Does the placement of communications expenses change my refund? What is the best place?

[nkondracki]

Hi. I have a small business with a home office. I entered utility expenses NOT including phones and internet (communications)  under home office expenses, but I'm confused about where to put the communications expenses. I see a place that lists Communications expenses under Business expenses, but it shows that I didn't list anything there last year--so I'm wondering if there is another place that is better. Also, the utilities under home office expenses get multiplied based on the square footage of my office space--but if I enter communications expenses in the general Business expenses I assume there will be no multiplier; does that matter? Thanks!

[DawnC]

You can use the Communications category for cell-phone expenses; that is the most appropriate category.   You just used a different category last year if you don't see a 2019 amount, which is not a big deal.   And you are correct about the home office expenses - those only reflect the amounts attributable to your home office space based on the square footage of your home and office.   

For all other expenses, including communication expenses, you have to do the allocation and enter the amount that is the business portion.   You can use any reasonable method to allocate the expense between business and personal.  The important thing here is to only enter the business portion into TurboTax.  No personal deductions are allowed there.   If you use the phone half for business and half for personal, enter half of your annual costs and TurboTax will do the rest.