Home Office Expenses w/ Roommates

[Megan96]

Alrighty so last year I worked from home the whole time I worked for the company and I had a home office. It asks me to add in my rent, utilities, maintenance costs, etc for the whole home in order to determine if there is a deduction for my home office. So I have two questions. Do I enter the amount as an average monthly or as a total for the year? Also, I had 3 roommates for part of the year and had 1 roommate for the latter part of the year. Would I only put in there what I personally paid or the entire cost of everything regardless of who paid it? We split the rent and utilities evenly so my portion was significantly less than the full amount.

[Jimi1970]

At the end of the year did you receive from "the company" a Form W-2 or a Form 1099-NEC? If you received a W-2 you were an employee and you cannot deduct unreimbursed employee expenses, including home office expenses.

[fanfare]

try using the square footage rule for office space deduction.

It is called the simplified method.

@Megan96 

[Megan96]

@fanfare I used the square footage rule in the square footage section. But it also asks me for the cost of my rent, utilities, etc

[Megan96]

@Jimi1970 I received a W2 but it is still promoting me to deduct home office expenses.

[fanfare]

If you use the simplified method, Part II (rent, utilities etc) would be skipped.

That's the point of it.

perhaps you did not elect the simplified method.

@Megan96 

[Megan96]

@fanfare it's possible. I'll look into it tomorrow