Help! Mistakenly claimed home office expense deduction

[therealliz09]

Hello! I need some guidance. It is my first year back to work filing taxes after being unemployed. I work fully remote and as a W2 employee. I followed the TurboTax questions and thought I was able to claim home office expense deduction since home office space is purely used for business: however, I learned after I filed and did research that it’s for W-2 employees only.. obviously an honest mistake that I want to fix ASAP; however my taxes are still pending for e-file: this is also causing my state taxes to be held up as pending.

my question is - what is my next step to resolve this? I want to remove the deduction but can’t amend anything on TurboTax since the status is still pending. Do I want to see what IRS days? Do I paper file an amended return now and make my payment online? Either way, I am not receiving a refund and not concerned with that. I truly just want to remove the deduction claimed as a mistake.

any help to calm my mind is appreciated!

[Vanessa A]

A couple of things.  It looks like you are using TurboTax Premier to file.  If so, you were able to enter your home office expenses under the itemized deduction section, but, you did not get a deduction for this. This used to be a Schedule A Itemized expense but was eliminated for tax years 2018-2025. The reason you can still enter these expenses are because some states still allow for employee business expenses.  If your state does not allow this deduction, then you did not receive any type of deduction from entering your home office.

In order to actually claim a home office expense in TurboTax on your federal return, you would have to use TurboTax Home and Business or TurboTax Self-Employed and file a Schedule C.  If you did not do this, then you do not need to make any changes to your return.

If you did do file a form Schedule C, you would have had to enter more than just your W-2 or you would have entered your W-2 in the wrong area. 

You can check your return to see that your W-2 wages are on line 1 of your 1040 and that you do not have a Schedule C attached.  If you they are you and you do not, then you are fine.

If you somehow ended up claiming your W-2 as self-employment income, then you will need to wait until your return is accepted, and then you can amend your return. 

[Cynthiad66]

Yes, you are correct, W-2 employees are no longer allowed to claim the home office deduction as was so eloquently explained by @Vanessa A.   First, there is  always a way to correct errors.  However, let's take it a little slow so as not to add to the confusion.  

Give IRS time to process your return first, then you can prepare and electronically file the amended.  TurboTax allows you to file amended returns FREE.  You can also arrange payment  at that time.  Your return is pending so wait to see if it is accepted by the IRS.  If not accepted, but gets rejected you can fix the error prior to resubmitting.

If your return is accepted, give it a coupole weeks then go ahead and submit your amended return.  Here is how to amend

If you used TurboTax Online, simply log in to your account and select “Amend a return that was filed and accepted.” If you used our CD/download product, sign back into your return and select “Amend a filed return.” You must file a separate Form 1040-X for each tax return you are amending.

@therealliz09

[therealliz09]

I used the standard deduction on my taxes. I see the home office worksheets with my return but do not see a Schedule C. Would I see the Schedule C included in my taxes packet? Thanks! 

[therealliz09]

I used the standard deduction on my taxes. I see the home office worksheets with my return but do not see a Schedule C. Would I see the Schedule C included in my taxes packet? Thanks! 

[Vanessa A]

Yes, the Schedule C would be included in your tax packet. Since you do not see it, you should be good. Like I said, if you used TurboTax Premier Online, you would not be able to file the Schedule C. 

[therealliz09]

Thank you! I just double checked and see that I used TurboTax Deluxe Online for my taxes. Does the same thing apply as it does for the Premier online version? Thanks again!

[Vanessa A]

Yes, the only online version that will allow you to file a Schedule C is TurboTax Self-Employed. So since you used Deluxe, you would not have been able to file a Schedule C. 

[therealliz09]

Thank you!!