Home office expenses are not applied to my return

[dipakprasad]

I'm a remote employee, and I use the home office exclusively for work.

[asweetwood]

I believe you are stating that you are not a business owner, but an employee of an organization that allows you to work from home.  In this scenario, even when the exclusive use requirement is met, you have to prove that it is for the employer's benefit that you work from home, and not yours.  In the past, when these issues have gone to court, the employer's benefit rule was only deemed to have been met if the employer required the employee to work from home. In other words, if you can work at your company's office, you probably can't claim your home office as a tax deduction.

[dipakprasad]

I can only work remotely (and am classified as a remote employee by my company), so I am working purely for the employer's benefit.  There is no local office for me to work from.  Also, Turbotax indicates that the expenses need to be more than 2% of the AGI (although I didn't see reference to that in IRS documentation (<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/home-office-deduction">https://www.irs..., there is no change to my tax return numbers if I completely remove these expenses or artificially make them high (much higher than 2% of AGI).

[PALSAI]

I am also seeing the same thing. I WFH as there is no local office and my employer wants me to WFH. I too dont see any change though at the end of the section it says you can deduct $2100 as home office expense. Any Idea?

[asweetwood]

If you've answered all the questions in a way that Turbo Tax will apply the deduction (Exclusive Use, Required by Employer, Used to Meet Clients - if applicable), and you're still not seeing the deduction applied, it may be because the amount of the deduction is not enough to surpass the Standard Deduction.  

Home Office and other Self Employment expenses require that you itemize your return.  Turbo Tax will automatically determine if you should use the Standard Deduction (6,300 for singles and married persons filing separate returns and $12,600 married filing jointly), or Itemized Deductions, based upon which is greater in order to guarantee you the largest return.  If you just want to get confirmation that Turbo Tax is working properly, you could enter a home office deduction that is greater than your Standard Deduction and see if it changes your return...just don't forget to put it back.

Disclaimer:  I do NOT work for Turbo Tax and I would never advise, suggest, or imply that a taxpayer submit invalid data on a return.