099 NEC is enough in this case. A more pressing interest will be the area of the office that is being used. TurboTAx requires that you show the ratio of the office to the home as a fraction. If the damage is directly to the office, then 100% of the amount is deductible. If the damage is not a directly expensed to the office, then only the ratio of office divided by the entire home is allowed.

[Critter-3]

If you hire a plumber to fix something in your home and you pay them then THEY issue you a receipt for the payment they received.  

[David_EA]

Hello FernF! I'm an Enrolled Agent with TurboTax Live. The need to issue a Form 1099-NEC depends on a few different variables. You'd issue a Form 1099-NEC to anyone that worked for you as an independent contractor and that the independent contractor was paid more than $600 aggregate for the year. If you hired a separate company to do your cleaning, landscaping and maintenance then that would NOT require a From 1099-NEC. If the people you hire are independent contractors and work directly for you and not another company and were paid more than $600 aggregate then YES you'd be required to issue a Form 1099-NEC. For more information on the Form 1099-NEC, please visit: https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/what-is-the-form-1099-nec-48549/ 

[FernF]

Thank you for the reply. Yes I would only deduct a portion/percentage of the expense based off the square footage of my home office since the repair affected the entire home - thanks to TurboTax for helping figure all that out! Thank you again. 

[FernF]

This is excellent. Thank you for the detailed reply!!!!