I need to know if I deduct ALL my utilities for home office or only a percentage.

[wendy34jay]

My husband work entirely from home.  I've never deducted anything for home office before.  Do I deduct ALL electricity and heating or only a percentage?

[AnnetteB6]

You will only deduct a percentage of the utilities for your home as an expense of the home office.  The percentage is based on the square feet of the home office versus the square feet of the whole house.  For example, if the home office is 100 square feet and the whole home is 1000 square feet, then 10% of the utilities may be included as a home office expense.

When you are entering this information into TurboTax and you choose to use the actual expense method to claim your home office (instead of the simplified method), pay close attention to the messages on the screen to see if the program is asking you to enter the total expenses for the whole house or just the percentage for the home office.  There will be categories for both in case you had some specific expenses that related only to the home office and not the whole house.

[SweetieJean]

You are asking from TT Deluxe online, which suggests that he is a W-2 employee. If so, he cannot deduct anything for a home office.  If, however, he is self-employed, he must upgrade to TT Self-Employed to take this deduction.

[CMMichele]

What if I have both a W2 (retired last April) AND am a Self-employed business owner?

[DianeW777]

Only expenses that directly relate to your self employment would be allowed as a business expense and only for the portion of the year a home office was used for business/self employment.

It is further broken down by office square feet divided by entire square feet of the  home to determine the amount of deductible expenses if the home office does not have separate service. The following publication will provide greater detail to compare to your situation.

• IRS Publication 587