Tax Year Prior to 2020: I am self-employed and rent office space. My landlord used my deposit to pay for repairs. Can I deduct the deposit?

[KarenL2]

Yes, you can deduct it as a Repair or Rent expense as long as you never deducted it as Rent when you initially paid the deposit.

How to get to that area:  While inside the software and working on your return, type Schedule C in the Search at the top of the screen (you may see a magnifying glass there).  There will be a popup that says Jump to Schedule C.  Select that to get to the general area. 

• Business Income and Expenses
• select Edit next to your business (if it is there)
• scroll to Business Expenses
• then, Other Common Business Expenses
• select that, then on the next screen you will see categories from which to choose
  

[smwink]

Thank you.  I thought it should be deductible, but all I could find applied to apartment security deposits, which, of course, are not deductible.