Because of the pandemic, my whole office has moved to work from home. Am I able to go on less than a month vacation to a different state and work from there for a while?

[xmasbaby0]

Ask your employer if they care if you work from "home" while on vacation in another state.  Not sure why you are asking us on an income tax forum.  But your question is confusing--if you are on "vacation" why would you be working--or do you mean you will take vacation time from your regular job and then work at some other job in another state for a short time?  If the job is in another state you may need to pay income tax to that state and file a tax return for the state next year.  But that may depend on the state.

[shiloh09630]

@xmasbaby0 So I guess I didn't explain it very well.  I'm working part time and going to school full time.  School and work have both shifted to at home and online.  What I would like to do is go home and do all of that from home for a month (until fall semester starts back up).  My work has said that there are "tax issues", but they wouldn't explain further.  But I know that other people do this quite often, it is so common they even made up a term for it (workcation).  So I assume that there has got to be some kind of loophole like "as long as it is under x days it doesn't matter." 

[xmasbaby0]

Have a discussion with your employer so they can explain the "tax issues" they are worried about.  It may be the employer does not want to withhold state tax from your checks if you work in another state.  Some states have tricky rules about withholding tax for workers who work remotely.  As long as you get your job done, not sure why they would care where you do it from--or how they would know where you are.

[shiloh09630]

Yea, I'll push back harder on the "tax issue", when I pushed originally they didn't really have a good answer.  Once again thank you for your help.

[Carl]

Another thing you need to be aware of here.

Work related expenses (such as a home office) for a W-2 employee are flat out not deductible. So you do not qualify to claim a home office and you can not claim any W-2 work related expenses. As of the 2018 tax year, W-2 work related expenses are no longer allowed.

If you are working remotely from another state and that state taxes personal income, you "may" be required to pay taxes to that state. Furthermore, your employer "may" be required to withhold taxes for that state too.

If the employer treats you like a contractor and issues you a 1099-MISC, then *YOU* are responsible for paying any and all taxes due to any and all taxing authorities empowered to impose tax on your income. As a 1099-MISC contractor *YOU* will also pay an additional 15.3% self-employment tax on top of your "regular" tax. This method *WILL* be costly for you.

[Opus 17]

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@shiloh09630 wrote:

@xmasbaby0 So I guess I didn't explain it very well.  I'm working part time and going to school full time.  School and work have both shifted to at home and online.  What I would like to do is go home and do all of that from home for a month (until fall semester starts back up).  My work has said that there are "tax issues", but they wouldn't explain further.  But I know that other people do this quite often, it is so common they even made up a term for it (workcation).  So I assume that there has got to be some kind of loophole like "as long as it is under x days it doesn't matter." 

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What is your home state, and what state will you be working in?

The only "tax issue" is likely to be that you may owe state income tax in the state you are visiting.  But that's pretty complicated and will require someone to do some research.  

[footfeed]

through the spring of 2020 when the pandemic had everything shut down, the building that my real estate office is located was practicaly  shut down to the outside foot traffic. Can I deduct any of this time that I used my home office.

[gloriah5200]

If you are a W-2 paid employee, there are no job expenses allowed to be taken.  They disallowed the Form 2106 deduction for employees a couple of years ago.

Please be aware that if you go to another state on vacation and work for someone in that other state, it is generally likely that any income you receive from working in that other state will be taxable to that other state and you will have to file an income tax return with that other state as well as claim the income on your resident state return.

If you are self-employed, but have a work location where you meet with customers and conduct most of your business, then a home office deduction probably will not be able to be taken, depending on the circumstances.

[Opus 17]

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@footfeed wrote:

through the spring of 2020 when the pandemic had everything shut down, the building that my real estate office is located was practicaly  shut down to the outside foot traffic. Can I deduct any of this time that I used my home office.

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The bottom line is that all this should be covered in turbotax if you just run the interview.  

You can deduct Home Office expenses on your federal and state return if you are self-employed (file a schedule C).  You can't deduct the expense on your federal return if you are a W-2 employee but you may be able to deduct it on your state tax return.  There was no federal exception created for COVID.  If you list the expenses the program will do whatever is allowed for your situation.

Remember that a home office must be used exclusively for work, that means an area of your home set aside for work and not for personal use (including your personal office space for correspondence or family bookkeeping).   It must also be used regularly for work -- it must be your main place of work, at least for the days when you claim a home office.  If you had another regular office to work in, your home office is not your regular place of work, except that it might be your regular place of work if you were shut out of your regular office for certain months.

Turbotax should ask the dates you started and stopped using the home office.  If Turbotax asks did you have another place of work, say no if it is true you were locked out of your regular place of work.