Home office deduction part of business expenses, not a depreciation

[john-muse]

Turbo Tax is asking me for depreciation amounts, but previous turbo tax returns only list home office expenses as "business expenses," not a depreciation

[MichaelDC]

If you own the property that holds the home office, a percentage of the depreciation will necessarily be part of the deduction, and, in a sense, required. The only other method would be the Simplified Option which carries a standard amount of deduction along with a built-in depreciation element.

The Simplified Option is a straightforward way to figure the amount of your home that you use for business. You just need to know the square footage of the area of your home used for business, and the total square footage of your home.

This option multiplies the allowable square footage of the home office by a prescribed rate (usually $5) to get the deduction amount. If your home office is 100 square feet, multiplying that by $5 gives you a deduction of $500. The maximum square footage allowed for the Simplified Option is 300 square feet, so the maximum deduction with this option is $1,500.