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en40426
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Work from Home deductions

I work for a company, not self employed. I have been permanently working from home for at least two years now. This will be permanent. How\can I deduct electric bills, phone bills, internet, heating bills etc?

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2 Replies

Work from Home deductions

Sorry---W-2 employees cannot deduct job-related expenses on a federal return.  Job-related expenses were eliminated as a federal deduction for W-2 employees by the tax laws that changed for 2018 and beyond.  Your state tax laws might be different in AL, AR, CA, HI, MN, NY or PA.

 

 

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4482873-which-federal-tax-deductions-have-been-suspended-by-tax-re...

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

Work from Home deductions

Your company can reimburse you for some of your home office expenses, and if they follow the rules for an accountable plan, the reimbursement is tax-free to you and a deductible business expense for them.  Or, your company can give you an additional stipend for working at home under a non-accountable plan that will be counted as part of your taxable wages (same as a raise or bonus).  You may want to discuss this with them the next time your employment contract  or compensation come up for negotiation.

 

Employee home office expenses may become deductible starting in 2026 depending on what action Congress takes on taxes before then.

 

Otherwise, employee work from home expenses are not deductible on your federal tax return.  You can list them, because some states still allow the deduction, but you may not get much benefit.  To qualify for the home office deduction, your home must be your regular place of business, and you must set aside a portion of your home for exclusive use in your work, and that area can't also be used by your family for personal purposes.  You can deduct a percentage of your utilities and other expenses based on square footage, or you can use a simplified method of $5 per square foot.  Note that if you use the regular method, one of your expenses will be depreciation, which means that whenever you sell the home, you will have to pay tax on (recapture) the depreciation you took or could have taken for business use of the home, before any capital gains exclusion is applied.

 

the home office deduction rules are in publication 587.

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-587

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