It states that I am not eligible because my Net Profit for my work was zero or less which I don't understand what that means. How do I qualify for a home office deduction?
A home office deduction is only allowed to be taken in a year where it reduces income.
It is not allowed to increase a loss in a business.
For example, if your business has a profit of $5000 before consideration of a home office deduction, a home office deduction would be allowed up to $5000.
If the business is showing a loss of say -$1000 before consideration of a home office deduction, no home office deduction would be allowed for that year.
You should still enter your expenses for the home office deduction as the expenses will carryover to next year and if there is profit to allow next year's home office deduction and still excess profit, the disallowed expenses from this year can be used next year to reduce next year's business income.
Yes, this is still current.
The only difference to note is that if you choose to use the simplified method for claiming home office expenses, any unused expenses are not carried forward to a future tax year. The carryover is only allowed if the simplified method is not used.