Independent contractor. Home office (also my room) gets extremely hot/cold. Can I deduct a fan heater I'll use in my home office/room?

[PatriciaV · Accepted solution]

Yes, you may deduct any expense relating to your business. If you claim the Home Office Deduction, enter the cost in that section. Otherwise, report this as a business expense on Schedule C.

The easiest way to find Schedule C in TurboTax is to use the Search box at the top right side of the TurboTax header. Enter "schedule c", hit Enter, then click on "jump to schedule c". This will take you directly to the start of this section where you can set up your business and enter your income & expenses.

[bp-lpc]

What if we use a small building that is like a shed near the home but use as the office?

[Critter-3]

Home Office Expenses … Business Use of the Home

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/home-office-deduction

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p587.pdf

[Hal_Al]

The rules are the same, whether you use a free standing building or a portion of your home.:   

1. Regular and exclusive use.
2. Principal place of your business.

The calculation for the free standing building is easier, as it is usually 100%

[bp-lpc]

Thank you.

to be clear... do I have to calculate the area of the shed-office? it is 10x24.  so I say 240 ft. sq.  and is used 100% as it is exclusively used for work.  and then I addd things such as the heater, air purifier, new chair, new MacBook and so forth?

[Critter-3]

Read the rules here :   

Home Office Expenses … Business Use of the Home

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/home-office-deduction

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p587.pdf

[Carl]

I just want to throw this out there, as far as the two basic requirements to qualify claiming a home office.

Home office (Also my room)

The two requirements (very basic) are

1) Regular and exclusive use

2) Your principle place of business

Your "also my room" indicates that you use the room or space for other things too. Therefore that would not be regular and *exclusive* use by/for the business.  Here's where wording is important.

- Percentage of time this room is used for business --- Must be 100% (one hundred percent). You may only be in that room 1 hour a week, or 80 hours a week. But every time you use that room its 100% business use. Period. Not used for anything else. E.e.; the kids playroom, kids to their homework in there, you take care of persoanl matters and/or personal finances in there, etc. etc. etc.

- Percentage of business conducted in the room ---- May be anywhere from 100% to anything less than that. For example, if you are a hairdresser and have a room in your house set up as a hair salon, then you conduct 100% of your business in that home office. No question about it. But if you're like me (A computer tech) must of my "work" is done on site at the client location or where ever they computers are that I need to work on. From my home office I do all book keeping, product ordering, invoicing, bill paying, and all that other stuff related to managing a business.

So depending on how much business I have in a given year, anywhere from 40% to 60% of my business is physically conducted in the home office. But when I'm in that office, it's "ONLY" for business and that makes the HO 100% business use.

[bp-lpc]

Thank you Carl! 😀

your example really helped me understand!