Painting company. He uses his home office to talk to clients, create invoices and quotes. He store supplies in a different room. How do we take the home office deduction?

[JustDucky923]

My husband owns an interior exterior painting and drywall company. He uses his home office to talk to clients, create invoices and quotes and manage his employees. He also uses a portion of our basement to store supplies and sundries and another portion of the basement for spraying (painting) cabinets when needed.

How do we take the home office deduction and what "percentage of time" should be used?

[DaveF1006]

Yes, you may take the home office deduction as a business expense on your tax return. To prepare, you need to use the Turbo Tax Premium version. You would not use "percentage of time" when taking the deduction but you will use the "percentage of business use" of the home. Here you will determine the total square footage of your business space versus the total square footage of your home. Turbo Tax will skillfully guide you through interview process in determining this. To begin:

1. Open or continue your return.
2. Search for Schedule C and select the Jump to link in the search results.
3. Answer any questions about your business until you get to the Your self-employed work summary screen. Select Edit or Review next to your business.
   • You might want to enter your 1099-MISC, 1099-K, cash, and personal check income from your self-employment before you associate any expenses with your business, but this is not required.
4. You'll be asked to select the expenses you know you had. Select Home office. You can also select any other expense categories that apply to your business. Select Continue at the bottom of the screen when you're done.
5. On the Here's your [type of work] info screen, scroll down to the Expenses section, and select Start next to Home office.
6. Enter the info about your home office and answer the questions exactly how they are stated in the interview.