I have a part-time job that I receive a W2 from and I also do freelance work. All of it is completely remote.
My question is: would be allowed to deduct a portion of my internet bill as a business expense? And if so, how does one figure what percent they should claim?
The two factors that I was not sure about are:
a) I am only partly self-employed (although both are remote and done from my apartment) and
b) I live in a very small apartment and do not have anything that I can really claim is my 'home office' as I randomly sit on the floor, at my table, etc.
Thanks!
so, how does one figure what percent they should claim
one way would be based on the time used for your SE work divided by the total time used.
or hours used for SE work divided by total hours in the year (being conservative)
now you probably haven't kept any such records, so it's either forgo the deduction or guess.
the IRS doesn't like guesses so if they ask for documentation that you can't provide they can disallow up to the full amount you deduct. it's really at the auditor's discretion.
Yes, you would be able to deduct part of your internet bill from your freelance work income. You would estimate your computer time dividing it between your job, personal use, and freelance work. Do you spend more time online for your job, the use might be 50%, 25%, and 25%. If your time online is divided evenly, then the usage might be 33%, 33%, and 34%.
You cannot take the home office deduction because that is based on a place used exclusively for your business See the Home Office Help article from TurboTax.
Awesome. That makes sense.
I was not sure if you had to have both going for you to be able to claim it.
Thank you for the quick reply as well!