Property Taxes - and Home Office

[jackineal10]

I see conflicting answers on this one here so I'm hoping for details on 2017 taxes.

I have property taxes on my house which includes a home office.  If I enter Property Taxes in both places, it seems to double the deduction.

One answer said to enter all of the property tax on the Home Office Section.  The other answer said to enter 0 on the property taxes section in Home Office and enter to total Property Taxes on Schedule A.  

I was told also that I am to enter the home % of expenses in the home deduction section and the remainder of expense % in the Schedule A Property tax area.  This sounds correct to me but see attachment.

Attached is the screen I am seeing on the Home Office Section.  It's telling me to enter the 'whole' amounts of expenses- which I assume TT would divide it by the home use % - but it not appearing that way.

Which is correct?  Thanks VERY much.  I'm truly stumped here

[rossloeb]

Neither is correct.  You have to apportion the Property Taxes.  The simplest way is by floor area -- e.g., if your house is 2000 square feet and your Home Office is 400 sqft, then your office is 20% of your home.  Enter 20% of the taxes in the Home Office section and the remaining 80% in Schedule A.

[jackineal10]

would that include property insurance and other house related items - I'll divide by the office % (9.5% in my case) of home usage and reduce the items on Schedule A by 9.5%?  It is funny that TT does not handle this automatically.  THANKS!!!

[rossloeb]

I'm not an expert, but I believe most people do apportion other house expenses such as insurance, heat, electricity,etc.  I don't think you necessarily need to use square footage as the basis for everything.  If, for example, you need internet access for your home office work and you regularly work there 50 hours/per week. You also enjoy the benefits of internet access for personal use each evening and on weekends, but don't use it when you're asleep, cooking, out of the house, etc.  You may decide that 50% to 60% of your internet bill should go to the office.  You just need to be reasonable and able to back it up if you're ever audited.