How much cost do I enter for improvement? (Home business)

[mysgyn]

I have a home office and we did home improvements this year (new wiring and new windows).

When I enter in the improvements in the home office section, do I put the total cost or the % of the home that is my business?

Also I do two businesses out of the home office so do I split it even further?

For example, the wiring cost $4000. My home office is 10% of the home (sq ft). I do two businesses out of this home office.

Do I put $4000 under each home office business? $4000 under one and leave it off the other? $400 under each? $200 under each (splitting the 10% into two?)

I called and they helped me find where, but had no idea how and said to "put numbers in and see what happens"???

[DMarkM1]

If the improvement was for the entire home you enter it as for the entire home and the deduction would be calculated based on the business use percentage.  Here is a link with some helpful steps. 

Next, you will need to divide the space percentage between the two businesses.  The IRS does not specify an exact procedure, it just needs to be reasonable.  There are several ways to accomplish this.  Here is another helpful link to give you some options. 

[mysgyn]

I appreciate this! I did see that thread before posting this. It does have a difference from last year (it was posted in 2019) as I did not run into this part...

• Depreciation for your home office. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter the home improvements. You'll be prompted to indicate if the improvement applies to your whole house or just to the home office. When you are finished with this section, you'll reach the Home Office Asset Summary. Click Continue if finished, or click +Add an asset to enter additional improvements.

That's where I'm concerned and confused... so when it asks what I spent, since it does not clarify whole house or home office in the 2020 version, do I just cut the cost myself? (Instead of $4000 for total cost, $400 for home office being 10%?)

The second link is very helpful. I'll "split" the cost of the total based on the % of income earned by the two businesses.

[DMarkM1]

On the page "Tell us about this home improvement"  scroll down below the boxes asking for costs and date acquired and you should see the choices for "Yes, Office only" or "No, Whole Home". 

In this case since you have two businesses sharing an office in the home, I suggest you select the "Whole Home" option and put in the total cost for the improvement.  TurboTax should then calculate based on the business percentage of each office.

You will do this for each business that you are taking the home office deduction for.

[mysgyn]

It actually didn't look like that at all but it did help me figure it out.

What I had to do was not take the standard home office deduction. When I chose to do it myself, it walked me through and THEN I got to a part that said "are you doing these for the whole house or just the home office" and I chose whole house. THEN it started going through utilities etc. 

I had already separated as you had mentioned my sq footage for the two jobs and it pulled out the % under each job correctly (it even said "this will be apx 5% of the house).

So thank you as your notes led me to the right place eventually but it wasn't where you had noted.